Orchestra: Saito Kinen Orchestra
Conductor: John Williams, Stéphane Denève
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Deutsche Grammophon
Catalogue: 6515029
Release: 2024
Size: 1.08 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: cover
01. Superman March
02. Hedwig’s Theme
03. Fawkes the Phoenix
04. Harry’s Wondrous World
05. Theme
06. The Rebellion is Reborn (from Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi)
07. Princess Leia’s Theme
08. Throne Room & Finale
09. Yoda’s Theme (from Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back)
10. Raiders March (from Raiders of the Lost Ark)
11. Imperial March: Darth Vader’s Theme (from Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back)
12. Tributes! (for Seiji)
30 years after his last visit to Japan, John Williams has returned for a special concert – making his debut with the world-famous Saito Kinen Orchestra in renditions of his beloved film scores and reuniting with his longtime friend, world-renowned conductor Seiji Ozawa (1935-2024). Captured live on record at Suntory Hall last year, John Williams In Tokyo is set to be released by Deutsche Grammophon and follows his acclaimed concert albums, The Berlin Concert and John Williams in Vienna, which topped charts around the globe. The first single, ‘Superman March’ celebrates the composer in the week of his 92nd birthday along with a music video of the performance. Captured live at the concert in Tokyo, the album includes 11 pieces conducted by John Williams and a bonus track, ‘Tributes! (for Seiji)’ composed by John Williams for Seiji Ozawa, conducted by Stéphane Denève.
This 2024 release followed on the recorded concerts nonagenarian John Williams conducted in Berlin and Vienna, cementing his worldwide recognition as one of the greats. In a way, it completes a trilogy in this vein, but this recording also has an added function. Williams’ ensemble here, in a pair of concerts, is the Saito Kinen Orchestra, formed by conductor Seiji Ozawa in 1984. The recording commemorates several aspects of the relationship between Williams and Ozawa, which dates back to Ozawa’s tenure as conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and it represents the fulfillment of a long-held dream on Ozawa’s part to have Williams conduct his hand-picked group. Moreover, given Ozawa’s death in February of 2024, the album takes on a memorial quality, and it includes at the end a performance, conducted by Stéphane Denève, of Williams’ classical composition Tributes! (for Seiji), written in 1999 to mark Ozawa’s 25th anniversary as conductor of the Boston Symphony. The recording thus has a great deal of symbolic significance. As for the rest of the program? For this audience, Williams stuck to the classics, with really no rarities: it is mostly Star Wars, Harry Potter, and Indiana Jones, with the perennially popular Superman March to start things off. The orchestra takes easily to Williams’ music, and any audience might enjoy this album simply as a collection of Williams’ greatest hits.