Film Music By John Williams

Reynold da Silva's Silva Screen Records has built up a considerable library of re-recorded excerpts from film scores by employing the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, enabling the label to assemble various discs combining the material. This mid-priced compilation is a sort of John Williams best-of, presenting two- to seven-minute themes and suites from Williams' movie work, most of it done under the auspices of filmmakers Steven Spielberg and/or George Lucas. The selections date back to the famous main theme from Jaws (1975), with the most recent cues coming from films released 30 years later — Memoirs of a Geisha, Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, War of the Worlds, and Munich. (2005 was a very busy year for Williams.) For better or worse, his big, simple themes have dominated Hollywood movie music over the period just as, again for better or worse, Spielberg and Lucas have dominated Hollywood movies, at least in terms of box office and overall recognition. This is not a comprehensive collection of Williams, but it does present some of the best-known portions of some of his best-known scores, performed with the Philharmonic Orchestra's usual competence.