Meeting Spielberg
John Williams talks to Donald Macleod about his early jazz career, and his first meeting with a budding film director called Steven Spielberg.
John Williams talks to Donald Macleod about a date with a young rookie director that changed movie history. Williams discusses the lunch meeting with Steven Spielberg in 1972 that precipitated one of the cinema's greatest partnerships - as well as introducing his pioneering score to Spielberg's "Close Encounters Of The Third Kind".
Before that, we hear about Williams's early life in jazz, working with Henry Mancini and AndrΓ© Previn, and composing big band jazz scores for television - including the detective drama Checkmate. The composer discusses his experiences in the hothouse film and TV studios of the 1960s, and introduces his score to the TV film Jane Eyre, for which he visited the Yorkshire Dales.
The programme ends with the first of a series of Williams's concert works - the pungently dissonant, BartΓ³k-tinged Flute Concerto from 1969.
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John Williams
Flying
- SONY CLASSICAL: S2K51333.
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John Williams
Checkmate (1960) - Main Theme
Orchestra: Johnny Williams and His Orchestra. Conductor: John Williams.- FILM SCORE MONTHLY: FSM 0908.
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John Williams
Checkmate (1960) - The Bishop's Retreat
Orchestra: Johnny Williams and His Orchestra. Conductor: John Williams.- FILM SCORE MONTHLY: FSM 0908.
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John Williams
Checkmate (1960) - Cyanide Touch
Orchestra: Johnny Williams and His Orchestra. Conductor: John Williams.- FILM SCORE MONTHLY: FSM 0908.
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John Williams
Jane Eyre (1971)- Theme from Jane Eyre
Orchestra: The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra. Composer: John Williams.- PRIMETIME: TVPMCD810.
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John Williams
Jane Eyre (1971)- Restoration
Orchestra: The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra.- PRIMETIME: TVPMCD810.
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John Williams
Suite: Close Encounters Of The Third Kind
Orchestra: Los Angeles Philharmonic.- DECCA: 4178462.
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John Williams
Flute Concerto
Performer: Peter Lloyd.- VARESE SARABANDE: VSD5345.
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Broadcasts
- Mon 14 Jan 2013 12:00Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 3
- Mon 14 Jan 2013 18:30Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 3
- Mon 30 Sep 2013 12:00Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 3
- Mon 30 Sep 2013 18:30Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 3
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