A Certain Point of View: Writing, Film and Stuff

Cover Photo Credit: © Kristian Schuller (Mutter), Kristin Pulito (Williams) ℗ 2019 Deutsche Grammophon (a division of Universal Music Group)  On Friday, August 30, Deutsche Grammophon, a Berlin-based division of Universal Music Group, released Across the Stars: Anne-Sophie Mutter - John Williams, a collection of a dozen film themes composed by John Williams and performed by German violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter with the Recording Arts Orchestra of Los Angeles.  Although at first glance this offering from the famed classical music label Deutsche Grammophon is simply another collection of "John Williams covers," it marks the first professional collaboration between the dean of contemporary film music and Germany's violin superstar, even though they've been friends for years. (Mutter was once married to the late composer and conductor Andre Previn, a colleague and friend of Maestro Williams from the days when Previn worked in Hollywood as a composer of fi...

© 2019 Deutsche Grammophon On August 30, Deutsche Grammophon, the classical music label owned by Universal Music Group (UMG), will release Anne-Sophie Mutter and John Williams: Across the Stars, a collection of 12 movie themes composed by John Williams and performed by German violin virtuoso Anne Sophie Mutter with the Recording Arts Orchestra of Los Angeles. This unique collaboration between the dean of modern film score composition and one of the world's foremost violinists is the result of a long-time mutual appreciation and a friendship that began when Mutter was married to the late composer and conductor Andre Previn. Anne-Sophie had been a fan of Maestro Williams' movie music since she was a teen living in Germany's Schwarzwald region when George Lucas's Star Wars (1977) was one of the few distractions for young residents of that beautiful but rural area. Per Deutsche Grammophon's website: “There is only one John Williams,” says Anne-Sophie Mutte...

(C) 2017 Sony Classical/Sony Masterworks On March 17, 2017, Sony Classical, an imprint of Sony Masterworks, released The Spielberg-Williams Collaboration – Part III, a sequel to 1991’s The Spielberg-Williams Collaboration – John Williams Conducts His Classic Scores for the Films of Steven Spielberg and 1995’s Williams on Williams: The Classic Spielberg Scores. These two albums were recorded for Sony Classical during Maestro Williams’ stint as conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra and showcased the results of the long collaboration between the five-time Academy Award-winning composer and the two-time Best Director Oscar-winning filmmaker. Official Sony Classical Video: The Adventures of Mutt   In this third collection of music from his scores for the films of Steven Spielberg, Williams conducts the Recording Arts Orchestra of Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Children’s Chorus, the California State University, Fullerton, University Singers, and – for Escapades for Alto Saxoph...

In 1991, Sony Classical released The Spielberg/Williams Collaboration, a 13-track album that features music composed by John Williams for the movies by director Steven Spielberg. Those compositions - marches, main title themes, and scene-specific cues - covered the first 15 years or so of what is one of the longest artistic partnerships in film history. As  Variety's film music writer Jon Burlingame states in the liner notes to Sony Classical's John Williams/Steven Spielberg: The Ultimate Collection that there have been other famous director-composer duos: "Film historians often cite Alfred Hitchcock and Bernard Herrmann, for example, or Federico Fellini and Nino Rota; others might name Sergio Leone and Ennio Morricone, or Blake Edwards and Henry Mancini." But, as Burlingame points out: None, however, have been as long or as fruitful as the forty-three-year collaboration of Steven Spielberg and John Williams. None have encompassed such a wide range of subje...