New(ish) John Williams CD Release
{Header image used courtesy Sony Classical.}
Note: this article was also published on SciFi4Me.com.
If there’s one partnership that every geek is a fan of, it’s probably the one between director Steven Spielberg and composer John Williams. According to this list on Wikipedia, the two have partnered 28 times and counting. In fact, all but two of Spielberg’s films have had a score by Williams. Additionally, Williams has record 50 nominations from the Academy Awards for his composing, 15 of which are for scores from films directed by Spielberg.
On March 17, Sony Classical will be releasing a new compilation set. John Williams & Steven Spielberg: The Ultimate Collection is a three-CD set with a bonus DVD.
The first two CDs are a repeat of previous releases: one of them The Spielberg/Williams Collaboration from 1991 and the other Williams on Williams: The Classic Spielberg Scores from 1995. Both CDs were recorded with the Boston Pops Orchestra and include music from everything from their first collaboration, Sugarland Express in 1974, to Jurassic Park in 1993.
“I was very happy with the fact that when I was music director of Boston Pops, we were able to record a lot of the music that I’d written for Steven’s films,” Williams says in the press release about these two. “So I said to him, ‘Steven, wouldn’t it be great if we could complete the Sony collection and put in all the things that we didn’t have when the last disc was recorded, this time with our great orchestra here in Los Angeles?’ To which Steven responded, ‘This is a great idea. Let’s do it!'”
The third CD was recorded in 2016, and features the first release of brand new recordings from some of Spielberg’s later movies, including Lincoln, The BFG, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and more.
The DVD is a copy of the new documentary Steven Spielberg & John Williams: The Adventure Continues. Directed by Laurent Bouzereau, a film historian who’s been covering Spielberg’s work for over 20 years.
You can pre-order the set over at Amazon.com, and hear “Marion’s Theme from ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark'” and see an excerpt from the documentary over at The Hollywood Reporter‘s article on the release.