Customer Reviews

The Music of John Williams: 40 Years of Film Music

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

While this 4-CD set does offer one of the most comprehensive collections of film music by the 20th century's greatest composer, I was very disappointed that they didn't have Williams himself conduct, or use original tracks from the movie scores. [...]

While I'm as big a fan of John Williams' music as anyone, I was *highly* disappointed by this collection for one simple fact--the quality of the orchestra playing his scores here is simply appalling. For those used to hearing Mr. Williams' music being played by only the finest of ensembles, this recording will be an extreme let-down. I was especially looking forward to this recording for its concert arrangements of songs such as "Flag Parade" that are unavailable elsewhere ... but I can't even bring myself to listen to it, the musicianship is so poor. My advice: skip this over-priced, substandard recording and stick with the original, official soundtracks.

This collection has intended to bring together some of the best work from this centurys greatest composer! And it achieves this just.

On the four disc that you get for your money, you are bombarded by william's talent for creating mood in the music that brings you so close to the film itself, you almost no longer need the pictures or the actors to see the film. His scores help to set the mood of the film and every note played every chord struck fits the action of the film exactly. Great examples are the raiders march, duel of the fates or hedwig's theme.

However, there is one very big drawback to this CD boxset, and that is the attention given to one of his greatest soundtracks. I'm talking about superman. This was a soundtrack that actually sounded as incredible as the film itself was. There was no sense of O.T.T about and neither was it underplayed and shadowed by the film, but it made the film as much what it was as christopher reeve playing the man of steel himself. The superman score makes you want to put a red bedspread round your neck and fly off the building. But here in the box set of his greatest work, john william's superman score is reduced to having just one track on one of the discs. At the very least it should have had fortress of solitude on there aswell!!!

But apart from that this is a truely a value for money CD collection.

Much like the John Barry Collection, this latest release from Silva America "The Music of John Williams:40 Years of Film Music", a four compact disc collection is also worth their weight in GOLD! Williams creates visual moods for each film he scores ~ strings, brass and lush-velvet arrangements overlay each cue in his distinctive style. Williams musical movements fit the story and must resolve rather quickly as each cue of the film passes quickly, as in Harry Potter and Star Wars. John has the ability to emphasis music in a similar fashion to Holst. Williams use of strings sets the mood and has the ability to make the whole scene come together.

John Williams compilation traces 40 years of film music, featuring "The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra" ~ conducted by Paul Bateman, Nic Raine and Mario Klemens (outstanding) ~ "Crouch End Festival Chorus" ~ David Temple (choir master) ~ perform 45 selections ~ 36 blockbuster films ~ most complete collection of Williams compositions ever assembled ~ over four hours of symphonic suites with full orchestra all individually wrapped-up into one neat package ~ Silva's collection covers all his major works and some lesser known but memorable cues ~ just the way "film-score-buffs" like 'em!

Take a bow Silva America, James Fitzpatrick (producer), Reynold da Silva (executive producer), Rick Clark (associate producer/compilation mastering) and of course the one and only legendary composer of the millennium ~ Mr. John Williams!

Total Time: 4-CD-Set ~ Silva America 810 ~ (10/07/2003)

Take a look at the running times:

Disc 1: 60 minutes
Disc 2: 50 minutes
Disc 3: 61 minutes
Disc 4: 58 minutes

What gives Silva? There is *MUCH* more John Williams in the silva screen back catalogue by the Prague Philharmonic than what is in this set, and thats not including their entire discs devoted to Star Wars Films, Indiana Jones Trilogy etc. Why isn't Hook "When You're Alone" included on Disc 2? There's room. Why isn't 1941 on Disc 1? There's room. Why isn't Earthquake on Disc 3? There's room. Why isn't Far and Away on disc 4? There's room. Where's the other ten minutes of the Rare Breed suite on disc 3? Why isn't Midway on disc 1? Where are the Land of the Giants, Time Tunnel and Lots In Space tv themes? Etc. Etc. Etc.

C'mon Silva, most of these 4 disc mega boxes released in the past few years are packed to the brim, but not this one, and with new recordings made after this was released (the terminal, munich, geisha, war of the worlds, star wars ep 3, harry potter 3), it only makes sense for a "re-do" in the next couple of years.

Further, with Silva releasing the 100 Greatest Film Themes on six discs in a couple of months, it's only a matter of time before we see the ultimate six disc john williams set.

This isn't a BAD set to own, but it could have been much better and when compared to the Jerry Goldsmith and John Barry sets in this same series, this one is a major letdown.

This four CD set expands on the previously released John Williams Greatest Hits. It's a grand collection of nearly four hours of famous music scores from over forty years. There are many songs never before available in any collection. The short liner notes tell a great tale of musical movie history and include all of his numerous award nominations and wins. Each song (oddly enough) mentions the actors and the director, so fond are John Williams's memories of his work with these people. All of the conductors are mentioned along with specific orchestras, choirs, arrangement and orchestration specialists and even the publishers (contractual, I am sure). The only things missing are his early television scores, such as those for "Lost In Space" (by Johnny Williams back then). But with four discs, one has nothing to complain about and everything to enjoy!

The music on this album is a mixture of re-recordings that possibly are from the original musical scores of their respective movies, but the music most definitely is NOT the soundtrack music of the respective movies as Amazon advertises. There can be one and only one musical soundtrack for a movie and the music from this album is admittedly re-recordings. If you want to buy the original soundtrack music for each of the described movies, this album does not have any of it. Come on Amazon, get your act together!

I have been a huge fan of John Williams and I have known about his music for years. However, I never actually bought any of his music on CD. I was rather skeptical about purchasing this CD but when it arrived I knew I had made the right choice. The sound quality of the compilation is outstanding. The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra do a great job under the direction of Paul Bateman. The original London Symphony Orchestra CDs of John Williams' Star Wars Trilogy CDs are marginally better but this is still a great CD compilation. If you love ET, Star Wars, Indiana Jones and Harry Potter, you will love this compilation soundtrack. Buy it, listen to these CDs in the car and enjoy every minute of the collection!!!

For those of us that have collected soundtracks for many years and specially John Williams' music, it might seem a little redundant to buy this four disc compliation of his music that has every single track that I am sure every collector owns at least once.
However once you start listening to the pieces you start to notice the little differences in their performance from the original versions.
There are subtle changes in rythm and tempo and even different instruments play certain parts.
These nuances make this redition of Willams' music a most enjoyable one.

This a great present for people who love movies and music. Everytime I hear his songs, I can picture the movies the songs were in. It is just a really nice album that can bring back a lot of memories.