Colorado Symphony
Boettcher Concert Hall
Denver, CO
February 9-10, 2018
John Williams is the best known composer in the United States today. Since he is known for his film scores, he isn’t’ usually seen as a classical composer. The Colorado Symphony concert made a point of showing how versatile his music is.
The playlist for the concert was surprising. Williams’ best-known works were not included. The selections included pieces from The Terminal, JFK and Schindler’s List. While conductor Brett Mitchell did refer to Jurassic Park and the Indiana Jones films, nothing from either popular work was included in the program. Even the two selections from the Star Wars saga were the little known “Asteroid Field” from The Empire Strikes Back and “Luke and Leia” from Return of the Jedi.
Featured prominently were the two Olympic themes written by Williams for the 1984 and 1996 games. Given that the concert was scheduled on opening weekend of the 2018 Winter Olympic Games. They were among the most known pieces on the playlist.
One fun portion was the Williams’ variations on “Happy Birthday.” It was an appropriate selection given that the concert was scheduled to coincide with the composer’s 86th birthday.The concert ended with a performance of “Soundings,” a piece written for the opening of the Los Angeles Symphony’s Gala. Conductor Mitchell’s description added interest to the piece and it was exciting to learn the Colorado Symphony was only the second to ever perform it.
All the music was performed beautifully and it was enjoyable to see the members of the symphony paly solos in the different selections. However, it would have been nice to hear “Raider’s March” or the fanfare from Star Wars included in the lesser known works.
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