John Williams review: The genius who scored our favourite franchises joins Berlin Philharmonic

John Williams

The Berlin Concert                                                                    DG (2 CDs), out now

Rating:

John Williams was 90 last Tuesday, and celebrates his birthday in style with his first-ever recording with the Berlin Philharmonic.

The Berliners cannot recreate the symphonic razzle-dazzle Williams always got from his many albums with the London Symphony Orchestra.

But this is memorable nevertheless, its 100 minutes-plus carefully chosen to show off as many facets as possible of Williams’s genius as an orchestral composer and orchestrator, with everything beautifully played.

People think of John Williams (above) as a film composer, but of course he is much more than that, having written almost 100 concert pieces

Since his first Oscar in 1972, he has received 52 Academy Award nominations. Some of the best of these are chosen here to showcase both his mastery of the orchestra and his exceptional gifts as a tunesmith.

The Star Wars franchise is here, of course, but not allowed to dominate. Room is also found for one of Williams’s greatest inspirations, the brilliantly orchestrated music for Close Encounters Of The Third Kind, one of his most sophisticated scores.

His fun music for the Harry Potter franchise (he did the first three films) is here, as is music from Indiana Jones. Williams, still very much in harness in his 90s, is busy right now working on the fifth Indiana Jones movie, being filmed in the UK.

His music for Jurassic Park is one of those scores that has continued to grow in the regard of Williams devotees like me, and a suite here is especially beautifully played.

Since his first Oscar in 1972, Williams has received 52 Academy Award nominations. Some of the best of these are chosen here to showcase his mastery of the orchestra

People think of Williams as a film composer, but of course he is much more than that. He has written almost 100 concert pieces, including a dozen full-length concertos.

His Elegy For Cello And Orchestra is exceptionally well played here by the Philharmonic’s principal cellist, Bruno Delepelaire, paying tribute to a sometimes under-appreciated element of Williams’s art.

His 90th is surely the moment to acknowledge Williams as a great composer, not just, as some people do, merely an outstanding composer of movie music.

What he is is a great master of the late romantic symphony orchestra, memorably hailed by George Lucas as ‘The secret sauce of Star Wars – the greatest composer-conductor in the universe’.

I (David Mellor) suspect the accolade that means most to Williams is the suggestion that through his music, countless people have experienced the sound of a full symphony orchestra

I suspect, though, the accolade that means most to John Williams is the suggestion that through his music, countless millions of people have experienced the wonderful sound of a full symphony orchestra, which otherwise they would never have done.

It should also be remembered that Williams is an exceptionally well-trained musician, spending several years at the Juilliard School in New York, where most of America’s leading young classical musicians are trained.

But what really worked for him were his young years in the galleys of the Hollywood studios. He always impresses other musicians with his practical abilities learned there, which contribute so much to the finished product here and elsewhere.

He is a self-deprecating man. When Steven Spielberg showed him Schindler’s List, Williams told him he needed a far greater composer to do justice to it. Spielberg replied: ‘I know, John. But they’re all dead.’

Williams loves that story, so typical of the man.