John Williams Violin Concert

For the 2014/15 Opening Night Concert and Gala, the Los Angeles Philharmonic paid loving tribute to composer John Williams, one of the most popular and successful American composers of the modern age and long a champion and close friend of the orchestra. Gustavo Dudamel, an awestruck fan of the musical icon, led the orchestra in a cross-section of Maestro Williams' matchless canon. The concert features Itzhak Perlman with a very special musical performance of pieces from Schindler's List as well as the cadenza and variations from Fiddler On The Roof. Jazz elements fill the air during Escapades from Catch Me If You Can, and may the force be with you during the iconic tunes from Star Wars. The Blu-ray bonus features include interviews with the main protagonists, including Gustavo Dudamel, John Williams, and Itzhak Perlman.

John Williams and Anne-Sophie Mutter reunite for World Premiere recording of the composer’s Violin Concerto No. 2 alongside three film themes in special new arrangements. Now available as a special single-disc Blu-ray edition of the album featuring all tracks in Pure Audio – also available in Surround and Dolby Atmos – along with films of last summer’s world premiere of the second violin concerto at Tanglewood, together with the artists’ encore performance of “Across the Stars” (from Star Wars: Attack of the Clones); the three film themes in concert from Boston; and a 25‑minute interview with John Williams and Anne-Sophie Mutter at Tanglewood.

The new box contains no fewer than three different Williams recordings of that most popular of all guitar works, Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez – from 1964 with the Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra, from 1974 with Barenboim and the English Chamber Orchestra, and from 1983 with Frémaux and the Philharmonia Orchestra – plus a performance of its much-loved Adagio in Williams’s celebrated 1993 “Seville Concert”. That entire concert is presented here too, on both CD and DVD – the latter also including a bonus documentary portrait of the artist. Reviewing his second studio recording of the concerto, Gramophone in January 1975 proclaimed: “John Williams himself has already made one of the finest [versions], yet if possible even more conclusively this new one must be counted a winner, irresistible from first to last.