John Williams: Live in Vienna (2020)

John Williams: Live in Vienna (2020). 2h 8m

“Just watched John Williamsu0026#39; inaugural televised live concert with the Vienna Philharmonic and I am very happy to report that John Williams (as always) knocks it out of the park once again and continues to prove to us especially in terms of Hollywood film composers why he is literally the absolute GOAT!u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWhile Iu0026#39;m not really the biggest fan personally of the unique way Anne Sophie-Mutter tackles Hedwigu0026#39;s Theme from Harry Potter (just something about that violin solo that doesnu0026#39;t quite exactly work or mesh as well with the live orchestra in my personal opinion) and even though she only got to do a few select violin pieces (my three favourites of those being u0026quot;Donnybrook Fairu0026quot; from Far and Away, u0026quot;The Duelu0026quot; from The Adventures of Tintin and the u0026quot;Remembrancesu0026quot; theme from Schindleru0026#39;s List), I still have to hugely respect how naturally gifted and ridiculously talented she undoubtedly is as a violinist. Even for what she was given to do during the performance, she was an absolute trooper and itu0026#39;s clear that Mutter and Williams greatly enjoyed each otheru0026#39;s company.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eTo basically almost reiterate what I said about the Berlin Philharmonic in the previous review, you can tell that there was insane passion, creativity, talent and artistic excellence involved within each of the Vienna Philharmonic players and that they had a stomping great time being guided by one of their classical music idols.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eSpeaking of the pieces that were used in this production (from Hedwigu0026#39;s Theme to Star Wars (in particular the main title theme and the Imperial March) to Indiana Jones to Jaws, even to newer pieces such as The Rebellion is Reborn from The Last Jedi, Luke u0026amp; Leia from Return of the Jedi, War Horse and The Witches of Eastwick), it is no real surprise that they sound just as iconic and awesome as theyu0026#39;ve ever been but of the bunch, there are two big standouts for me: The first one being the opening piece Flight to Neverland from Hook which, even 33 years later since that film came out, still never fails to make your heart soar and make you feel like youu0026#39;re in Neverland itself and the other one being my personal favourite of the entire performance by far, namely the Adventures on Earth suite (essentially the whole ending to ET) which, even once you listen to it and even if youu0026#39;re someone who has or otherwise hasnu0026#39;t watched ET and yet you know how that film ends, has never, ever lost its special power to make you well up like a baby, melt your heart and bring many a tear to your eye (as it did me during and after it finished).u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIn conclusion, John Williams Live at Vienna rather unsurprisingly is yet another top-notch, amazing, incredible, magical production that honours and celebrates the vast wealth of great film music the man himself has provided us with for the last seven decades and long may he continue to provide us with great film scores.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eMy overall rating for John Williams Live at Vienna: 9.5/10.”