John Williams • At the Movies Dallas Winds, Jerry Junkin conducting
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1976, with the release of Guitar and... featuring guitarist Bunyan Webb in
recital accompanied by flute and viola, Reference Recordings has offered the music-loving
audiophile an elegant buffet of exceptional recordings of a wide-ranging selection of
music. Discogs has entries for 291 releases. With meticulous attention paid to recording
methods, choice of venue and packaging, the team of J. Tamblyn Henderson, Marcia Martin,
Keith O. Johnson and others have released recordings in both digital and analog formats
that have consistently won awards, received rave reviews and given audiophile systems
tough workouts.
Now, 43 years after that first release, comes this deluxe two-LP reissue of a multi-Grammy-nominated hybrid stereo SACD, which hit the streets a year earlier. At the Movies is Reference Recordings' 18th title featuring the Dallas Winds, America’s premier concert band, which for the past 25 years has served under the directorship of Jerry Junkin. The recording venue for this release was Dallas’s Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center, with engineering by Keith O. Johnson and Sean Royce Martin. John Williams is close to a household name here in the US and known throughout the world. He has composed over a hundred movie soundtracks (a favorite of mine being 1976’s The Missouri Breaks) for some of the most beloved movies in our cinematic history. He proudly holds the record for most Oscar nominations for a living person and has been awarded five Academy Awards and 24 Grammys. In addition to his fertile film music career, he has composed several other works, including a symphony (1965), instrumental concertos, numerous chamber works and dozens of other orchestral pieces. On this album, we are treated to thirteen arrangements, for a large wind ensemble, of some of the more popular Williams’ movie themes. After just a few bars of the album’s rousing opener, “Olympic Fanfare and Theme,” written for the 1984 Olympics, the vibrant sound signals that a heck of a sonic and musical ride awaits. That first impression proves correct, as the band pulls out all the stops with performances throughout the four sides that would blow a door off its hinges. Besides the startling dynamic range, open-window transparency and spacious soundstaging, this cut (and others) contains some of the most carpet-curling bass-drum whacks I’ve ever heard. Prepare yourself for this one! An instantly recognizable march from Superman and the Coplandish overture to The Cowboys complete side one. “Adventures On Earth,” from E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, opens side two, followed by my favorite track on the album, “With Malice Toward None,” from Lincoln. This poignant tune features the magnificent, elegiac trumpet soloing of guest artist Christopher Martin, principal trumpet for the New York Philharmonic. A puckish, percussion-dominated march from 1941 closes the side. The musical and sonic excitement ramp up on side three with a spirited “Scherzo for X- Wings,” “The Jedi Steps” and “Finale” from 2015’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The side ends with a magical arrangement of the main theme from the original Star Wars. Side four brings us everyone’s favorite march, the “Imperial March” from The Empire Strikes Back, punctuated with lively percussion and some serious bass-drum whacks. Next, a calm medley of excerpts from Close Encounters of the Third Kind leads into the plaintive “Theme” from JFK, featuring beautiful trumpet soloing by the Dallas Winds’ Tim Andersen. A unique, martial-like version of “The Star Spangled Banner,” complete with canon-like percussion effects, closes the side. The heavy and ruler-flat LPs are securely contained
within the annotated gatefold sleeve. Upon play, there was an occasional tick or pop, even
after a turn on my VPI HW-16.5 record cleaner. Not a deal-breaker, of course, because LPs,
even from the best pressing facilities, can exhibit ticks and pops. Perhaps the utter
silence of digital formats has spoiled us into expecting the same from vinyl. What also
spoils us here are the astonishing dynamics, impact and vividness of this stirring
recording. Even if you know these movies well, you've not heard the music from them sound
like this. |
