John Williams: Live in Vienna (2020) User Reviews

John Williams can do no wrong

[Jeremy_Urquhart · 8/10 · 7 December 2022]

I remember hoping that there was a filmed performance of John Williams conducting some of his movie scores, and so was happy to find out about the existence of this one.

He really is one of the very best, when it comes to film composers, and a two-hour set like this is bound to remind you why. Of course, it tells you what you already know in that way, and is exactly what you'd expect - but it's John Williams, and the music is (mostly) stellar, when it comes to how it's performed.

Watching this (or at least listening to it) is a no-brainer for anyone who likes film scores (I'd ordinarily say "for John Williams fans," but come on - if you like listening to music composed for movies, then you're guaranteed to like listening to Williams' diverse range of scores).

John Williams is just the absolute GOAT when it comes to film composers, isn't he?

[Richard_McGhie · 9/10 · 21 January 2024]

Just watched John Williams' 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!

While I'm not really the biggest fan personally of the unique way Anne Sophie-Mutter tackles Hedwig's Theme from Harry Potter (just something about that violin solo that doesn'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 "Donnybrook Fair" from Far and Away, "The Duel" from The Adventures of Tintin and the "Remembrances" theme from Schindler'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 it's clear that Mutter and Williams greatly enjoyed each other's company.

To 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.

Speaking of the pieces that were used in this production (from Hedwig'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 & 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 they'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 you'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 you're someone who has or otherwise hasn'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).

In 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.

My overall rating for John Williams Live at Vienna: 9.5/10.