As legendary film composer John Williams heads toward his 89th birthday in 2021, Deutsche Grammophon is giving fans a present in the form of a new expanded edition of his latest concert release, just three days before his big day.
Released just this past August and noted as 2020's best-selling classical album, John Williams in Vienna presented the five-time Oscar winner leading the Weiner Philharmoniker and violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter - the soloist on 2018's Across the Stars collaboration album - from the stage of The Musikverein in Austria, considered one of the world's finest-sounding stages. Anticipation for the shows were considerably high; Williams first planned to make his conducting debut in Vienna in the fall of 2018 before a sudden illness caused him to postpone several European dates.
But the sets proved to be worth the wait: Williams ably led the ensemble through a stirring set of thematic favorites (JAWS, Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, Jurassic Park) as well as some comparatively deeper cuts featuring Mutter's violin, including themes from Cinderella Liberty, The Witches of Eastwick, and Far and Away.
While the latter portion of a deluxe CD/Blu-ray included six additional performances not on the audio disc, this new "Live Edition" features not only those performances across two CDs, but Williams' own commentary between performances as well. The additional highlights include some of those deep cuts plus fan favorites like "Hedwig's Theme" from the Harry Potter series and "Remembrances" from the Oscar-winning Schindler's List.
The "Live Edition" is available February 5. The full track list is below.
John Williams in Vienna: Live Edition (originally released as Deutsche Grammophon 483 6373, 2020 - reissued as Deutsche Grammophon 483 9887, 2021) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
Disc 1
- Applause *
- The Flight to Neverland from Hook
- Excerpts from Close Encounters of the Third Kind
- Introduction *
- Hedwig's Theme from Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone ** +
- Theme from Sabrina ** +
- Donnybrook Fair from Far and Away ** +
- Devil's Dance from The Witches of Eastwick +
- Introduction *
- Adventures on Earth from E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial
Disc 2
- Theme from Jurassic Park
- Dartmoor, 1912 from War Horse
- Out to Sea/The Shark Cage Fugue from JAWS
- Marion's Theme from Raiders of the Lost Ark
- Introduction *
- The Rebellion is Reborn from Star Wars: The Last Jedi
- Luke & Leia from Star Wars: Return of the Jedi
- Main Title from Star Wars: A New Hope
- Introduction *
- Nice to Be Around from Cinderella Liberty ** +
- Introduction *
- The Duel from The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of The Unicorn ** +
- Remembrances from Schindler's List ** +
- The Raiders March from Raiders of the Lost Ark +
- The Imperial March from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
All tracks recorded live at The Musikverein, Vienna, Austria - 1/18-19/2020
* previously unreleased
** previously unreleased on CD; available on CD/Blu-ray edition - Deutsche Grammophon 483 9045
+ Anne-Sophie Mutter, violin
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