Music Album Review: 'Across the Stars: Anne-Sophie Mutter - John Williams' Deluxe Edition

Photo Credits: © Kristian Schuller (Anne-Sophie Mutter). © Kristin Pulito (John Williams). Album Cover Art © 2019 Deutsche Grammophon

On August 30, 2019, Deutsche Grammophon (a Germany-based subsidiary of the U.S. conglomerate Universal Music Group) released Across the Stars: Anne-Sophie Mutter - John Williams, a 12-track album which presents some of Academy Award and Grammy-winning composer/conductor John Williams' breathtaking movie themes. Rearranged for solo violin and orchestra by Maestro Williams, this collection of film themes is performed by the world-renowned German violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter and the Recording Arts Orchestra of Los Angeles, under the baton of Maestro Williams himself.

As I wrote in my review of the August 2019 CD:

"Across the Stars: Anne-Sophie Mutter - John Williams is a wonderful showcase for two masterful musicians. Once again, the legendary composer and conductor weaves his magic as an orchestrator by taking compositions that were originally composed in a symphonic style for "big orchestras" for a Wagnerian effect and stripping them down for solo violin with accompaniment by the Recording Arts Orchestra of Los Angeles, an ensemble Williams often works with now that he is older and doesn't record film scores in Great Britain with the London Symphony Orchestra as he once did.

"The result is a collection of 12 famous (and not-so-famous) themes that have a more delicate and intimate sound that draws the listener's ear to Anne-Sophie Mutter's virtuoso performance. As Jon Burlingame points out in the album's liner notes, it's fitting that most of the selections tend to be composed for strong female leads, such as Sayuri's Theme from Memoirs of a Geisha and Rey's Theme from Star Wars: The Force Awakens. And even though the iconic Princess Leia's Theme is absent from this recording, the memory of Carrie Fisher's Princess-turned-Rebel leader is present in Williams' Luke and Leia from Star Wars: Return of the Jedi."

This "mass-market" release was followed almost a month later by Across the Stars: Anne-Sophie Mutter - John Williams ﹘Deluxe Edition, which is a slightly longer expanded version that not only includes five previously unreleased tracks (including the aforementioned Princess Leia's Theme from Star Wars: A New Hope and Markings, a new piece that Williams composed especially for Ms. Mutter.

In addition, Deutsche Grammophon includes a 40-minutes-long DVD titled Anne-Sophie Mutter in Conversation with John Williams. In brief, the DVD presents a behind-the-scenes conversation filmed prior to and during the recording sessions for Across the Stars: Anne-Sophie Mutter - Williams, in which Mutter and Maestro Williams discuss the premise behind the album, as well as insights from both participants about the themes in the album and how the new arrangements vary from their original versions.

My Take

Because this release is an extended (and slightly pricier) edition of Across the Stars (which derives its title from Across the Stars/Love Theme from "Star Wars: Attack of the Clones,"  I'm going to reiterate what I said about that release last year:

With the exception of the haunting Theme from Schindler's List, the themes from films that aren't from big franchises like Star Wars or Harry Potter are from dramas (Cinderella Liberty, Memoirs of a Geisha, Far and Away) or comedies (Sabrina) and even a horror film (Dracula) with strong romantic overtones. This is not an accident; Williams adapted Nice to Be Around and Night Journeys for Mutter per a suggestion from their mutual friend Andre Previn. The resulting performances by Anne-Sophie are, put simply, pure musical magic that pleases the ear, engages the mind, and touches the heart.  

Of course, as a John Williams (and Star Wars fan) I am pleased that Deutsche Grammophon included Princess Leia's Theme from Star Wars: A New Hope; I knew from my perusals of YouTube that Mutter had recorded one of my favorite themes from the Skywalker Saga films in the new arrangement. I was peeved that DG didn't include it in the "mass-market" album, and I think that this tactic of "double-dipping" is a bit annoying. Still, Maestro Williams' all-new arrangement is beautiful and makes purchasing Across the Stars' Deluxe Edition worthwhile.

The other four previously-unreleased tracks are:

• Rememberances from Schindler's List
• The Chairman's Waltz from Memoirs of a Geisha
• Markings, for solo violin, strings, and harp, dedicated to Anne-Sophie Mutter
• A Prayer for Peace from Munich

All of these tracks are beautifully arranged and presented, and Mutter's violin solos are masterfully performed, with the skill and elegance one would expect from one of the world's greatest violinists.

The Anne-Sophie Mutter in Conversation with John Williams DVD is a no-frills, no performances behind the scenes discussion between the violinist and the composer-conductor. In it, Mutter (who sports a Yoda T-shirt underneath her jacket) tells Maestro Williams that she fell in love with his film scores (a genre that most German classical musicians didn't take seriously) when she first watched Star Wars in a theater in Germany's Black Forest region as a teenager in 1978. She proudly confesses that Williams' Academy Award-winning score for the 1977 film impressed her so much that she watched movies she normally wouldn't have been interested in just to hear Williams' scores. 

The chemistry between Anne-Sophie Mutter and John Williams is one that you'd expect to see in two persons who have been friends and mutual admirers in their field of work. They first met when Mutter was still married to Andre Previn, who before his death in February of 2019 had been Williams' colleague as a film composer in Hollywood before becoming a world-renowned conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) in the 1970s. (The LSO was, until relatively recently, the ensemble which performed many of Williams' scores, especially the first six Star Wars films.) 

As a result, the 40-minute chat is interesting and informative. However, it doesn't include any footage of a single performance from Across the Stars. Still, it's nice to see the Dean of Modern Film Composers onscreen and knowing that, even though he was 87 when the conversation was filmed and that he doesn't travel as much as he used to, he is still busy composing and conducting beautiful music. (The Recording Arts Orchestra of Los Angeles was formed, in part, to compensate for Maestro Williams' limited ability to record in London with the LSO; it is this orchestra that you hear in the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy.)

If I were to have a do-over with my purchases, I probably would have waited a month to buy the Deluxe Edition of  Across the Stars: Anne-Sophie Mutter - John Williams instead of buying the slightly shorter original album. But 20/20 hindsight is almost always perfect, and in any case one never knows what tomorrow might bring. So now I have two different editions of a beautiful album that can be enjoyed by film score buffs and classical music aficionados alike. 

Truly, the Force runs strong in Across the Stars: Anne-Sophie Mutter - John Williams: The Deluxe Edition.

Tracklist

1. Rey's Theme  3:17

2. Yoda's Theme  3:35

3. Hedwig's Theme  6:04

4. Across the Stars (Love Theme)  5:18

5. Donnybrook Fair  3:53

6. Sayuri's Theme  4:44

7. Remembrances  6:17

8. Night Journeys   5:38

9. Sabrina's Theme  4:59

10. The Duel  4:24

11. Princess Leia's Theme  5:19 

12. The Chairman's Waltz  4:00  (Anne-Sophie Mutter, Lynn Harrell, The Recording Arts Orchestra of Los Angeles, John Williams)

13. Luke And Leia  5:01

14. Nice To Be Around  4:02

15. Theme From Schindler's List  4:16

16. Markings 8:32

17. A Prayer For Peace  3:14

Anne-Sophie Mutter, The Recording Arts Orchestra of Los Angeles, John Williams

Playing Time 01:22:33

DVD 2

1. Anne-Sophie Mutter in Conversation with John William (2019) - Documentary. (40:29)