From Gustavo Dudamel’s Facebook page:
When John [Williams] called and asked if I would conduct the opening music and closing credits for this historic film, I remember thinking “he’s joking”. John has such a wonderful sense of humor and I somehow thought that there must be a catch. It turns out, there was: I couldn’t tell anyone, and John wasn’t going to tell anyone, either!! We kept it a total surprise, so that when I walked into the studios to lay down the Star Wars tracks in October, it took EVERYONE by surprise: musicians (some of whom were from the LA Phil), the Lucas creatives, the Disney lawyers – you see, John had managed to keep it a complete surprise from everyone except for him and George Lucas! John Williams is the Mozart of our day. I cannot tell you how inspired I felt when I held his score in my hands for the first time, stunned by the beauty of his writing, he’s a genius. You know, we play John’s music all the time at the LA Philharmonic, he’s like family to us. Even my four-year-old son Martin sat in the sound booth cheering. You cannot imagine – utter joy for his father.