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A rousing favorite of Washington residents and national television audiences alike, A Capitol Fourth 2003 will also deliver a special tribute to legendary composer John Williams - who has transformed the landscape of Hollywood films with beloved musical scores for such classics as Star Wars, Jaws, Schindler's List, E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial and the Indiana Jones series. The winner of multiple Academy awards, Grammy's, Golden Globes and Emmy's, Williams is also widely recognized for his ceremonial music including Liberty Fanfare and Olympic Fanfare.

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For complete info click here

Erich Kunzel is conducting.

Thanks,
Chris

NP. American Collection Theme (John Williams; Yo-Yo Ma, cello)

Later tonight on CBS was the Boston Pops Orchestra (plus the Mormon Tabernacle Choir) under the baton of Keith Lockhart. They didn't play any film music, but their performance did sound a bit more robust than the National Symphony's earlier in the evening. The fact that the Boston Pop's program was only about a third as long as the National Symphony's program probably could be attributed to this. Bumpers before commercial breaks contained Williams' "Liberty Fanfare" piped in.

After the orchestra's program, there were about 20 minutes of fireworks set to pre-recorded film music. It included stuff from David Arnold's Independence Day, "All that Jazz" from Chicago ( ), "Colonel Bogey March" from The Bridge on the River Kwai, Williams' Midway March, and the most surprising selection of the night, music from Goldsmith's The Edge. There were also two pieces of film music that I didn't recognize. One was a piece that started out with a female vocal and whistle(?) and eventually had an electric guitar with the orchestra. I thought it was a bit Zimmerish for some reason... The other unidentified cue had only what I can describe as the Munchkins from The Wizard of Oz singing something that wasn't in English.

I've never quite understood watching fireworks on TV, because I feel they lose about 100% of their impact. Nevertheless, I zoned out in front of the TV and enjoyed listening to the variety of music tonight.

The music with the female voice was from Shrek

The Williams tribute in Washington was very exciting for me specially the part where he was presented the recognition, and being asked to conduct his own Olympic Fanfare. Very thrilling. I absolutely loved it. Nevermind the trumpeter(or horn) that skipped a measure, heh heh.

NP. Williams Olympic Fanfare and Theme
U.S. Army Herald Trumpets
National Symphony Orchestra
John Williams

The original song: http://www.moosebutter.com/lyrics.php?fromstore=1&song=3

The new YouTube interpretation (which I how I got to know about it): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lk5_OSsawz4

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Originally posted by Bulldog:
That's not really what I meant. Williams' music is representative of American music given that he is American.

But whereas Williams is essentially a composer of the Wagnerian tradition, Goldsmith's music is more Copland-esque; it's more in the American tradition [and, I'd argue (though it's besides the point), it's the best of the American tradition].

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