This past weekend, a long-time dream came true — I had the privilege of attending a concert by the Boston Pops Orchestra under the direction of none other than John Williams.

Anyone who was to look at the program for the evening would understandably wonder about my excitement, but the answer to that question, as well as any other, was simply, “because John Williams”.  That phrase was never more true than it was during the performance on Saturday, August 19th. The lineup was rather lackluster. Of Williams’ compositions, only one or two was well known (and remarkable), and even then, the one that was particularly good (from the film E. T. The Extra-Terrestrial) wasn’t even conducted by the man himself, but by the current Conductor of the Boston Symphony, Mr. Andris Nelsons. Regardless, as my friend and I took our seats on the lawn outside the Koussevitzky Music Shed at Tanglewood in Lenox, MA. As music lovers/enthusiasts, we found ourselves on “hallowed ground”, since the Tanglewood Music Center (or simply Tanglewood) has been the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra (and later the Boston Pops Orchestra) since 1937. The orchestra itself is the third-oldest in the country with their first performance dating back to 1881! It was established officially as Tanglewood Music Center in 1940 by the renowned Russian conductor, Serge Koussevitzky. The TMC started out as a summer concert venue, but then it grew into much more when it became a summer music academy for up and coming musicians. You can check out the history here: https://www.bso.org/brands/tanglewood-music-center/about-the-tmc/history.aspx

Needless to say, I was pretty stoked. We were about to take in a concert where so many of the 20th Century’s greatest musicians had begun their careers or presented concerts, and on top of that we were about to hear some great film music AND on top of that even, we were going to see John Williams conducting his own works with the orchestra that he led for just over 13 years. The night promised to be GREAT!!

We arrived on the grounds between 4:30 and 5pm, and even though we arrived over three hours early for our 8pm concert, there was already a line to the main gate that was a few hundred people strong.

It was SHOCKING to see so many people waiting to get in. For those of you who might be reading this that don’t know me very well, this is not my first rodeo. I, along with my little Sister, attend concerts with two other major orchestras on a semi-regular basis (and volunteer for a third), and even at big events (Williams-themed concerts for example) I have never seen such crowds of people waiting to get in to secure a seat! It was truly mind-boggling, and at the same time, it was encouraging to see so many people still coming out to attend what was still essentially a Classical Concert. That point could certainly be argued extensively, but nevertheless, it was astounding to see so many come out to see a major symphony orchestra in concert. The folks in attendance at Tanglewood aren’t there just to take in a good concert though, in fact my friend and I were seriously wondering if there were really any music lovers on the Lawn at all, but they were certainly serious about their picnicking. It was comical the lengths that people were willing to go to where their dinner on the lawn was concerned. We saw tables (big and small) heavy-laden with main dishes, appetizers, finger-foods, and even candles! Yes, real, live candles! I even saw a big, brass candelabra! When my sister and I are at Blossom Music Center (in the Akron, OH area), it is customary for people to be dragging coolers for picnics, but no candles… Something else I noticed, was the sheer amount of Wine! It was everywhere, and it was being consumed in all manner of containers from drink boxes all the way up through proper glass stemware. It was really quite something.

The Koussevitzky Music Shed is quite old. It was built in the 1930’s, and it looks as though it has been kept in pretty much the same style as when it was built. The Shed and Lawn areas are not what you would call an “amphitheater”, but you can still hear the music very well at a distance. Regardless, my friend and I secured a spot that was at an angle from the left side of the stage.

I didn’t take any additional pictures during the first half since that wasn’t what I was there to see, and the ushers frown on pictures during a regular performance, not to say that none were taken but still… I digress.

The first half of the concert opened up in grand style with the performance of the theme from, “The Adventures of Robin Hood” by Erich Wolfgang Korngold. That was followed by music from “Spartacus” (by Alex North) and the Love Theme from “Vertigo” (by Bernard Hermann),  and next was The Duel from “The Adventures of Tintin” (the first of Williams’ pieces). The music itself isn’t particularly exciting, but there was a series of clips shown on the big screens of many classic sword fights from the oldest films all the way through some newer ones (including, yup you guessed it, lightsaber duels!). This wound up being something that was totally awesome, and the whole sequence “stuck the landing” as it were. 🙂 The end of the music came exactly as a clip rolled of Indiana Jones shooting the swordsman from the Market Scene in “Raiders”. The ending was just perfect. After that there was  some music written by Williams for a film called “Dracula”, and it concluded with music from “E.T.”.

The only issue I had with the first half of the concert, the very obvious sour note from the Brass in the Robin Hood theme we can excuse, came from Mr. Nelsons’ idea about tempo particularly during the “Flying Theme” from E.T. It was less flying and more akin to someone walking along with the assistance of a walker. Music that fast-paced and iconic normally would evoke memories from the film of bikes flying through the air but instead brought to mind how people in traffic must feel… or something else equally slow and uninspired. The piece finished strong, but Mr. Nelsons needs to adjust his ideas of how “popular music” is conducted OR just hand the baton over to Mr. Lockhart who has been conducting such works for years.

At the conclusion of the first half, there was a standing ovation for Mr. Nelsons and the Orchestra, even if the conductor should have been yanked off the stage with a cartoon-style cane, but overall, it was a great performance of some lesser-heard works. The whole trip however, was centered on the second half of the evening.

The second half began a little late, but when Mr. Williams stepped out on stage, the crowd roared their approval! It was electrifying!

The second half of the concert opened with “the Adventures of Mutt from Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Chrystal Skull”. It’s certainly one of the lesser Indiana Jones films, and the score (while good) is nothing to write home about either (my apologies to Mr. Williams). In addition to that piece the Pops performed a spot-on rendition of some excerpts from “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” as well as the Parade of the Slave Children from “Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom”. Before that piece in particular, Mr. Williams explained that, “Our Hero frees the slave children you understand, and while I was writing the music there is a woman riding an Elephant, so you might here something that sounds vaguely pachydermic”.  After the laughter died down, the piece started, and it was as if a CD was playing… The music that Mr. Williams and the other musicians on stage produced sounded like it had just come out of the studio. It was truly well done, and a fine example of what I absolutely love about live music; you just might get to hear something that sounds like it was recorded in the safety of a studio, but it happened right before your very eyes and ears instead!

Next they played a Suite of music from the film “Far and Away”. It was a particularly beautiful suite of music that I had never heard before, and it was wonderfully done as you might imagine. Following that piece came With Malice Toward None from “Lincoln”. Mr. Williams explained that as he was writing the music, a trumpet solo developed, and that there was a surprise guest backstage to perform it… None other than Mr. Andris Nelsons! It’s not often that you see the conductor of an orchestra play an instrument on stage, and as it turns out, Mr. Nelsons is quite the trumpet player! During the performance, he was once again plagued by tempo issues, and he wasn’t paying quite enough attention to Mr. Williams’ cues, but the piece completed without incident.

Following that, Mr. Williams talked a little about the next (and final) suite of music that would be performed. The second half would close with three selections from the Harry Potter series of films. The suite opened with the “Chamber of Secrets” then moved on to “Fawkes the Phoenix” and finished with “Harry’s Wondrous World”. As the final notes rang out, the audience was on their feet applauding with gusto! It had been a wonderful concert even if the selections weren’t what we expected.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             And then, Mr. Williams came back out on stage and picked up the Mic once more… People lost their minds! An orchestral encore!!! This is almost unheard of thanks to the tradition of no orchestral encores started so long ago by famed Italian conductor, Arturo Toscanini. Much to our surprise and joy, Mr. Williams began to tell a brief story about another score that he wrote for the film, “1941”. Before the piece began, he stated that what they were about to play was the March from that film, and he referred to it as “complete goofy, and irrelevant to the actual plot of the film”. With a quick, “I hope you enjoy it”, he turned to the orchestra and started the piece. Overhead, the screens began to show selections from the film as the music played on. The March from 1941 is a fun little work, if you haven’t heard it before go check it out, and as it wrapped up, the audience was on their feet again (fully expecting that that was it). Nope. A second encore! Now we were really in uncharted territory! Pretty sure I could hear Toscanini spinning in his grave… Mr. Williams began to tell a story about yet another score to a film by his good friend, Steven Spielberg. The film was… “Schindler’s List”, and the violin solo would be played by Concertmaster of the BPO, Tamara Smirnova! They launched into the gorgeous work, and when the violin started to play the solo piece, a hush fell over the crowd as the sheer beauty of the work swept over all those gathered. It was expertly done, as you might imagine, and when it was complete, the audience really lost it. There’s nothing like a well-played violin solo (and string-heavy work) to bring out the enthusiasm in a crowd. Ms. Smirnova took a bow, and then resumed her place with the orchestra, but the audience and Mr. Williams weren’t going to let her off the hook so easily. As the applause continued, I mentioned to Rick, that the timpanist was practicing something, and while it seemed utterly impossible, it seemed as if there was at least one more piece to be played. Finally, Mr. Williams motioned the audience that enough was enough, and he simply resumed his position on the podium, picked up his baton… AND STARTED THE IMPERIAL MARCH FROM STAR WARS: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK!!!!!! The audience’s enthusiasm reached a fever pitch, and those ungrateful wretches who had been dragging their coolers and other random belongings towards the exits, stopped in shock as the THIRD ENCORE of the evening got rolling. As you might imagine, the crowd was beyond ecstatic and listened rapturously (with smartphones held aloft to capture the moment) to one of the more famous pieces of music that Mr. Williams has ever written. I honestly couldn’t believe my eyes and ears… John Williams was conducting the Boston Pops in The Imperial March!!! Rick kept mumbling something about a dream come true, etc., and it wasn’t until after the concert that he explained what he was on about. He has wanted to hear that piece played by the BPO and conducted by Mr. Williams himself LIVE and in person for over 20 years. He considered it an impossibility, but then we actually heard it! What a marvelous conclusion to a wonderful evening!!! As the applause continued, Mr. Williams took his final bow from the podium, and before leaving, turned to the orchestra to acknowledge their excellent work of the evening. He then indicated to all of us that it was way past his bedtime (the concert ran over by almost 40 minutes), and he exited the stage for the last time that evening. What a concert! What an experience! I am forever grateful to have shared the experience with a good friend, and a special thanks to Rick for driving, arranging the hotel stay, and for providing transportation to and from the event. This concert and trip will certainly be something that I won’t soon forget. Thank you.