Keith Lockhart Conducts John Williams Tribute at the Boston Symphony Hall (Program, Review & Photos) – JOHN WILLIAMS Fan Network

‘JOHN WILLIAMS TRIBUTE’
September 22 & 23, 2023, Boston Symphony Hall
Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra conducted by Keith Lockhart

CONCERT PROGRAM
Friday, September 22

* Moné Hattori, violin

Superman March
Theme from Jaws
Main Title to The Towering Inferno
Excerpts from Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Suite from Far and Away *
Chairman’s Waltz from Memoirs of a Geisha *
Les Enfants De La Terre (Takayuki Hattori) *
Harry’s Wondrous World from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

INTERMISSION

Olympic Fanfare and Theme
Theme from Schindler’s List *
The Raiders March from Raiders of the Lost Ark
Devil’s Dance from The Witches of Eastwick
The Imperial March from The Empire Strikes Back
Yoda’s Theme from The Empire Strikes Back
Rey’s Theme from The Force Awakens
Main Title from Star Wars

ENCORES

Cantina Band from Star Wars

Saturday, September 23

* Hayato Sumino, piano

Superman March
Theme from Jaws
Main Title to The Towering Inferno
Excerpts from Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Theme from Sabrina *
Over the Moon from E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial *
Theme from Jurassic Park
The Raiders March from Raiders of the Lost Ark

INTERMISSION

Finale (III. Allegro Agitato) from Piano Concerto in F (Gershwin) *
Olympic Fanfare and Theme
Theme from Schindler’s List
Devil’s Dance from The Witches of Eastwick
The Imperial March from The Empire Strikes Back
Yoda’s Theme from The Empire Strikes Back
Rey’s Theme from The Force Awakens
Main Title from Star Wars

ENCORES

Cantina Band from Star Wars

REVIEWS

EXTERNAL REVIEW

The Boston Globe

‘A Pops salute to John Williams conjures movie magic’ (excerpt)

By Marc Hirsh

“I’m very lucky.” So said John Williams (by video) Friday night at Symphony Hall, having spent nearly two hours unpacking selected highlights from his 65-year career as a film composer as Keith Lockhart, clad in black shirtsleeves and suspenders, conducted the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra. And while luck is always a wild-card factor in any success, it’s hard not to dismiss Williams’s comment as false humility, coming as it does from the man from whom the most indelible movie scores of the last half century poured forth like a fountain.

There’s a reason, after all, that the Pops regularly salute Lockhart’s predecessor — okay, maybe more than one — and the weekend’s programming was devoted to the 91-year-old legend behind the music from that movie. And that one. Yes, that one too. To understand his reach, consider that a child too young to have seen “Jaws” still knows that what Lockhart called “the two most famous notes in movie history” signify “shark.”

Friday served as a sampler of an oeuvre so vast that there wasn’t even space for “E.T.” or “Jurassic Park,” though they both appeared in the montage of Williams-scored films that played over the opening “‘Superman’ March.” (The T. Rex grabbing the velociraptor at the precise moment of a stab of brass was a nice, thrilling touch.) In their place were selections it’s easy to assume are personal favorites of Williams, including the main title from “The Towering Inferno,” which rose up and soared, and the mischievous and playful “Devil’s Dance” from “The Witches of Eastwick,” with its cellos going berserk underneath cracked church bells.

The Pops also nodded to its upcoming Japanese tour (its first in two decades) by featuring the North American debut of violinist Moné Hattori, whose staccato, aggressive bowing danced playfully on her strings for a “Far and Away” suite and whose tremulous phrasing on “The Chairman’s Waltz” (from “Memoirs of a Geisha”) played against a pedal-point harp that descended like a flower petal floating to the ground. Her father Takayuki Hattori’s ” Les Enfants De La Terre” was Friday’s only non-Williams selection, though its soft horn swells, warm string pulls, and clear throughline revealed a distinct Williams influence.

Source: The Boston Globe

PHOTOS