Since 1972, when he won his first Oscar, John Williams has received 47 Oscar nominations including 5 wins, 2 Emmys, 3 Golden Globes, 7 BAFTAs and more then 20 Gold and Platinum Records. Today, he is one of the most respected and acclaimed composers in Hollywood. Perhaps the film composer of the biggest number of instantly recognizable themes and motifs, Williams's immense musical output has now secured him a “cultural icon” status...

John Williams turned 80 this year (2012), and this is also the 40th anniversary of the long Steven Spielberg/Williams partnership. For me, this six disc collection of his music brings back some childhood memories, as well as providing me with some of the great man's music I had previously not heard. I first came across the work of John Williams as a teenager when I bought the original soundtrack recording to Raiders of the Lost Ark. I was instantly hooked on his music which not only added romance, danger and numerous other elements to the movies it accompanied, but when listened to alone could arouse emotions to rival some of the greatest classical composers. Those where my feelings as a young adolescent and I have to say that, for a lot of Williams's work, this opinion still rings true.

This release collects together various eras of Williams's work and attempts to present them in a format that will appeal to both his hardcore fans and general movie fanatics. So we are treated to a disc of his music for the Star Wars movies, another for the Indiana Jones films (but not Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull), disc three features highlights of his music for the first three Harry Potter movies; on discs four and half of disc five we are treated to highlights music from his work on Spielberg's films; and finally on the second half of disc five and disc six we get samples of his other film and concert works.

At first I thought this was Silva Screen collecting together all its previous John Williams music and releasing it under a box set. And while this is on the whole no doubt the case I was surprised to see that CD 2 (Indiana Jones) wasn't just a repacked version of the 2003 The Indiana Jones Trilogy CD release. While it appears to be the same recording, here they have left the two vocal tracks from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom off this release (thankfully) as they're not Williams's tracks.

Likewise, the Star Wars disc could have been a lazy repacked edition of Silva Screen's 2005 Music from the Star Wars Saga, but there are an additional two tracks on this new release. We have one track each from The Phantom Menace and Attack Of The Clones (neither film's music being included on the previous release). Also, out goes 'The Flag Parade' to be replaced by the 'Cantina Band' track which is incredibly poor when compared to the original.

The Harry Potter disc represents, on the whole, music from the 2006 release Music from the Harry Potter Films.

The Spileberg/Williams tracks include some of the tracks from Silva Screen's music from the 2005 Music from the Films of Steven Spielberg, minus the Indiana Jones tracks and including new music from The Adventures of Tin Tin and War Horse (both of which were included on Silva Screen's Film Music 2011).

And the final disc and a half includes highlights from the 2003 4-disc release The Music of John Williams: 40 Years of Film Music, with the inclusion of a number of concert works. While interesting, as I hadn't heard quite a few of these tracks previously, it's also probably the weakest segment of the collection.

If you're a fan of soundtracks, or Williams, then this is an essential purchase. I can't think of a more fitting tribute to Williams's illustrious career.

10

Darren Rea