‧約翰威廉斯 JOHN WILLIAMS／指揮
‧波士頓大眾管弦樂團 The Boston Pops Orchestra
　　
提到配樂大師約翰．威廉斯，許多令人驚奇的電影畫面即在影迷心中油然而生。為慶賀大師2022年九十歲大壽，DECCA唱片公司特別將他以往為Philips唱片公司與波士頓大眾管弦樂團合作錄製的專輯重新發行。錄音於1980-90年代完成，共收錄21張CD，除了保留了原始封面設計，還另外附贈一本24頁的解說冊。
　　
作為好萊塢最受喜愛的電影配樂大師，在某種程度上實則掩蓋了威廉斯職業生涯另一同樣重要角色，那就是他的指揮家地位。執掌波士頓大眾管弦樂團時期，他安排演出大量電影音樂，由於甚受歡迎，也引起其他樂團的追隨與仿效。同時他還請人為古典音樂重新編曲，有些則是自己編寫，以擴展樂團的核心經典曲目，從而融合不同的流派並將新的觀眾引入古典音樂當中。
　　
約翰．威廉斯1932年2月8日出生於紐約，1950年進入洛杉磯市立學院與卡斯特諾佛-台戴斯可學作曲，不久進入茱莉亞音樂學校學習鋼琴。其後進而為電視影集及電影作曲、編曲及指揮。1980至93年間接替亞瑟．費德勒的位置，掌領波士頓大眾管弦樂團，演奏並灌錄自己的作品。卸任後也被聘為該團終生桂冠指揮，與該團合作關係密切。
　　
威廉斯創作過上百部電影配樂，共獲得5座奧斯卡金像獎、7座英國電影學院獎、25座葛萊美獎、4座金球獎之肯定。其中許多是與大導演史帝芬‧史匹柏合作的電影。獲得奧斯卡金像獎的作品包括1971年「屋上提琴手」(Fiddler on the Roof)最佳編曲獎，1975年「大白鯊」(Jaws)最佳原著音樂獎，1977年「星際大戰」(Star War)最佳原著音樂獎，1982年「外星人」(E. T.)最佳原著音樂獎，1993年「辛德勒的名單」(Shindler`s List )最佳原著音樂獎。其他知名的作品還包括「侏羅紀公園」、「虎克船長」、「超人」、「太陽帝國」、「第三類接觸」、「法櫃奇兵」、「哈利波特」系列等。
　　
2005年美國電影學會（American Film Institute ）評選約翰．威廉斯的「星際大戰」為「有史以來最偉大的美國電影配樂」第一名。而在此榜單中，「大白鯊」與「外星人」也分別被評選為第6名與第14名。他是這份榜單中唯一有三部作品入榜的作曲家。2016年美國電影學會更頒贈他終身成就獎，成為首位獲此獎項的作曲家。
　　
2020年，約翰．威廉斯獲得皇家愛樂協會（Royal Philharmonic Society）頒發的RPS金獎，史帝芬‧史匹柏受邀致詞時表示：「約翰，你透過音符、所受的訓練，以及感性，將古典音樂帶給了世界各地的年輕人。你已融入當今音樂文化的DNA之中了。」RPS金獎是音樂界的最高榮譽之一，自1870年成立以來，已經表彰過許多偉大的音樂藝術家，包括布拉姆斯、克萊斯勒、伯恩斯坦、阿格麗希、布蘭德爾等人。
　　
約翰．威廉斯善於將學院的素養頃注於作品中，古典形式的音樂風格隨處可見。然而他仍能兼顧商業趣味及藝術品味，創作出介於古典宏偉氣勢與流行通俗旋律之間的跨領域作品。在這套珍貴的錄音全集中，總結了約翰．威廉斯與波士頓大眾管弦樂團最精彩的演出，也將他身兼作曲家、編曲家以及指揮家的多重身份發揮得淋漓盡致，是樂迷與影迷必備的重量級典藏。


CD 1 Pops On The March
Williams pays homage to one of the most enduring and beloved repertoires of the Boston Pops: the marches. Williams expanded the repertoire with music from Europe (Walton’s Orb and Sceptre and Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance no. 4, Tchaikovsky’s Coronation March, and Joseph Franz Wagner’s Under the Double Eagle), and from Hollywood (Alfred Newman’s Conquest from the 1947 film Captain from Castile and his own The Midway March, from the 1977 film The Battle of Midway).
CD 2 Pops In Space
The first Williams/Pops album released by Philip Classics, presents suites from his space-themed film scores: Superman, Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, showcasing the stand-alone concert quality of film music.
CD 3 “That’s Entertainment” (Pops On Broadway)
That’s Entertainment (also known as Pops on Broadway) pays homage to Broadway and Hollywood musicals. Older hits, like Gigi and The Band Wagon, and older masters – like Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein II and Frederick Loewe & Alan Jay Lerner – share the stage with the new generation: Andrew Lloyd Webber, Stephen Sondheim, and Marvin Hamlisch. Two highlights are a medley of Richard Rodgers waltzes by the Pops’ historic arranger Leroy Anderson and a brand-new arrangement for virtuoso violin and orchestra, which Williams penned from his own Oscar-winning film adaptation of Jerry Bock & Sheldon Harnick’s Fiddler on the Roof.
CD 4 We Wish You A Merry Christmas
Williams’ first Christmas album with the Boston Pops and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus features arrangements and compositions by – among others – Leroy Anderson and Charles Ives, along with a new medley commissioned by Williams of the carols of Alfred Burt, one of those lesser-known composers whom he rediscovered.
CD 5 Pops Around The World
A selection of international overtures, from Rossini’s L’italiana in Algeri, to Glinka’s Russlan and Ludmilla, to Auber’s The Bronze Horse, von Suppé’s Boccaccio, Bernstein’s Candide and Williams’ own The Cowboys.
CD 6 Aisle Seat – Great Film Music
Includes: Williams’ E.T., the Extraterrestrial, Raiders of the Lost Ark, the song “If We Were in Love” written for the Luciano Pavarotti vehicle Yes, Giorgio, and the symphonic version of Vangelis’ Chariots of Fire, as well as such classics as Max Steiner’s Gone with the Wind, and Dimitri Tiomkin’s Friendly Persuasion.
CD 7 Out Of This World
Film music for the sci-fi genre, including Jerry Goldsmith’s own concert versions of Alien and Star Trek: The Motion Picture, as well as selections from 2001: A Space Odyssey and Return of the Jedi, plus the TV shows Battlestar Galactica, The Twilight Zone, and Star Trek.
CD 8 Prokofiev: Peter & The Wolf; Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker (Excerpts)
Williams and the Pops return to the ‘classical’ repertoire, with Prokofiev’s musical tale Peter And The Wolf with Dudley Moore narrating, and Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite.
CD 9 With A Song In My Heart
Jessye Norman joins Williams and the Boston Pops to apply her talent to the Great American Songbook; with works by Cole Porter, Richard Rodgers, Jerome Kern, Harold Arlen, and George Gershwin.
CD 10 Swing, Swing, Swing
Journey back to the big bands era, with orchestral presentations of In the Mood, Tuxedo Junction, Opus One, Begin the Beguine, Sing, Sing, Sing, plus Williams’s own tribute to the genre, “Swing, Swing, Swing”, from the film 1941.
CD 11 America, The Dream Goes On
Named after a Williams composition, this album has patriotism at its core, with a line-up of such quasi national anthems as America, The Beautiful, This Land is My Land, Battle Hymn of the Republic, Fanfare for the Common Man, and American Salute.
CD 12 On Stage
Is dedicated to musicals, with excerpts from Annie Get Your Guns, Cats, and A Chorus Line, as well as two tribute medleys of Duke Ellington’s works and Fred Astaire’s films.
CD 13 Bernstein By Boston
A taster of the multifaceted output of ‘Lenny’ Bernstein, from his musicals and operettas (On the Town, Wonderful Town, West Side Story, Candide), to his theatre music (Mass), to his symphonic production (Divertimento for Orchestra).
CD 14 Pops In Love
gathers popular pieces in a sentimental vein by Ravel, Satie, Fauré, Debussy, Albinoni, Tchaikovsky, Saint-Saëns, Pachelbel, and Vaughan-Williams.
CD 15 Holst – The Planets
CD 16 Digital Jukebox
A pot-pourri that mixes easy-listening music from the pop-song and film repertoires: from The Girl from Ipanema, Those Were The Days, Tijuana Taxi, Mack the Knife, to the theme songs from The Pink Panther, Summer of 42, A Summer Place, Days of Wine and Roses, and Love is a Many Splendored Thing.
CD 17 Lucky To Be Me
John Williams accompanies Jessye Norman on the piano as they explore the song repertoire of Leonard Bernstein, Michel Legrand, Richard Rodgers, Kurt Weill, George Gershwin, Frederick Loewe, and Billy Joel.
CD 18 Salute To Hollywood
Features arrangements from film songs (La Bamba, Somewhere Out There), medley tributes to award-winning songs and to Fred Astaire’s dance numbers, and selections from symphonic film scores (John Barry’s Out of Africa, David Raksin’s The Bad and the Beautiful, and Williams’ The Witches of Eastwick). Opening the album is the first recording of Williams’ arrangement of the 1937 song Hooray for Hollywood, which became one of the regular show-openers in Williams’ concerts.
CD 19 Pops À La Russe
Russian repertoire, including Khatchaturian’s Sabre Dance and Mussorgsky/Rimsky-Korsakov’s A Night on the Bare Mountain, and less renowned pieces such as Reinhold Glière’s Russian Sailor’s Dance from The Red Poppy.
CD 20 Pops By Gershwin
George Gershwin: An American in Paris ∙ Rhapsody in Blue ∙ Girl Crazy (selections) ∙ Porgy and Bess (selections)
CD 21 By Request
An all-Williams collection of both film music and symphonic miniatures.
Pops Britannia
Danny Boy, Scotland the Brave, Grainger’s Molly on the Shore, Delius’ Brigg Fair, Peter Maxwell Davies’ A Orkney Wedding: With Sunrise (an original Boston Pops commission), and Williams’ suite from the TV film Jane Eyre