Retain the final sense of ritual in classical music
Aliens, Star Wars, Superman, The Little Devil, Harry Potter, The Adventures of Tintin... He "contracted" the memories of teenagers from nearly two generations from all over the world, and his music that intertwined with fantasy film pictures, condensed endless ideas and vitality, ups and downs and a strong sense of atmosphere, seemed to have a powerful magic, not only giving the flat screen a more vivid look, but also quietly penetrating from hearing into our senses, and every time it sounded, it could cause a large area of conditioned reflexes and resonance... Speaking of these qualities, we may think of Hisaishi, but in fact, this master is also Hisaishi's idol and enlightenment teacher.
Just as Hisaishi, who is good at scoring animated films, can also write a deep and moving score of "The Mortician", this master's pen is not only oriented toward commercial films and children's films and television - "Schindler's List", "Memoirs of a Geisha", "Jaws", "Jane Eyre", "Lincoln", "Munich Massacre"... Literary films, documentaries, thrillers, biographies, these film works that require more sound are not to be mentioned, and even some of the scoring achievements exceed the film itself.
Yes, as you may have guessed, he is john Williams, the contemporary super score master with 49 Academy nominations, 5 Academy Awards for Best Score, 18 Grammy Nominations, 4 Golden Globe Awards, and 7 British Academy Awards. Today (February 8, 2021) is his 89th birthday, and it is true that the master is old, but the surprises and emotions he has created will always be alive and lasting.
Early journey
John Williams was born in New York on February 8, 1932. As the child of a musician in a film studio, he was "heard" from his family from an early age. As an adult, John studied composition at UCLA and privately studied composition with Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (author of the opera The Merchant of Venice), thus establishing a good musical background.
In 1952, he enlisted in the Army, where Williams conducted and choreographed music for the U.S. Air Force Band for 3 years. After completing his service, Williams moved back to New York and entered the Juilliard School to study piano, becoming a pianist was his initial ambition.
John Williams column in foreign print media
From Air Force Musician to Film Score Master
Trivia: Although John Williams was later known for his film scores, his early desire to become a pianist was granted. Prior to his introduction to scoring, he worked as a pianist in a jazz orchestra and then as a pianist for several famous film scorers, including Bernard Herrmann, Alfred Newman, Franz Waxman, Elmer Bernstein, Henry Mancini, Jerry Goldsmith, and others. He is also the music arranger and orchestra conductor for singer Frankie Lane's several albums.
"Bonding" with the soundtrack
With his unique playing talent, John Williams was appreciated by the famous soundtrack master of the time, Henry Mansini, and was given the opportunity to participate in the production of the soundtrack of the TV series "Peter Gunn". Later, in the music of several film and television works produced by Alvin Ellen in the 60s, Williams began to show his talent, and won two Emmy Awards for "Heidi" and "Jane Eyre".
At the same time, John Williams also had many outstanding comedy film music, such as "Gorgeous Adventure", "Stealing Dragons and Phoenixes", etc., and he gradually became a high-profile composer, arranger and music producer at that time. In 1971, he won the Academy Award for Best Music Arrangement for the score production of "The Fiddler on the Roof", the first Academy Award of his career, and his unique and gorgeous symphonic style attracted him attention, which also won him more opportunities to compose the soundtrack for the film.
In the 1970s, John Williams produced many disaster film soundtracks, including "The Adventures of Poseidon", "The Great Earthquake" and "Burning Skyscraper", etc., these disaster film soundtracks have been nominated for Academy Awards, and John Williams's creation has also entered the so-called "disaster film soundtrack period". In the works of this period, Although John Williams did not break away from the popular soundtrack patterns such as light music or jazz music, there was no shortage of symphonic strength fragments, especially in the 1970s, when orchestral film music was declining, and these disaster film music was one of the few works that maintained the symphonic soundtrack tradition at that time.
Perhaps it was because of the experience gained in the music of these disaster films that John Williams was able to take the world by storm in 1975 with Jaws and win his second Academy Award, which was also his first Academy Award for Original Soundtrack.
Williams' music matches the film's tense and thrilling style, using musical rhythms to create a step-by-step atmosphere, so as to promote the development of the film's plot and bring the audience into a terrifying mood. The film's final success is due to John Williams' music.
A century of battles with Spielberg
John Williams and Spielberg
It is reported that the first meeting between the two took place in a new York café. Spielberg was very young, his trademark beard had not yet been grown, he was unknown in Hollywood, and no one was willing to invest in his films. But he dared to meet Williams, who had already won an Oscar for "Fiddler on the Roof," and told the master, 17 years older than him, with adoring eyes and tones about his fanatical obsession with Williams, humming one tune after another that even Williams himself had forgotten. John was touched by the little movie idiot, rolled up his sleeves and promised to cross the knife for him, so Hollywood's strongest golden partner from the beginning was born in such a casual coffee house.
Later, in the summer of 1975, the authoritative New York Times film critic said that "Jaws" was nothing more than a mysterious monster horror film, but the audience could not believe it, and everyone lined up in a long line, waiting to listen to John Williams step by step, more than the heartbeat of the thrilling music, enjoying the collapse after the horror.
The success of Jaws laid the foundation for the trust and tacit understanding between Williams and Spielberg, and in 1978, when George Lucas invested in the famous science fiction film "Star Wars", Spielberg recommended Williams to Lucas. At the time, disco music was in vogue, and Lucas had intended to adopt it, but John Williams insisted on choosing a grand and romantic symphony for the soundtrack of this futuristic and entertaining sci-fi blockbuster, creating the classic "Empire style music" and leading the symphonic orchestral trend for decades to come.
In the Star Wars film soundtrack, John Williams shows a fiery thematic variation, matching each character with an iconic melody. Each appearance of Darth Vader is accompanied by a low and powerful march, and the harsh sound of the brass adds a touch of evil and disharmony. Not to mention the melodious melody at the beginning of the film, which is played in synthesizers, which has become a unique symbol of Star Wars.
In this film, Williams transforms the ups and downs of synthesizer music with the London Symphony Orchestra, showing a magnificent atmosphere and overwhelming majesty, like a great space opera. His new arrangement had a profound impact on future Hollywood film music.
In 1983, John Williams and Spielberg collaborated on his fourth Oscar-winning work, Aliens. When the film's plot reaches its climax, when the slender fingers of the little alien and the boy's injured fingers slowly touch together, a new world is opened, and the murderous and terrifying alien image that people have been creating before disintegrates in front of this little guy with a pair of big brown gentle eyes.
The soft board of music then gently sounds, setting off the innocence, innocence and honesty flashed in the eyes of the strange-looking little alien, and the music is warm and moving, but there is no deliberate sensationalism. When the "mooncart" shot, which is too classic to be classical, appears, the music pushes the intention of the image to a climax, becoming a successful example of the combination of music and picture.
Schindler's List is undoubtedly Williams' most acclaimed film score, and on the back cover of the soundtrack, Spielberg makes an incisive interpretation of his music with a heartfelt statement: "John Williams chose a concise and soft melody for the soundtrack of this film. In contrast, most of all the films we have worked on in the past have required a dramatic effect that closely matches the picture, such as Indiana Jones and Jaws. In Schindler's List, we find a new starting point and get rid of some of the inherent artistic styles. Only with a deep gaze and an uneasy heart can you find the essence of the soundtrack. ”
Violinist Yitzhak Perlman's romantic and affectionate interpretation of the religious love contained in the music is vividly interpreted into the marrow. The shock and explosiveness of the music is another invincible feature of Williams music, and it can be said that it has reached its peak in this soundtrack work. As Spielberg puts it, Williams used a very different approach to this film than the realism of the past, which strived for synchronicity. Music is no longer focused on "scenery" but "emotion".
Now, it seems, when it comes to Hollywood film music, one always thinks of John Williams first, whose fame and achievements are so great that other equally accomplished film score masters always dim in the face of his brilliant aura. So far, he has written music for nearly 300 films. In terms of influence and popularity, it is probably difficult to find a diverse composer like John Williams, spanning the classical and popular, film and music worlds, John Williams's constant creative inspiration has made him proud and invincible, leaving a brilliant mark in the development of film music.
Related recordings
<h1 toutiao-origin="h1" >01 Perlman's Film Serenade Perlman/John Williams</h1>
Perlman's piano slowly unfolded, and the film years of the past also pushed the curtain open; in the hall of time and space composed of John Williams and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the gifts of two musical giants hand in hand.
Perlman's Film Piano is the first Oscar-winning film music album by Perlman and John Williams. The 13 Oscar classic soundtracks become the long and gentle of the moment in Perlman's piano, and in the emotional entanglement, they recall this constantly cut love thread - moving and entangled.
<h1 toutiao-origin="h1" >02 Schindler's List Movie Soundtrack John Williams</h1>
In 1992, when Spielberg decided to shoot "Schindler's List" with such a heavy historical theme as the slaughter and rescue of Jews during World War II, he approached Williams and asked him to create a soundtrack that was different from the previous style, Williams gave up his personally good symphonic soundtrack, based on the violin solo, to create the soundtrack of this classic film, which also achieved his personal classic, and won the 1993 Oscar for best soundtrack.
John Williams chose a concise and soft melody for the soundtrack. There is no doubt that only with a deep gaze and an unpeaceful heart can the essence of the soundtrack be found. Working with John was the world-famous violinist Yitzhak Perlman, and the combined dedication of the two giants has written another glorious page in the history of cinema.
03 Across the Stars by Anne Sophie Mutter/John Williams
Legendary film scorer John Williams conducted and recorded a new album, Across The Stars, based on friend and violin superstar Anne-Sophie Mutt, which was recorded in Hollywood and released by DG.
The album's track ranges from the Star Wars series 'Empire Strikes Back' "Yoda Theme", "Return of the Jedi" "Luke and Princess Leia", "Clash through the Stars" in "Attack of the Clones", to the most recent "Duel" in "The Adventures of Tintin" and "Little Lily Theme" in "Memoirs of a Geisha". In addition to the haunting Theme of the Oscar-winning Film Schindler's List, the album features Cinderella and Dracula soundtracks (both filmed in the 1970s) as well as Irish-inspired Earth Ambitions and romantic New Dragons and Phoenixes.
04 Star Wars: The Force Awakens Movie Soundtrack John Williams
The Force Awakens was undoubtedly the most high-profile soundtrack work of late 2015, with John Williams, over 80 years old, writing the soundtrack for Star Wars for the seventh time in a nearly 40-year-old span. Rarely has a soundtrack artist been involved in a series of works for such a long time.
Williams wrote a nearly 3-hour soundtrack for The Force Awakens, which was eventually used in the film for 102 minutes. The soundtrack remains at his high standard and has a large number of new themes and motivations introduced. Moreover, these themes are not simply new creations, and a large part of them are inextricably linked to the old themes, which can be described as interlinked and fascinating. This is also why Williams is an excellent soundtrack master who can tell stories with music, because he is the only one who can design such a sophisticated soundtrack structure in his own works, even if he leaves the picture, just through his music, he can outline the details of the film.
You can treasure 4 classic soundtrack records
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