John Williams’ place in the canon of film music, Hollywood history and American popular culture is well solidified. The 94-year-old composer just saw the release of Disclosure Day, his 30th soundtrack for director Steven Spielberg – a collaboration that’s yielded three Oscar-winning scores in JAWS, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial and Schindler’s List plus memorable themes to classic films like Close Encounters of the Third Kind, the Indiana Jones film series and Jurassic Park. Next year, his Oscar-winning work on 1977’s Star Wars – a musical odyssey that’s yielded a trio of film trilogies and multiple spin-off streaming shows and theme park attractions bearing more of his compositions – turns 50. Even with a diminished presence due to health issues that have kept him wheelchair-bound in recent public appearances, he’s remained active and present: a new piano concerto was recorded earlier this year for eventual release on his current label home, the venerated classical imprint Deutsche Grammophon.
The fruits of that DG partnership – and the scope of well more than half a century as a working musician – will be celebrated this summer with a new compilation. John Williams Legacy is a 2LP, CD and digital album featuring Williams’ best-known works in renditions he recorded for the label, mostly in special concert halls around the world through the 2010s and 2020s. Star Wars, E.T., Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park, the Harry Potter film series and even his stirring, still-used theme for the 1984 Summer Olympics will all be represented, taken from three of the five albums he’s recorded for Deutsche Grammophon: 2019’s Across the Stars – a reinvention of his catalogue highlighting solo violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter, and a series of concerts with the philharmonic orchestras of Vienna and Berlin in 2020 and 2021. The package includes new liner notes from film music historian and journalist Jon Burlingame offering a concise biography of Williams’ incredible work and some vital context-building of Williams’ newfound place in modern classical music history.
John Williams Legacy will be available on CD, 180-gram double vinyl (a “gold nugget” color pressing with gold foil enhancements on the gatefold jacket) and digitally in the U.S. on August 7 and internationally September 4.
John Williams Legacy (Deutsche Grammophon, 2026)
Gold 2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Official Store (with hand-numbered lithograph)
CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
- Main Title (from Star Wars: A New Hope) *
- Hedwig’s Theme (from Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone) **
- Raiders March (from Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark) *
- Flying Theme (from E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial) **
- Theme from Jurassic Park *
- Superman March **
- Theme from Schindler’s List +
- Olympic Fanfare and Theme **
- Excerpts from Close Encounters of the Third Kind *
- Harry’s Wondrous World (from Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone) **
- Yoda’s Theme (from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back) **
- The Imperial March (from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back) *
- The Flight to Neverland (from Hook) *
- Princess Leia’s Theme (from Star Wars: A New Hope) **
- Throne Room & Finale (from Star Wars: A New Hope) **
* with the Wiener Philharmoniker, Musikvereinssaal, Vienna, Austria – 1/18 and 1/19/2020. Released on John Williams in Vienna – Deutsche Grammophon 483 6373, 2020
** with the Berliner Philharmoniker, Philharmonie, Berlin, Germany – 10/14, 10/15 and 10/16/2021. Released on The Berlin Concert – Deutsche Grammophon 48x 1710, 2022
+ with Anne-Sophie Mutter and the Recording Arts Orchestra of Los Angeles. Released on Across the Stars – Deutsche Grammophon 479 7533, 2019.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source theseconddisc.com ’
