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Williams on Williams: QCSO to salute movie maestro with its annual Riverfront Pops concert

By David Burke | Friday, September 05, 2008 | () comments

QUAD-CITY TIMES

If there’s been an iconic movie in the past three decades, John Williams probably has written the score for it.

The prolific composer has written music for more than 100 movies, including the “Star Wars,” “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” “Harry Potter” and “Jaws” franchises, as well as numerous movies for Steven Spielberg.

The composer, who got his start writing incidental music for the “Gilligan’s Island” and “Mr. Lucky” series, is still a part of television, having written the themes to NBC’s “Nightly News,” “Today” show and “Meet the Press.” His Olympics compositions were heard frequently this month during NBC’s extensive coverage.

On Saturday, the Quad-City Symphony Orchestra will pay tribute to the 76-year-old composer at its 26th annual Riverfront Pops concert, with a majority of its program filled by Williams compositions. (The exceptions are the traditional “1812 Overture” with cannons firing, “Stars and Stripes Forever” and “Take Me Out to the Ballgame,” a nod to the Pops’ 2008 home at Modern Woodmen Park on the Davenport riverfront.)

Here, in Williams’ own words from interviews given through the years, are his perspectives on his many highly recognizable scores, those that will be featured in Saturday night’s program:

“The Cowboys”

Although no interviews could be found specifically discussing John Wayne’s 1972 Western, Williams says, on the whole, “The things that people remember most are the ones with brass fanfares and cymbals and trumpets doing their flourishes. That’s wonderful. I’m happy.”

— BBC

“Harry Potter and the

Sorcerer’s Stone”

“(It’s) theatrical, magical and to capture a child’s sense of wonder in the world.”

— The Times of London

“Schindler’s List”

“Spielberg showed me the film … I couldn’t speak to him. I was so devastated. Do you remember the end of the film was the burial scene in Israel — Schindler — it’s hard to speak about. I said to Steven, ‘You need a better composer than I am for this film.’ He said to me, ‘I know. But they’re all dead!’ ”

— MSNBC

“E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial”

“(For the final reel), Steven said, ‘Just play the music as it feels to you and I’ll re-edit things to conform. ... The last 10 minutes, as it builds to the mother ship lifting off, gains this kind of rhythmic cohesion because it was edited to the discipline of the music.”

— “Today” show, 1997

“Olympic Fanfare and Theme”

“The Olympics are a wonderful metaphor for world cooperation, the kind of international competition that’s wholesome and healthy, an interplay between countries that represents the best in all of us.”

— FilmTracks.com

“Superman”

“(The late Christopher Reeve, who played Superman in a series of films) always said the music gave him some kind of sense of where the film was ultimately going to go in terms of its ultimate style and the degree of fantasy that it might have. The flying theme, with its reaching tune that goes up and up is one of those things where you build up the orchestra to where the whole thing is aloft, then slide the bottom out so the whole thing is floating.”

— “Today” show, 1997

“Raiders of the Lost Ark”

“You have the rumble of the rock, which does take out a lot of it. My solution was to get up high in the orchestra ... to do high, repeated notes over and over as this rock would go ... to penetrate the sound effects track as much as I could and to grab the ear of the listener.”

— “Today” show, 1997

“Hymn to the Fallen” from “Saving Private Ryan”

“You had the sense we needed kind of a ‘Requiem’ almost for the people lost in the film. How to do that discreetly, quietly and elegantly was the problem that was presented.”

— “Saving Private Ryan” DVD interview

“Star Wars”

“I remember seeing the film and reacting to its atmospheres and energies and rhythms. That, for me, is always the best way to pick up a film — from the visual image itself and without any preconceptions that might have been put there by the script.”

— FilmScoreMonthly.com

David Burke can be contacted at (563) 383-2400 or dburke@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at qctimes.com.