Brian Curran
John Williams & Steven Spielberg Release The Ultimate Collection

John Williams & Steven Spielberg, a working relationship that has spanned over four decades of film collaboration as composer and director, is unparalleled in the industry. Coming March 17, Sony Classical will release John Williams & Steven Spielberg: The Ultimate Collection, three discs full of John Williams’ music from Spielberg’s films and works. While the first two discs have been released previously, the third disc contains all new recordings conducted by John Williams and performed by the Recording Arts Orchestra of Los Angeles.

If you already own every John Williams soundtrack out there, there is extra incentive in the form of Steven Spielberg & John Williams: The Adventure Continues, a new documentary by filmmaker and film historian Laurent Bouzereau, who has been documenting Spielberg’s work for more than twenty years.

Brian Curran

John Williams & Steven Spielberg: The Ultimate Collection Track listing: 

DISC 1 – CD 

1 Raiders of the Lost Ark from “Raiders of the Lost Ark”

2 Theme from “Always”

3 Adventures on Earth from “E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial”

4 Theme from “Sugarland Express”

5 Title Theme from “Jaws”

6 Out to Sea / The Shark Cage Fugue from “Jaws”

Out to Sea The Shark Cage Fugue from Jaws

7 Exsultate Justi from “Empire of the Sun”

8 Parade of the Slave Children from “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom”

9 Over the Moon from “E.T. The Extra Terrestrial”

10 March from “1941”

11 Cadillac of the Skies from “Empire of the Sun”

12 Scherzo for Motorcycle and Orchestra from “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade”

13 Close Encounters of the Third Kind/When You Wish Upon a Star Medley

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Excerpts)

When You Wish Upon A Star (interpolated)

DISC 2 – CD 

1 Flying from “E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial”

2 Theme From “Jurassic Park”

3 Remembrances from “Schindler’s List”

4 Flight to Neverland from “Hook”

5 The Battle Of Hollywood From “1941” (includes the Irish folksong “The Rakes of Mallow”)

6 Smee’s Plan From “Hook”

7 The Barrel Chase From “Jaws”

8 My Friend,The Brachiosaurus from “Jurassic Park”

9 Jim’s New Life From “Empire Of The Sun”

10 The Dialogue From “Close Encounters Of The Third Kind”

11 The Lost Boys Ballet From “Hook”

12 Theme from “Schindler’s List”

13 The Basket Chase from “Raiders Of The Lost Ark”

14 The Face Of Pan from “Hook”

15 The Banquet Scene from “Hook”  

DISC 3 – CD 

1 The Adventures of Mutt from “Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”

2 Dry Your Tears, Afrika from “Amistad”

3 The BFG from “The BFG”

4 With Malice Toward None from “Lincoln”

5 The Duel from “The Adventures of Tintin”

6 A New Beginning from “Minority Report”

Escapades for Alto Saxophone and Orchestra from “Catch Me If You Can”

7 Movement 1: Closing In

8 Movement 2: Reflections

9 Movement 3: Joy Ride

10 Marion’s Theme from “Raiders of the Lost Ark”

11 Hymn to the Fallen from “Saving Private Ryan”

12 Dartmoor, 1912 from “War Horse”

13 Viktor’s Tale from “The Terminal”

14 Prayer for Peace from “Munich”

15 Immigration and Building from “The Unfinished Journey”

16 With Malice Toward None from “Lincoln” (Alternate Version)

Press Release:

Pre-Order via Amazon, here: https://goo.gl/1BKpuo

Special 3-CD Collection Includes New Recordings

Plus Bonus DVD Featuring Documentary

Steven Spielberg & John Williams: The Adventure Continues

February 16, 2017 – Celebrating one of the most definitive and beloved partnerships in the history of motion pictures, John Williams & Steven Spielberg: The Ultimate Collection delivers an essential sampling of Williams’s musical scores for Spielberg’s films – a critically acclaimed, award-winning, chart-topping collaboration now in its fifth decade. Comprised of a three-CD set and bonus DVD, John Williams & Steven Spielberg: The Ultimate Collection is available from Sony Classical on March 17, 2017.

This collection brings together Williams’s two previous discs of his music for Spielberg films, which he recorded with the Boston Pops Orchestra for Sony Classical: The Spielberg/Williams Collaboration (1991) and Williams on Williams: The Classic Spielberg Scores (1995). Those discs include music from Sugarland Express (1974) through Jurassic Park and Schindler’s List (1993).

Bringing the collection up to date is an all-new third disc, recorded in 2016 with Williams conducting the Recording Arts Orchestra of Los Angeles, and with Spielberg as executive producer. It features the first release of brand new recordings of music from Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal SkullAmistadThe BFGLincolnThe Adventures of TintinMinority ReportCatch Me If You CanRaiders of the Lost ArkSaving Private RyanWar HorseThe TerminalMunich and Spielberg’s 1999 documentary The Unfinished Journey.

The bonus DVD that accompanies this new three-CD collection presents Steven Spielberg & John Williams: The Adventure Continues, a new documentary by filmmaker and film historian Laurent Bouzereau, who has been documenting Spielberg’s work for more than twenty years.

“I was very happy with the fact that when I was music director of Boston Pops, we were able to record a lot of the music that I’d written for Steven’s films,” Williams said about the first two discs in the collection. “So I said to him, ‘Steven, wouldn’t it be great if we could complete the Sony collection and put in all the things that we didn’t have when the last disc was recorded, this time with our great orchestra here in Los Angeles?’  To which Steven responded, ‘This is a great idea. Let’s do it!'”

When Steven Spielberg made his first theatrical feature The Sugarland Express (1974), he sought John Williams to compose the score. With two exceptions, all of Spielberg’s films have featured a Williams score. In its continuity and its infinite range of style and expression, their partnership is unique, even in light of other such legendary collaborations in film history, including Bernard Herrmann with Alfred Hitchcock, Nino Rota with Federico Fellini, and Ennio Morricone with Sergio Leone.

“Oh, this has been a great adventure,” Spielberg tells Williams at the end of Bouzereau’s film. “This has been a greater adventure than all the Indiana Jones movies put together for me … It’s been an honor for me to work all these years with John and to have his friendship, his partnership, his brotherhood. When we made Sugarland Express, we didn’t realize we’d set our paths to be partners and friends for the rest of our lives.”

In his ongoing career, now in its sixth decade, Williams has won five Academy Awards (three for Spielberg films), seven BAFTA (British Film Academy) awards, four Golden Globes, and twenty-two Grammy Awards for his film scores. His fifty Academy Award nominations, as of 2017, are a record among composers, and he is second only to Walt Disney in holding the most Academy Award nominations by an individual artist.  Fifteen of those nominations are for scores from Spielberg films.

Sony Music Masterworks comprises Masterworks, Sony Classical, OKeh, Portrait and Masterworks Broadway imprints. For email updates and information please visit www.SonyMasterworks.com.

**Banner Image by Brian Curran

David Yeh
A long time fan of both Disney and Star Wars, he has a hard time resisting the temptations of Disney’s merchandising force. If you see pictures of the toys and pins, you can bet they are from Dave, our resident collecting guru.