0:00:02 > 0:00:04Harry Potter, Superman, ET and the most famous shark
0:00:04 > 0:00:06in cinema history are all ready for their close-ups
0:00:06 > 0:00:09here at the Royal Albert Hall.
0:00:09 > 0:00:11Tonight, the iconic music of John Williams is going to
0:00:11 > 0:00:14transport us to the worlds of our favourite movies,
0:00:14 > 0:00:17and indeed to galaxies far, far away.
0:00:17 > 0:00:20I do hope you have plenty of popcorn.
0:00:20 > 0:00:22Welcome to the John Williams Film Prom.
0:05:51 > 0:05:53CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:06:11 > 0:06:14Ladies and gentlemen, the BBC Concert Orchestra
0:06:14 > 0:06:16with conductor Keith Lockhart.
0:06:16 > 0:06:18CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:06:22 > 0:06:26And that is our concert off to a thrilling start,
0:06:26 > 0:06:31with The Raiders March, music that conveys daring and danger
0:06:31 > 0:06:34and derring do so strongly that I feel I should just
0:06:34 > 0:06:37reassure you, the audience here, there aren't any
0:06:37 > 0:06:41poison pits or snakes or anything too dangerous here in the hall,
0:06:41 > 0:06:44and if I do see a giant boulder rolling towards you from the back,
0:06:44 > 0:06:46I promise I will tell you.
0:06:46 > 0:06:49I'm Katie Derham, welcome to a very special Proms,
0:06:49 > 0:06:52celebrating one of the world's best-loved composers -
0:06:52 > 0:06:55the man who launched the Death Star, sent Harry Potter
0:06:55 > 0:06:59off on his broomstick and helped ET and Elliot ride across
0:06:59 > 0:07:01the face of the moon.
0:07:01 > 0:07:05Tonight, the music of John Williams is going to raise the roof
0:07:05 > 0:07:07here at the Royal Albert Hall.
0:07:07 > 0:07:09John Williams can't be with us this evening,
0:07:09 > 0:07:11but he did send a message and he said,
0:07:11 > 0:07:15"I send my fond regards to everyone gathered in the Royal Albert Hall,
0:07:15 > 0:07:20"along with my best wishes for a joyous evening of music."
0:07:20 > 0:07:22CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:07:27 > 0:07:29Well, John Williams is the reason why when we go to see
0:07:29 > 0:07:34a modern blockbuster movie we expect to hear a big, full-blooded sound.
0:07:34 > 0:07:37No other living composer has done more to preserve
0:07:37 > 0:07:39the orchestra's starring role in the movies.
0:07:39 > 0:07:42So tonight we're going to hear the classics that we sing
0:07:42 > 0:07:45in the bath, like his theme for Jaws,
0:07:45 > 0:07:47and some rarities as well.
0:07:47 > 0:07:49And we're going to begin with one of those,
0:07:49 > 0:07:52written in that scarcely imaginable time where nobody in the world
0:07:52 > 0:07:56had heard of Darth Vader or Indiana Jones.
0:07:56 > 0:08:00Back in 1969, John Williams was already a great success.
0:08:00 > 0:08:02He'd written television music for Lost In Space
0:08:02 > 0:08:06and the NBC nightly news, he'd earned an Oscar nomination
0:08:06 > 0:08:09for the big screen melodrama Valley Of The Dolls.
0:08:09 > 0:08:13And that led to a collaboration with the veteran British composer
0:08:13 > 0:08:16and lyricist Leslie Bricusse, on a musical version of
0:08:16 > 0:08:20the well-loved school story Goodbye, Mr Chips.
0:08:20 > 0:08:24And this is the overture built from Bricusse's songs,
0:08:24 > 0:08:27but already strong with the force of Williams' genius.
0:12:38 > 0:12:40APPLAUSE
0:13:07 > 0:13:09AUDIENCE LAUGHS
0:15:54 > 0:15:57CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:20:47 > 0:20:49CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:21:04 > 0:21:06The March from Superman The Movie,
0:21:06 > 0:21:08a classic theme by John Williams
0:21:08 > 0:21:11who we are here to celebrate tonight.
0:21:11 > 0:21:13The director that film, Richard Donner, liked the music
0:21:13 > 0:21:17so much that he shouted out, "Genius!" and "Fantastic!"
0:21:17 > 0:21:20and completely ruined the first take of the recording.
0:21:20 > 0:21:21LAUGHTER
0:21:21 > 0:21:24Now, you may remember, at the end of Superman The Movie,
0:21:24 > 0:21:26Christopher Reeve takes to the air
0:21:26 > 0:21:28and circles the globe in just a few minutes,
0:21:28 > 0:21:30well, we're going to do that now,
0:21:30 > 0:21:34with music that takes us to a Geisha house in 1930s Kyoto
0:21:34 > 0:21:36to the lounge of JFK Airport,
0:21:36 > 0:21:40and to Dartmoor on the eve of the First World War.
0:21:40 > 0:21:44Now, there's a thread which runs through much of the music tonight,
0:21:44 > 0:21:47and it has Stephen Spielberg's name on it.
0:21:47 > 0:21:50John Williams has worked with dozens of directors and producers
0:21:50 > 0:21:53over the years, but his strongest bond is with Spielberg
0:21:53 > 0:21:55and you can tell, because it seems they can say whatever
0:21:55 > 0:21:58they like to each other without ever falling out.
0:21:58 > 0:22:02Back in 1975, when Williams sat down to play Spielberg
0:22:02 > 0:22:04the Jaws Theme for the first time,
0:22:04 > 0:22:07the director thought he was going to hear something elaborate,
0:22:07 > 0:22:11and instead he got that famous two-note motif.
0:22:11 > 0:22:13# Der-dum. Der-dum. Der-dum... #
0:22:13 > 0:22:17So simple, Spielberg thought it was a joke and laughed. And he said so.
0:22:17 > 0:22:21But he soon admitted that maybe he was wrong to laugh.
0:22:21 > 0:22:25And then, years later when Williams saw a rough cut of Schindler's List,
0:22:25 > 0:22:28Spielberg's harrowing drama about the Holocaust,
0:22:28 > 0:22:30Williams said to him, he said,
0:22:30 > 0:22:34"You need a better composer than I am for this film."
0:22:34 > 0:22:36"I know," said Spielberg, "but they're all dead."
0:22:40 > 0:22:41So, these next pieces,
0:22:41 > 0:22:45all from films directed or produced by Spielberg
0:22:45 > 0:22:47demonstrate how he and John Williams
0:22:47 > 0:22:50have travelled space and time together.
0:27:13 > 0:27:16APPLAUSE
0:27:31 > 0:27:34Jamal Aliyev on the cello, everyone,
0:27:34 > 0:27:38with Suyuri's Theme, the heroine of Memoirs Of A Geisha,
0:27:38 > 0:27:41directed by Rob Marshall, produced by Stephen Spielberg.
0:27:41 > 0:27:4323-year-old Jamal from Azerbaijan
0:27:43 > 0:27:46is one of our BBC Introducing classical artists.
0:27:46 > 0:27:48And, like all of our soloists this evening,
0:27:48 > 0:27:51he's making his debut here at the Proms and,
0:27:51 > 0:27:54judging by that, I think we'll be seeing him again, don't you?
0:27:54 > 0:27:57CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:28:04 > 0:28:06Now, let's move to another young soloist
0:28:06 > 0:28:08who's going to take us to our next stop.
0:28:08 > 0:28:12She is the Belgian clarinettist, Annalien Van Wauwe,
0:28:12 > 0:28:14one of the BBC's New Generation artists,
0:28:14 > 0:28:17and she is going to be playing the quirky theme
0:28:17 > 0:28:20from a film that Spielberg directed as well as produced - The Terminal.
0:28:20 > 0:28:24Tom Hanks stars as a man who finds that the East European state
0:28:24 > 0:28:27in which he was born has been abolished
0:28:27 > 0:28:29while he is on a flight to New York,
0:28:29 > 0:28:32so he decides to live in the no-man's-land
0:28:32 > 0:28:34of the airport lounge of JFK,
0:28:34 > 0:28:38dodging the security guards and living on ketchup and crackers.
0:28:38 > 0:28:42Williams maps out this strange life with a comic theme
0:28:42 > 0:28:44that tells The Tale Of Viktor Navorski.
0:28:48 > 0:28:52APPLAUSE
0:28:59 > 0:29:02SILENCE DESCENDS
0:33:30 > 0:33:33CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:33:50 > 0:33:54Annelien Van Wauwe and Mark Bousie on accordion,
0:33:54 > 0:33:56thank you very much indeed, conjuring Viktor Navorski,
0:33:56 > 0:33:59that eccentric hero of Steven Spielberg's The Terminal,
0:33:59 > 0:34:02a film about a man who wants to return to a homeland
0:34:02 > 0:34:04that has ceased to exist.
0:34:04 > 0:34:07The next stage of our journey brings us to Britain,
0:34:07 > 0:34:11a place where Williams and Spielberg have often worked,
0:34:11 > 0:34:13but have rarely depicted on the screen.
0:34:13 > 0:34:16The story that allowed them to do so was War Horse -
0:34:16 > 0:34:19Michael Morpurgo's much-loved children's novel
0:34:19 > 0:34:22that takes its four-legged hero from Dartmoor
0:34:22 > 0:34:24to the battlefields of the Great War.
0:34:24 > 0:34:27While he was writing, Williams spent time on a ranch in California,
0:34:27 > 0:34:31observing the behaviour of the horses in the fields and stables.
0:34:31 > 0:34:34"The experience," he said, "was joyous."
0:34:34 > 0:34:37If the greatness of Jaws lies in the idea
0:34:37 > 0:34:40that it's music written from the point of view of the shark,
0:34:40 > 0:34:42then Williams' War Horse music
0:34:42 > 0:34:45does the same for a more friendly kind of animal.
0:42:25 > 0:42:29APPLAUSE
0:42:47 > 0:42:50Dartmoor, 1912 - from Steven Spielberg's film War Horse,
0:42:50 > 0:42:53played by the BBC Concert Orchestra under Keith Lockhart,
0:42:53 > 0:42:56with flautist Ileana Ruhemann.
0:42:56 > 0:42:58It's John Williams in full-blown pastoral mode,
0:42:58 > 0:43:01with a nod and a wink in the direction of Vaughan Williams
0:43:01 > 0:43:03and Aaron Copland.
0:43:03 > 0:43:06Now, most of us know Williams' work from the screen -
0:43:06 > 0:43:08but he's also an accomplished composer
0:43:08 > 0:43:10and conductor in the concert hall.
0:43:10 > 0:43:12For many years he was conductor of the Boston Pops -
0:43:12 > 0:43:15a job that he relinquished in 1995 to...
0:43:15 > 0:43:19Well, to this man on the podium, Keith Lockhart.
0:43:19 > 0:43:21- Hello, Katie.- Well, hello.
0:43:21 > 0:43:23Now, can you remember when you first met him?
0:43:23 > 0:43:26I can, it was the night before the press conference
0:43:26 > 0:43:30announcing my appointment, so that would have been February of 1995.
0:43:30 > 0:43:33I had dinner with him in a secret location,
0:43:33 > 0:43:36because they did not want the press to get wind
0:43:36 > 0:43:38of what was happening the next morning
0:43:38 > 0:43:42and he was the most gracious, most modest possible man.
0:43:42 > 0:43:46It was hard to believe I was in the presence of THE John Williams.
0:43:46 > 0:43:49He gave me very sound advice, he hasn't offered much of it,
0:43:49 > 0:43:52but everything he's offered has been spot on!
0:43:52 > 0:43:54Now, in the next selection of music
0:43:54 > 0:43:56that we're going to hear from you and the orchestra,
0:43:56 > 0:43:59we're going to hear themes of magic, flying wizards, giants -
0:43:59 > 0:44:01lots of comedy as well.
0:44:01 > 0:44:03What is it about John Williams' style of writing
0:44:03 > 0:44:05that lends itself so well to that?
0:44:05 > 0:44:08Everybody has their favourite John Williams movie score
0:44:08 > 0:44:10and so many of us tend towards the big, action-adventure things,
0:44:10 > 0:44:13to Jurassic Park, the Star Wars franchise or Indiana Jones,
0:44:13 > 0:44:18but I think John is at his best when he is in a fantasy world,
0:44:18 > 0:44:21especially when he inhabits the mind and imagination of the child.
0:44:21 > 0:44:23To me, his most evocative scores
0:44:23 > 0:44:26are the ones that really have just a flight of fancy.
0:44:26 > 0:44:28Are things like ET and Hook and the BFG,
0:44:28 > 0:44:31some of which we're going to hear tonight.
0:44:31 > 0:44:33And, you know, I think that's because
0:44:33 > 0:44:35he has the magic to make that happen,
0:44:35 > 0:44:38And those are the movies that he enjoys scoring the most.
0:44:38 > 0:44:40And you know, with that white beard, and a twinkly eye,
0:44:40 > 0:44:42there's something of the wizard about him, too, I think.
0:44:42 > 0:44:44There is kind of a Santa Claus aspect to him!
0:44:44 > 0:44:47But that has happened more in the last 20 years
0:44:47 > 0:44:50since I've gotten to know him, but he was magical even 50 years ago.
0:44:50 > 0:44:54Thank you, Keith, and thank you for telling us a little bit about him.
0:44:54 > 0:44:57Now, let's experience some of the magic of John Williams -
0:44:57 > 0:44:59some more of it. We're going to hear a suite from The BFG -
0:44:59 > 0:45:03which Williams said he scored as if it were a children's ballet.
0:45:03 > 0:45:06And we'll also hear one of his most uplifting pieces of music -
0:45:06 > 0:45:08composed for that breathtaking moment
0:45:08 > 0:45:11when ET waves his magic index finger
0:45:11 > 0:45:15and sends a phalanx of BMX bikes flying up towards the moon.
0:45:15 > 0:45:20But first, music written for a certain wizard called Harry Potter.
0:49:58 > 0:50:01SCATTERED APPLAUSE
0:50:08 > 0:50:11WILD CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:50:34 > 0:50:37SILENCE DESCENDS
0:56:02 > 0:56:06APPLAUSE
0:56:32 > 0:56:35SILENCE DESCENDS
1:00:18 > 1:00:22WILD CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
1:00:48 > 1:00:51The pleasures of space opera are still ahead of us,
1:00:51 > 1:00:54but now we're going to confront the real dark side,
1:00:54 > 1:00:58music from three films that look back into history
1:00:58 > 1:01:02to tell stories of violence and agony and injustice.
1:01:02 > 1:01:05But music that also offers a note of hope.
1:01:05 > 1:01:07Williams has always had an affinity for movies
1:01:07 > 1:01:11that attempt to reconnect us with the traumatic events of the past,
1:01:11 > 1:01:13for Steven Spielberg, he scored Amistad,
1:01:13 > 1:01:16the story of a slave rebellion and its legal aftermath.
1:01:16 > 1:01:19And for Spielberg, too, he scored Munich,
1:01:19 > 1:01:22a controversial account of the Palestinian terrorism
1:01:22 > 1:01:24at the 1972 Olympics
1:01:24 > 1:01:27and the response of the Israeli security forces.
1:01:27 > 1:01:31We'll hear haunting pieces from both of those films.
1:01:31 > 1:01:33But we will start with some classic Americana,
1:01:33 > 1:01:36a suite from Oliver Stone's JFK,
1:01:36 > 1:01:39a film that worked hard to cast doubt upon official accounts
1:01:39 > 1:01:42of the assassination of President John F Kennedy.
1:01:42 > 1:01:46Williams has written music for other American heads of state.
1:01:46 > 1:01:49When Spielberg cast Daniel Day-Lewis as Abraham Lincoln,
1:01:49 > 1:01:53the composer scored the story of the President's final months
1:01:53 > 1:01:57of life as he struggled to pass anti-slavery laws through Congress.
1:01:57 > 1:02:01Williams also wrote the music for a real-life ascent to the White House,
1:02:01 > 1:02:04when he composed a quartet for the inauguration of Barack Obama.
1:02:05 > 1:02:09JFK, however, takes us to a more painful moment in American history.
1:07:02 > 1:07:05APPLAUSE
1:07:19 > 1:07:23SILENCE DESCENDS
1:11:23 > 1:11:27APPLAUSE
1:11:41 > 1:11:44Prayer For Peace from Munich, written by John Williams
1:11:44 > 1:11:46for what remains the most controversial film
1:11:46 > 1:11:48of their joint career.
1:11:48 > 1:11:51It's about the massacre at the 1972 Munich Olympics,
1:11:51 > 1:11:54in which 11 Israeli athletes were murdered
1:11:54 > 1:11:56by the Black September terror group.
1:11:56 > 1:11:58But it also follows the Mossad hit squad
1:11:58 > 1:12:00assigned to kill the men responsible,
1:12:00 > 1:12:05and argues that this violence was motivated by a desire for revenge,
1:12:05 > 1:12:08something that many commentators rejected.
1:12:08 > 1:12:12Well, if there's a cry of despair in Williams' Prayer from Munich,
1:12:12 > 1:12:16then this next piece treats another painful subject
1:12:16 > 1:12:18with an audible note of hope.
1:12:18 > 1:12:21It's from Amistad, Spielberg's drama about a rebellion
1:12:21 > 1:12:23on board a slave ship in 1839,
1:12:23 > 1:12:27and its legal aftermath in the American Supreme Court.
1:12:27 > 1:12:30And joining Keith Lockhart and the BBC Concert Orchestra
1:12:30 > 1:12:32are some of the best young voices
1:12:32 > 1:12:34that we could possibly bring to you tonight.
1:12:34 > 1:12:36They are Haringey Vox
1:12:36 > 1:12:39and Music Centre London choirs
1:12:39 > 1:12:42and they're going to perform Dry Your Tears, Afrika.
1:12:42 > 1:12:46CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
1:12:49 > 1:12:54John Williams took its words from a poem by Bernard Binlin Dadie,
1:12:54 > 1:12:56a prolific writer who, in the 1970s and '80s,
1:12:56 > 1:13:01also served as culture minister in his homeland of Ivory Coast.
1:13:01 > 1:13:04He celebrated his 101st birthday this year.
1:13:04 > 1:13:07So, as you hear our youth choirs perform,
1:13:07 > 1:13:10reflect on the fact that the author of these words
1:13:10 > 1:13:13was born into a world where the transatlantic slave trade
1:13:13 > 1:13:15was not a distant event.
1:13:15 > 1:13:18Dadie was born in January 1916.
1:13:18 > 1:13:21That October, a convention of former slaves
1:13:21 > 1:13:25gathered in Washington DC to demand a pension from the American state.
1:13:25 > 1:13:29All of them had experienced the process that Amistad describes -
1:13:29 > 1:13:33to be considered, in the eyes of the law, someone's private property -
1:13:33 > 1:13:38and then to be reclassified as a human subject.
1:13:38 > 1:13:41So, this is Dry Your Tears, Afrika.
1:13:53 > 1:13:56THEY SING IN MENDE
1:17:02 > 1:17:06WILD CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
1:17:22 > 1:17:25Dry Your Tears, Afrika from the score of Amistad.
1:17:25 > 1:17:28Thank you to Haringey Vox
1:17:28 > 1:17:31and the Music Centre London.
1:17:31 > 1:17:34Now, Amistad, one of several films on the Williams CV
1:17:34 > 1:17:36that aim to put a definitive account
1:17:36 > 1:17:38of an historical event on the big screen.
1:17:38 > 1:17:42So, thank you again to those fantastic young singers. Well done.
1:17:42 > 1:17:46CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
1:17:53 > 1:17:56Time now for two more light-hearted pieces -
1:17:56 > 1:17:58even though they invoke a con-artist
1:17:58 > 1:18:00who became the FBI's most wanted,
1:18:00 > 1:18:04a victim of black magic who vomits cherry stones all over the place,
1:18:04 > 1:18:08and the devil. So, some dance music that'll make you want to get
1:18:08 > 1:18:11up on your feet - particularly if you're a Cher fan!
1:18:11 > 1:18:14Oh, yes, and I think we have one right on this stage!
1:18:14 > 1:18:17Well, it was either Cher or Professor McGonagall, I wasn't sure,
1:18:17 > 1:18:20but I thought there was a theme going on here tonight.
1:18:20 > 1:18:24Now, in 1987, Williams scored The Witches Of Eastwick -
1:18:24 > 1:18:27a wild fantasy based on a novel by John Updike.
1:18:27 > 1:18:29It's about three frustrated women
1:18:29 > 1:18:31from Rhode Island who use black magic
1:18:31 > 1:18:33to bring a bit of excitement into their lives
1:18:33 > 1:18:36and end up summoning Beelzebub.
1:18:36 > 1:18:40Even more alarmingly, he looks an awful lot like Jack Nicholson.
1:18:40 > 1:18:43For the climax of the picture, Williams composed a Devil's Dance,
1:18:43 > 1:18:45proving the truth of that famous proverb
1:18:45 > 1:18:47about all the best tunes.
1:23:40 > 1:23:43CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
1:24:01 > 1:24:03The Devil's Dance from John Williams'
1:24:03 > 1:24:04score for The Witches Of Eastwick,
1:24:04 > 1:24:08performed by Keith Lockhart and the BBC Concert Orchestra.
1:24:08 > 1:24:09Our next piece of music
1:24:09 > 1:24:12also describes something a bit morally dubious.
1:24:12 > 1:24:15Williams' score for Spielberg's 2002 crime caper,
1:24:15 > 1:24:18Catch Me if You Can, takes us back to his early days,
1:24:18 > 1:24:21when he was playing piano in the nightclubs of New York
1:24:21 > 1:24:25under the name "Little Johnny Love Williams".
1:24:25 > 1:24:27It's also a reminder that in the 1950s and '60s,
1:24:27 > 1:24:31one of his employers was the composer Henry Mancini,
1:24:31 > 1:24:35the man who put the saxophone slink into the Pink Panther theme.
1:24:37 > 1:24:40Frank Abagnale Junior was a boy who,
1:24:40 > 1:24:43at the age of 16, in New York,
1:24:43 > 1:24:45began a five-year criminal career
1:24:45 > 1:24:48that made him one of the most wanted criminals in America.
1:24:48 > 1:24:51Using stolen uniforms and a lot of front,
1:24:51 > 1:24:54he impersonated an airline pilot,
1:24:54 > 1:24:57a doctor, and the assistant Attorney General.
1:24:57 > 1:24:59His memoirs were the basis for a Steven Spielberg film
1:24:59 > 1:25:01called Catch Me If You Can,
1:25:01 > 1:25:04in which Leonardo DiCaprio played the lead
1:25:04 > 1:25:07and Tom Hanks played the agent on his tail.
1:25:07 > 1:25:08Williams wrote the score,
1:25:08 > 1:25:11and used it as an opportunity to pay homage to his old friend
1:25:11 > 1:25:14and employer Henry Mancini.
1:25:14 > 1:25:18And to play the sneaky, stealthy alto sax solo,
1:25:18 > 1:25:22we're going to welcome another new young soloist to the stage.
1:25:22 > 1:25:23The saxophonist Jess Gillam.
1:25:23 > 1:25:2718 years old, and a finalist in the 2016 BBC Young Musician,
1:25:27 > 1:25:30for which she performed Michael Nyman's Where the Bee Dances
1:25:30 > 1:25:33with the BBC Symphony Orchestra,
1:25:33 > 1:25:35Jess didn't use any disguises or subterfuge
1:25:35 > 1:25:37to get to the platform tonight, just her brilliance,
1:25:37 > 1:25:42as you will hear any minute now as she makes her Proms debut.
1:25:44 > 1:25:48APPLAUSE
1:30:51 > 1:30:53APPLAUSE
1:31:21 > 1:31:23Ladies and gentlemen, the amazing Jess Gillam.
1:31:28 > 1:31:31Music from John Williams' score for Catch Me If You Can
1:31:31 > 1:31:32performed by the BBC Concert Orchestra
1:31:32 > 1:31:34and their conductor, Keith Lockhart,
1:31:34 > 1:31:36and Jess on the alto sax was joined by
1:31:36 > 1:31:39two principals from the BBC Concert Orchestra,
1:31:39 > 1:31:42Alasdair Malloy on vibraphone and Dominic Worsley on double bass.
1:31:42 > 1:31:48APPLAUSE
1:31:48 > 1:31:53A long time ago, in a film studio far, far away,
1:31:53 > 1:31:56John Williams made movie history.
1:31:56 > 1:31:58The year was 1977.
1:31:58 > 1:32:00The studio was 20th Century Fox,
1:32:00 > 1:32:03and the movie was an old-fashioned space opera
1:32:03 > 1:32:07that cinema managers just were not very keen to book.
1:32:07 > 1:32:09Even the director's friends and family
1:32:09 > 1:32:11thought Star Wars would be a flop.
1:32:11 > 1:32:13When George Lucas screened a rough cut to them,
1:32:13 > 1:32:16his wife Marcia burst into tears,
1:32:16 > 1:32:17convinced that her husband
1:32:17 > 1:32:20had just flushed away a promising career.
1:32:20 > 1:32:23"Who," she asked, "wanted to see a film about a villain in a cloak
1:32:23 > 1:32:28"and a gas mask, menacing a princess with Danish pastry hair?"
1:32:28 > 1:32:32Well, everyone, as it turned out!
1:32:32 > 1:32:35But it was only when George Lucas sat down at a recording studio
1:32:35 > 1:32:39here in Britain to hear John Williams lay down the film score,
1:32:39 > 1:32:42that he dared to think the movie might be a success.
1:32:42 > 1:32:45"To hear Johnny play the music," he said, "for the first time,
1:32:45 > 1:32:50"was a thrill beyond anything I can describe."
1:32:50 > 1:32:54Let's get Keith Lockhart back into the picture to find out a bit more.
1:32:54 > 1:32:57Keith, is it as thrilling to conduct it as it is to listen to?
1:32:57 > 1:32:59It's just thrilling to think about this piece.
1:32:59 > 1:33:03John has just put the finishing touches on the eighth episode
1:33:03 > 1:33:05of the original nonology.
1:33:05 > 1:33:0740 years ago, the first one came out.
1:33:07 > 1:33:09So, this has occupied almost,
1:33:09 > 1:33:11it's going on a half-century of his professional career.
1:33:11 > 1:33:15I cannot believe the endless well of creativity
1:33:15 > 1:33:17that John seems to bring to these things.
1:33:17 > 1:33:19It's funny, it was debatable as to whether
1:33:19 > 1:33:21he would score the seventh, eighth,
1:33:21 > 1:33:24and now, he's planning, knock on wood, the ninth,
1:33:24 > 1:33:29but I talked to him about this before this last episode,
1:33:29 > 1:33:32and he said, "Well, I didn't really want to do it,
1:33:32 > 1:33:33"it's hard work doing these things,
1:33:33 > 1:33:37"but then, I wrote the theme for that new action hero, Rey,
1:33:37 > 1:33:41"in the most recent one," and after the first one, he said,
1:33:41 > 1:33:43"I don't want anyone else writing her music!"
1:33:43 > 1:33:45LAUGHTER
1:33:45 > 1:33:48He's just incredible, this will be John's equivalent
1:33:48 > 1:33:51of the Wagner Ring Cycle, something that nobody else has done,
1:33:51 > 1:33:55scoring nine films, all of music over a half-century period,
1:33:55 > 1:33:58it's incredible. What a capstone to an amazing career!
1:33:58 > 1:34:01CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
1:34:02 > 1:34:05Keith, thank you, and I know we're going to hear Rey's Theme now.
1:34:05 > 1:34:08Let us launch the X-wings and the TIE fighters.
1:34:08 > 1:34:11It's time to awaken the Force here in the Royal Albert Hall.
1:34:11 > 1:34:12I think I can feel it already.
1:34:12 > 1:34:15We must have a few Jedi in the audience, right? Come on.
1:34:15 > 1:34:18It's certainly strong in this one,
1:34:18 > 1:34:20in Keith Lockhart and the BBC Concert Orchestra,
1:34:20 > 1:34:22now, they're going to lead us into battle
1:34:22 > 1:34:24with the March Of The Resistance.
1:36:51 > 1:36:55APPLAUSE
1:37:00 > 1:37:02SILENCE DESCENDS
1:39:57 > 1:40:01CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
1:40:13 > 1:40:16Music from John Williams has more Oscar nominations
1:40:16 > 1:40:18than any other living person.
1:40:18 > 1:40:21His fans love him so much that they sometimes stand on his lawn
1:40:21 > 1:40:24playing the Imperial March from The Empire Strikes Back.
1:40:24 > 1:40:27He is immensely clever.
1:40:27 > 1:40:28Ask him about the language of music,
1:40:28 > 1:40:33and he'll start quoting Noam Chomsky. He's immensely inventive.
1:40:33 > 1:40:35For a cue in one of the Star Wars prequels,
1:40:35 > 1:40:37he took a poem by Robert Graves
1:40:37 > 1:40:40and got a friend at Harvard to translate it into Sanskrit,
1:40:40 > 1:40:44to give him the big open vowel sounds he wanted.
1:40:44 > 1:40:48He was 85 this year, and he is still hard at work, building worlds,
1:40:48 > 1:40:50sometimes destroying them.
1:40:50 > 1:40:53How can we sum up his achievements?
1:40:53 > 1:40:56He's won five Oscars and 23 Grammys,
1:40:56 > 1:40:59he's scored over 100 feature films.
1:40:59 > 1:41:00But those are just numbers
1:41:00 > 1:41:03and John Williams has given us something more than that.
1:41:03 > 1:41:06Something unaccountably rich.
1:41:06 > 1:41:09"I'm just the guy who puts the dots on the paper,"
1:41:09 > 1:41:11he once said. "It means nothing."
1:41:11 > 1:41:14But he must know, that for those of us listening tonight -
1:41:14 > 1:41:15and to all those across the world
1:41:15 > 1:41:20who have heard the orchestra strike up on the soundtracks of Jaws
1:41:20 > 1:41:22or Harry Potter or Star Wars,
1:41:22 > 1:41:25that it means an awful lot indeed.
1:41:25 > 1:41:27May the Force be with him.
1:41:27 > 1:41:32APPLAUSE
1:47:26 > 1:47:29WILD CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
1:47:37 > 1:47:40SUSTAINED CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
1:48:16 > 1:48:22CHEERING AND APPLAUSE CONTINUES
1:51:43 > 1:51:47WILD CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
1:52:12 > 1:52:15Thank you so much, ladies and gentlemen.
1:52:15 > 1:52:18Wow, I hope this concert has been as much fun to hear
1:52:18 > 1:52:20as it has been to perform for you tonight.
1:52:20 > 1:52:23CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
1:52:25 > 1:52:27I know from personal conversation,
1:52:27 > 1:52:29how much everyone's goodwill means to John.
1:52:29 > 1:52:32He said so, he'd like so much to be with us here this evening,
1:52:32 > 1:52:35but at 85, he is travelling less and composing more,
1:52:35 > 1:52:37which, I suppose is as it should be.
1:52:37 > 1:52:41That was of course the Cantina Band from the original Star Wars.
1:52:41 > 1:52:45We'd like to leave you with a little bit more of that magical wizard.
1:52:45 > 1:52:47Ladies and gentlemen, this is Harry's Wondrous World
1:52:47 > 1:52:50from Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone.
1:52:50 > 1:52:53CHEERING
1:57:41 > 1:57:45CHEERING AND APPLAUSE