A Certain Point of View: Writing, Film and Stuff

© 1993, 2018 La-La Land Records, Universal Music Special Markets, Amblin Entertainment, and Geffen  On December 3, 2018, La-La Land Records of Burbank, CA released Schindler's List - 25th Anniversary Soundtrack, a 2-CD set that presents John Williams' Academy Award-winning score in a limited edition (only 4000 units were made) reissue. Made in cooperation with Universal Music, Amblin Entertainment, and Geffen, this double album was remastered by soundtrack expert Mike Matessino and was approved by director Steven Spielberg and Maestro John Williams, who produced the original 1993 soundtrack. Per La-La Land's announcement, this limited edition consists of the original soundtrack album, which was reconstructed from material "sourced from the original 1993 release’s 24-karat gold Ultimate Masterdisc digital master." on Disc 1. Disc 2 presents six tracks that were not included in the 64:39 original soundtrack, including two cues (" Schindler's Workforce

On Quora, Erik Todd asks: How many Star Wars movies did John Williams compose original music for? My reply: Since 1977, Maestro John Williams has written the original scores for nine films in the  Star Wars  movie series. They are: Star Wars - Episode IV: A New Hope  (1977) Star Wars - Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back  (1980) Star Wars - Episode VI: Return of the Jedi  (1983) Star Wars - Episode I: The Phantom Menace  (1999) Star Wars - Episode II: Attack of the Clones  (2002) Star Wars - Episode III: Revenge of the Sith  (2005) Star Wars - Episode VII: The Force Awakens ( 2015) Star Wars - Episode VIII: The Last Jedi  (2017) Star Wars - Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker  (2019) In addition, Maestro Williams composed  The Adventures of Han  for  Solo: A Star Wars Story.  Composer John Powell wrote most of  Solo’s  original score, but he also adapted some of Williams’  Star Wars  themes for a few scenes in the 2018 Anthology film directed by Ron Howard.

Cover photo © Los Angeles Philharmonic © 2019 Deutsche Grammophon On March 29, Berlin-based Deutsche Grammophon released Celebrating John Williams: Gustavo Dudamel/Los Angeles Philharmonic, a 2-CD set that presents 19 of the world-renowned composer-conductor's best-known (and best-loved) themes. Recorded live at the Los Angeles Philharmonic's (LAP) home in the Walt Disney Concert Hall, the album showcases music from Maestro Williams' illustrious career, including selections from the Harry Potter series, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and other films by Steven Spielberg, the 1984 Summer Olympiad in Los Angeles, and more.  No other world-class orchestra champions the classic film music tradition like the Los Angeles Philharmonic does - and the close working relationship its Music and Artistic Director Gustavo Dudamel has established with legendary film-music composer John Williams makes this the ultimate showcase album of the composer's greatest works. - B

Animation courtesy of Intrada Records. Art by Roger Kastel  © 1975, 2015 Universal Pictures "Dick Zanuck and David Brown, thank you both for giving me the opportunity to work with this extraordinary man, Steven Spielberg. The great Universal orchestra, my friend Herb Spencer, thank you, and all the members of this Academy for giving me this honor. I'm a grateful man, thank you very much." - John Williams' Oscar acceptance speech, 48th Academy Awards, March 29, 1976 "In doing the score for Jaws , John Williams has really outdone himself. The soundtrack is a stunning symphonic achievement and a great leap ahead in the revitalization of film music as a foreground component for the total motion picture experience...." - Steven Spielberg, director of Jaws , in the original 1975 LP liner notes In 2015, Oakland (California)-based Intrada Records released a deluxe 2-CD edition of composer-conductor John Williams' Academy Award-winning score for

© Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. Superman, the Superman logo and all related characters and elements are trademarks of and © DC Comics On May 15, 2012, just as director Zach Snyder's Man of Steel reboot was entering its post-production phase, Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. re-released three of the earlier films in the Superman franchise, all of which were connected with director Richard Donner in some way.in a Triple Feature  Blu-ray bundle. This collection consists of Superman: The Movie (1978), the 2006 reconstruction of Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut, and director Bryan Singer's "soft reboot" Superman Returns, which is set in the same "universe" depicted by Donner and ignores the misbegotten Superman III and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace.  As is often the case in the home media distribution business, this Triple Feature bundle is only a good deal for consumers who had not previously bought the three Superman films' individual  Blu-r

Promotional graphic for La-La Land Records' Superman: The Movie - 40th Anniversary Remastered Edition 3-CD set. © 2019 Warner Bros. Records, La-La Land Records, and DC Entertainment A few weeks ago (on February 15, to be exact), Burbank-based La-La Records released Superman: The Movie - 40th Anniversary Remastered Edition: Music Composed and Conducted by John Williams, a three-CD box set that presents two versions of Maestro John Williams' 1978 score for Richard Donner's now-classic superhero film about the Man of Steel and his first confrontation with archvillain Lex Luthor. The cover art of the 40th Anniversary Remastered Edition is based on the 1978 teaser poster for Superman: The Movie.   © 2019 Warmer Bros. Records, La-La Land Records, and DC Entertainment Nominated for an Academy Award and a Grammy during the awards season for 1978, Williams' music for Superman soon became as iconic as the composer's previous scores for Jaws, Star Wars

On February 19, 2019, La-La Land Records, in a massive collaborative effort with DC Entertainment, Warner Bros. Entertainment, and Warner Music Group, unleashed Superman: The Movie - 40th Anniversary Limited Edition Remastered Soundtrack, a 3-CD album that features composer John Williams' complete  Academy Award-nominated score, including previously unreleased cues that were found in Warner Bros. archives many years after Warner Records and Rhino Entertainment dropped the Superman: The Movie: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack  2-CD set. According to La-La Land Records, producer Michael Matessino (who, with the late Nick Redman, produced many reconstructions of Maestro Williams' classic scores, including the ones from Superman, Star Wars, and Raiders of the Lost Ark ), this reissue was made possible by a super-discovery in the studio's vaults: A recent discovery of the score’s original 2-inch, 24-track music masters has led the way to a stellar, high-resolution tr

Which Star Wars film do you feel has the best music? In all honesty, I don’t think there is a single  Star Wars  film that has the best music in the (so far) eight Saga episodes, the  Star Wars: The Clone Wars  feature film, and two Anthology films that have been released so far. (There is another Skywalker Saga film, Star Wars Episode IX due out in December; composer John Williams has stated that this will be his final score for the Star Wars movie series.) To me, the music of  Star Wars,  especially the “core” repertoire composed and conducted by John Williams, is a cycle of musical works that, like the operas of Richard Wagner’s The Ring Cycle, can be enjoyed as individual musical experiences but are all part of a greater whole. Now, if you were to ask me which is my  favorite  of the  Star Wars  scores for the films (the TV shows don’t count), I’d have to say it’s this one: That is the original soundtrack album released in 1977 by 20th Century Records, the original re

On February 15, 2000, Warner Bros. Records and Rhino Entertainment released Superman: The Movie: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, a 35-track, 2-CD album that presents the complete score composed and conducted by John Williams for Richard Donner's 1978 epic comic book film. Produced by Nick Redman and Michael Matessino, the album presents the music as it was heard in the movie, and (as in other Redman-Matessino expansions of classic Williams scores for Raiders of the Lost Ark and the original Star Wars Trilogy) gives film score fans a treasure trove of  previously unreleased material (such as the movie version of the Main Title March,  which was not included in Warner Records' 1978 2-LP album) "source" cues (music that is heard "in-movie" by characters), alternate versions of the Main Title March, The Planet Krypton,  and Can You Read My Mind (which is Maestro Williams' Love Theme From Superman combined with lyrics by Leslie Bricusse). As soun

(C) 2000 Sony Classical and Lucasfilm Ltd. Although the 1999 single CD recording of music from Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace was fairly adequate, for listeners spoiled by the Special Edition soundtracks it was a disappointment. Yes, the music is good, but there is a certain wrongness to the album's arrangements; like its 1977 predecessor, the 1999 soundtrack album takes cues from different scenes and "cuts-and-pastes" them to make nice yet inaccurate arrangements. For instance, Track 1 on the single CD version is called Star Wars (Main Theme) AND The Arrival at Tatooine. The so-called "Arrival at Tatooine" is really heard when the Queen's starship lands on the Coruscant landing platform. On November 14, 2000, fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on your level of cynicism regarding Star Wars and merchandising practices), Sony Classical released Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace: The Ultimate Edition: Original Motion P