Saturday, June 7, 2025
Berliner Philharmonie, Herbert-von-Karajan-Straße, Berlin
“What would films like Star Wars, Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones and Harry Potter be without him? John Williams, superstar of American film music, gave them all their distinctive sound. His sparkling soundtracks are not only memorable, but also ingeniously enhance stories and characters.
“It is with great regret that due to a health issue, John Williams is unable to conduct the concert. His close friend, Stéphane Denève, stands in for him.”
It should have been the composer conducting a selection from his soundtracks (as here in 2021), music of atmosphere, character and description, complementing the image, developing it, and then able to do without the pictorial inspiration, if retaining it for movie-goers, through numerous extractable sections (as below). Stéphane Denève (music director, St Louis Symphony), making his BP debut this week, conducted with expertise and enthusiasm, the Berliners responding likewise.
There were standouts for principal players, such as Stefan Dohr (horn), cellist Bruno Delepelaire, with a new version of ‘Sayuri’s Theme’, transporting to a faraway place, and concertmaster Noah Bendix-Balgley brought tenderness to the Theme from Schindler’s List, one of three encores, another being Indiana Jones finding his way to the concert, and finally ‘The Imperial March’ from The Empire Strikes Back, roof-raising. Throughout the evening Denève filled-in verbally, including reading a message from the composer, and, anecdotally, it seems that Steven Spielberg edited parts of E.T. to accommodate Williams’s music. I rather relished some wonderful depths of harmony in Harry Potter.