![]() He took his first job as a studio pianist at Columbia, recording under the baton of his father Johnny – a jazz drummer and founding member of the Raymond Scott Quintet.Īs his interest in film grew and the studio composers caught wind of his talent for orchestration, Williams soon found himself working with them, conducting and composing for hit television shows such as Gilligan’s Island, Lost in Space and Heidi. Born in Long Island, New York in 1932, he studied piano and composition at the University of California in Los Angeles, before training to be a concert pianist at the Julliard, and playing the jazz circuit in New York. Williams’s music has long exhibited universal appeal. “There are measurable qualities in music, such as acoustics, that transcend national boundaries and are relevant to all cultures, so it’s a matter of bringing these to bear upon the film.” “The aim was to create an oriental atmosphere by using traditional Japanese instruments that would be supported by a broad, Western harmonic vocabulary – an emotional framework that’s not specifically Japanese but more universal,” Williams explains to Classic FM. They began by talking along general lines. Having collaborated with Williams on some of Hollywood’s biggest blockbusters during the past 30 years, from Jaws and Close Encounters Of The Third Kind to Raiders Of The Lost Ark, it’s no surprise that Williams was Spielberg’s first choice as composer. Our conversation takes place some seven years after Spielberg first acquired the rights to Memoirs Of A Geisha. Indeed, there’s no indication he’s available to interview, until he telephones my hotel room at nine o’clock on a Monday morning. and Star Wars – and clocked up no fewer than 43 nominations – the 73-year-old composer has little, if any, need to publicise his work. But after a 45-year career in which he’s taken to the Academy podium five times for classic scores such as Jaws, E.T. Only Williams can explain his choice of instrumentation. It features the talents of Yo-Yo Ma (see over) and Itzhak Perlman as soloists, accompanied by full orchestra and traditional Japanese instruments such as the shakuhachi and koto. ![]() Released in time for this year’s Academy Awards, Williams’s soundtrack is being hailed as yet another triumphant collaboration with Spielberg, who had intended to direct the project but opted for the role of executive producer on the film instead. Chiyo – renamed Sayuri (Ziyi Zhang) – makes a triumphant debut as a dancer and her virginity is auctioned for a record bid, drawing her into a society of wealth and political intrigue during the onslaught of the Second World War. Hatsumomo’s rival, Mameha (Michelle Yeoh), takes the exceptionally beautiful girl under her wing, schooling her in all the artistic and social skills that a geisha must master – and sparking yet more rivalry from the tempestuous Hatsumomo along the way. ![]() There, she faces the jealous wrath of geisha Hatsumomo (Gong Li). Based on Arthur Golden’s international bestseller and directed by Rob Marshall, it’s a sweeping romantic epic that tells the story of an impoverished nine-year-old named Chiyo (Suzuka Ohgo) from a fishing village, who is sold to a geisha house in Kyoto’s Gion district. Geisha is premiering in Los Angeles when I arrive, with the publicity machine pumping out billboard and television ads across town. So he’ll be in town, but whether or not he’ll make time to discuss his soundtrack for the newly released Memoirs Of A Geisha is anybody’s guess. ![]() According to Williams’s schedule, he’s just completed a score for Steven Spielberg’s film about the 1972 Olympics massacre, Munich, and is due to conduct the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in a concert of his film themes, before returning to Los Angeles to conduct My Fair Lady at the Walt Disney Concert Hall.
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