John Williams: Hidden Gems Suite

Music by John Williams

This is a personal audio/video homage to some of John Williams' most beautiful and interesting "hidden gems" as heard in some of his most famous film scores.

But what does "hidden gem" mean?

As many film music lovers know well, the work of the film composer is usually characterized by short musical compositions that accompany brief-to-medium length sequences or even brief transitional scenes: here, the composer has to pin down the heart and character of the scene through a small but effective cue. In these little musical nuggets, you can find the "hidden" art of a film composer like John Williams and his command of the craft of film music writing, mainly through the clever use of motifs and themes.

What is curious is that usually most of these short and juicy cues were neglected an appearance in the original soundtrack albums issued at the time (probably because the composer felt they weren't interesting enough to be heard outside the film context). In fact, many film music aficionados craved for most of these selections to be released on disc. Thanks to the effort of soundtrack specialty labels like Film Score Monthly, La-La Land Records and Varèse Sarabande, these cues have been presented for the first time many years later in special archival limited editions.

A special mention to the amazing artistry of all the great musicians who played in these film scores and brought them to life.

All the excerpts are taken from the original film recordings.

The copyright of these recordings is exclusive property of the respective owners and publishers. No copyright infringement intended!

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