A TRIBUTE NOT ONLY TO JOHN WILLIAMS, BUT TO EVERYONE WHO BROUGHT HIS IDEAS FROM JOTS ON A PAGE TO THE BIGGEST SCREENS IMAGINABLE

By Sophie Clark | Muck Rack Portfolio ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | Press Invite

When people think ‘John Williams’, they think of Hollywood, even outer space, but rarely do they think of London. 

Prior to attending ‘John Williams: A Composer’s Life,’ the closest I associated the legendary film composer with London was the pieces he composed to accompany magical owls flying over Little Whinging, Surrey. 

But, after an hour and a half with his biographer, Tim Greiving, and David Jackson and Neil Percy of the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO), I learned extensively about William’s life-long collaboration with the LSO and recording sites across London. 

Greiving, joining the unfortunately somewhat sparse audience in a performance space in the Royal College of Music via video link, gave us a comprehensive overview of his lengthy collaboration with the infamously reclusive genius. Telling us how it took two years of writing before Williams even spoke to him, and then a further 18 months of interviews with the composer to fully gain his trust for his biography.

Fortunately, Greiving was able to get through to Williams to write the most comprehensive biography of the composer’s life. The 94 year old is still not done composing, with yet another score for long-time collaborator Steven Spielberg — Disclosure Day — set to be released this summer. However, minus the Disclosure Day coda, Greiving’s book is a characteristically sweeping look at the groundbreaking composer’s life. 

I really enjoyed listening to Greiving’s insights into Williams’ persona, but, where Greiving could talk about William’s life from the perspective of a journalist and fan, Jackson and Percy were able to discuss the man as a colleague, which was even more interesting. 

They discussed the incredible mastery the composer had (and still has) over every instrument in the orchestra. Saying they would receive scores from him and assume he must be a top-class percussionist, but then talk to their peers in the string or brass or wind sections, and hear the same from them. 

We even got to listen to exclusive footage of Percy collaborating on the Harry Potter score, showing how Williams’ scores were constantly evolving even in the recording studio. 

And, learned how Williams grew to have a particular affinity with the LSO, choosing to record countless of his iconic (a word that gets thrown around a lot but is completely accurate here) scores with the orchestra, as he saw them as dynamic and “sharp.” 

You’d be hard pressed to find anybody with access to a TV who hasn’t been, at some point, touched by William’s work. He brought playfulness to ET, magic to Harry Potter, agony to Schindler’s List, otherworldliness to Star Wars, love to Home Alone, he even wrote the two notes now synonymous with the horrors of the deep blue sea.

The man superceded score, soaring straight into stardom. But a score can’t come to life by itself. It needs the ingenuity of every artist behind it, from the timpani player to the sound engineer in the booth, to really make it sing. 

‘John Williams: A Composer’s Life’ was a tribute not only to the man himself, but to everyone who brought his ideas from jots on a page to the biggest screens imaginable. 

London Soundtrack Festival took place from 9 to 12 April.

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Photo Credit: London Soundtrack Festival