John Williams

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.  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.