John Williams Reimagined – Sara Andon – Cécilia Tsan – Simone Pedroni

JOHN WILLIAMS REIMAGINED

Sara Andon, flute; Cecilia Tsan, cello; Simone Pedroni, piano

Produced by Robert Townson

 

So proud to announce this 2-CD set that will be released by Warner Classics on August 23, 2024.

 

Star Wars. Memoirs of a Geisha. Schindler’s List. Far and Away. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. The list goes on and on. Legendary film composer John Williams has for decades reigned as the most celebrated film composer of all time. But John Williams Reimagined is Williams like you’ve never heard him before.

 

John Williams’ themes and orchestrations have resonated in moviegoers’ minds for generations. Steven Spielberg called him “the greatest of all maestros.” George Lucas once told him, “You brought my stories to life beyond my wildest dreams.” For film score producer par excellence Robert Townson, it was the “extraordinary flute solos John has featured in so many of his film scores” that triggered the idea of “a John Williams album…unlike any other.”

 

But could the album Townson imagined—scored for chamber trio of flute, cello, and piano—become reality? With a long career of film score productions to his credit, the producer knew that Williams seldom approves new arrangements of music from his iconic scores.

 

Townson had more than a dream, though. He had a dream ensemble in mind: flutist Sara Andon, cellist Cécilia Tsan, and pianist Simone Pedroni. So, with no guarantee they’d ever see the light of day, he enlisted Pedroni to create three sample transcriptions; record them with the three musicians; and sent them to the composer. Much to their delight, Williams approved Townson’s full track list and sanctioned the trio to exclusively record and perform the full set.

 

Pedroni, for his part, describes the orchestral color of John Williams’ film scores as “always masterful—which made me think that it is impossible to do better.” Yet as the pianist worked on the transcriptions he realized that “Williams’ compositional genius…pure, deep, and great in itself” was precisely what would enable him to reimagine the selections—some iconic, some relatively obscure—for the chamber trio Townson had in mind.

 

The result is a revelation.

 

Familiar themes pepper the track list, intermingling with lesser-known music. “Princess Leia’s Theme” from Star Wars made a lasting impression on Sara Andon when she first heard it as a child. The score for Memoirs of a Geisha features cello solos that Williams wrote for his friend Yo-Yo Ma, and that translate perfectly for Cécilia Tsan, who is a childhood friend of Ma. The trio premiered their John Williams Reimagined concert recital at the Rome Film Music Festival in 2023.

 

The selections cover more than half a century—from Williams’ Emmy-winning score for the 1970 telefilm Jane Eyre—Townson’s original inspiration for the album—to the main theme of 2022’s The Fabelmans, one of over two dozen collaborations between Williams and Spielberg, which affords the brilliant Pedroni a solo piano spotlight. From the canon of iconic Williams scores over this timespan, the two-CD set includes selections from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, A.I. Artificial Intelligence, The Witches of Eastwick, Jurassic Park, The Accidental Tourist, Dracula, The Sugarland Express, Jane Eyre, War Horse, Hook, The Patriot, and more, not to mention the Star Wars saga, Schindler’s List, and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.

 

During the recording sessions in Los Angeles, John Williams invited the trio to perform a selection of the new arrangements for him privately in his writing studio at Amblin. This was in 2022, during Williams’ 90th birthday year, and he was being celebrated all over the world. Following the performance of “The Face of Pan” from Hook, the composer was very moved. He warmly remarked, «This is one of my best birthday gifts,» and gave each of the musicians a hug. Sara, Cécilia and Simone will remember this moment with immense joy and heartfelt gratitude for the rest of their lives.

 

Film music producer Robert Townson founded his first record label in 1985 and has produced nearly 1,500 film music recordings over the past four decades. He has worked with a galaxy of eminent composers, from Jerry Goldsmith, Elmer Bernstein and Alexandre Desplat to Hans Zimmer, Lalo Schifrin, Danny Elfman, and of course John Williams.

 

Flutist Sara Andon is a versatile international soloist and recording artist equally at home with symphonic and chamber music, opera, ballet, new music, jazz, and Broadway. She has performed with top-tier orchestras and is heard on countless film, TV and video game scores.  She has recorded with such composers as Brian Tyler, John Debney, Marco Beltrami, and Jeff Russo and for labels Sony Classical and Varèse Sarabande.

 

Cellist Cécilia Tsan, winner of the Debussy Prize at the Paris International Competition, performs as a soloist and chamber musician in her home country of France and abroad. She has recorded hundreds of movie soundtracks in Los Angeles by composers such as John Williams, Randy Newman, James Horner, and Alan Silvestri.

 

Pianist, conductor and arranger Simone Pedroni launched his solo career winning the gold medal at the Van Cliburn Competition in 1993. He has performed in sold-out concerts throughout the world, working with artists such as Yehudi Menuhin, Zubin Mehta, and Leonard Slatkin, and recorded for labels including Sony Classical and Decca Records.

 

JOHN WILLIAMS REIMAGINED – TRACKLIST

 

CD 1

1. Star Wars: Princess Leia’s Theme

Jane Eyre

2. To Thornfield
3. Reunion

Memoirs of A Geisha

4. Sayuri’s Theme
5. A Dream Discarded
6. Going to School
7. Images: In Search of Unicorns

The River

8. Growing Up
9. The Pony Ride
10. Love Theme
11. Young Friend’s Farewell
12. The Sugarland Express: Theme
13. Elegy for Cello and Piano
14. A.I.: The Reunion
15. The Empire Strikes Back: Han Solo and the Princess
16. Far and Away: County Galway, Joseph and Shannon, Blowing Off Steam, Finale

 

CD 2

1. The Fabelmans
2. Seven Years in Tibet
3. Jurassic Park: A Tree for My Bed
4. Hook: The Face of Pan
5. The Accidental Tourist
6. Schindler’s List: Theme

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

7. Double Trouble
8. A Window to the Past
9. Hagrid the Professor
10. Chasing Scabbers/Hagrid’s Friendly Bird and The Snowball Fight
11. Dracula: End Credits
12. War Horse: Dartmoor 1912, Bringing Joey Home and Bonding,

The Death of Topthorn, Finale and The Homecoming

13. The Patriot
14. Sabrina: How Can I Remember?

The Witches of Eastwick

15. The Tennis Game
16. The Seduction of Suki and The Ballroom Sequence
17. Devil’s Dance
18. E.T.: Over the Moon

 

Recorded and Mixed by Gabe Burch

Mastered by Patricia Sullivan at Bernie Grundman Mastering