I saw them do "2001" live, which was amazing. John Williams , as the conductor of the Boston Pops, was always incorporating specially adapted suites of his film music into the show--into the shows. And you saw once in a while, like, "Gone with the Wind" would be on a program.
what I've done at work to what I've got at home. John Williams ' signature. And so we can start-- Better get the order right.
We just did it anyway to disrupt the concert. So John Williams is conducting and we're going to Japan for our first big international tour. Two weeks in five star hotels in Tokyo.
It was like other forces were taking over. And your listening to John Williams music, you go with the feelings of it all.
He was hearkening back to the romantic cinema of the 1930s and '40s. And so John Williams pulls up level with George Lucas in the score of who is responsible for the first 10 minutes of "Star Wars."
like, "That's in the right key." And I checked. I play it on my phone, and I was like, "Oh my gosh." Then I ask him, "Play... Sing the Superman theme." Because we'd been listening to John Williams soundtracks the week before, and he sings that. And that was in the right key. And I ask him another song. So I turn the car around, I go back to the studio. I go to the piano, I hit the note B-flat, and Dylan says, "Star
what I've done at work to what I've got at home. And working with somebody like John Williams , who I discovered from his concert works, not really his soundtrack music,
Well, I think the definition is working on a John Williams project, number one, and working on "Star Wars," number two. And I think what you have to say about a John Williams project is that first and foremost, it's all about the music composition and performance. There's very little production compared to what a lot of other composers ask for in terms of a John Williams score.
other than editorial production. In my opinion, John Williams is the definitive composer of our time. I think he's just done phenomenal work.
No spin in that. All the pieces that we spun basses in -- John Williams is a great guy. Fabulous musician. One of my favorite conductors of all time.
It helps to know who you're writing for. Certainly in the case-- say, "Harry Potter," John Williams has a longstanding relationship with a keyboardist named Randy Kerber, and he's got this crazy thing where the guy's on the going for like, 30 seconds-- just all over the place.
That's the end of it. So the difference between a normal soundtrack that we might produce these days and a John Williams track is that basically, our approach with John is very much all about the music and the performance and getting the best version of that we can possibly get in the recording world without a lot of production,
I mean, it's really great. What I think-- and I think I've read this in interviews with John Williams -- that he was going for that kind of old fashioned, serial kind of sound. If you watch "Flash Gordon," the TV show, black and white, the theme music is Liszt's "Les Preludes." Well, that's a long way from the 25th century.
What do I care? Everybody's kissy-faced like this and we're playing the last sixteen bars and John Williams -- the John Williams -- is up on the podium conducting away looking right at me with
They've been doing it for a while. if you think about music for film, normally some people might think just John Williams or just
And then if you're doing a suite or re-arrangement, what's your approach when you cut out the visual component? Well, Yeah. People always marvel at how much John Williams music works on its own terms. But-- and it's not to put it down, he's sort of-- for me, he's sort of the pinnacle of the art form.
How do those decisions get made? Spielberg makes a film, he's thinking of what John Williams is going to bring to it.
How do those decisions get made? And somebody who was brought on was like, but I don't really like that John Williams music.
okay well thank you for coming uh I'm Hal Varan I'm the chief Economist here at Google and this is John Williams Our Guest who is the CEO president what's the president and CEO my gosh two for
How does working on this particular project differ from all these other amazing movies that you've worked on in the past? Well, I think the definition is working on a John Williams project, number one, and working on "Star Wars," number two. And I think what you have to say about a John Williams project is that first and foremost, it's all about the music composition and performance.
And I think what you have to say about a John Williams project is that first and foremost, it's all about the music composition and performance. There's very little production compared to what a lot of other composers ask for in terms of a John Williams score. He's a master composer.
what I've done at work to what I've got at home. Auditorium. It was the 20th anniversary of "E.T." And this was John Williams conducting an orchestra, end to end, nonstop, with all of the music resurrected
So it's-- I think it's really critical. But then the Toni Morrison quote, also it strikes me-- and I went to a writer's workshop with Walter John Williams as one of the instructors, and he did had us do an exercise, and he had us all get together and write for 30 minutes on whatever our favorite writing implement was,
How do those decisions get made? Not necessarily writing a theme and counterpoint, thinking about orchestration and arranging in the sort of sense that Goldsmith and John Williams and Elmore
How do those decisions get made? score sounds like. I know what-- you know, there are a certain number of people I can always-- almost always, I should say, identify John Williams .
I think he's just done phenomenal work. Can you guys talk a little bit more, maybe Patricia, about working with John Williams -- what it's like, how precise is he. Any one of you on the panel, I would love to hear some personal anecdotes.
what I've done at work to what I've got at home. There we go. We start off, brand new quote from John Williams .
I was there, obviously, when all these films were shot. But it's strange seeing everything edited together, and seeing the visual effects, hearing the music-- John Williams kills it in this movie. And you know, I was just like, oh my gosh, I'm watching a "Star Wars" movie and I'm in the "Star Wars" movie.
Denver Dill: What do you do when you write this music that is; we said one hundred times now, so difficult and so tuneful? And you're a task-master and you're really frustrating to work with, and the drummer that we had pictured there, that's John Williams , the composer of "Jaws", and "E.T." and "Jurassic Park" that.
And then the credits would come up and they’re like, “God damn, he’s right.” And so they kind of knew, they could kind of see where I was going. Then in, I also, as a kid, really loved the music of John Williams . Temple Of Doom and Empire Strikes Back had a big impression on me for sure.