#boston symphony orchestra
“Han Solo and the Princess”fromThe Empire Strikes Back (1980) – composed, conducted, and arranged by John Williams; performed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra; solo violin by Anne-Sophie Mutter
Since 2017, John Williams has collaborated with German violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter for various classical music compositions. In addition to those works, Williams has also reworked select cues from his film music for Mutter’s talents. In this case, he arranges “Han Solo and the Princess” (The Empire Strikes Back’s love theme) for orchestra and solo violin.
Rachmaninoff:Piano Concerto No. 2, Op. 18 - II. Adagio sostenuto
Krystian Zimerman, piano
Boston Symphony Orchestra | Seiji Ozawa, conductor
My first musical undertaking for the semester: accompanying my friend at a concerto competition. This is my first time serving as an accompanist. The experience so far has felt pretty low-key in the sense that I’m not in the spotlight, but definitely not low-key in the sense that the accompaniment plays a crucial role in the flow of the music and, more importantly, in how well the soloist performs.
God knows how many times I (and probably you) have heard Rachmaninoff’s famed Piano Concerto No. 2, but being the accompanist has revealed to me that I don’t really know this concerto front-to-back like I thought I did—and that my classical listening experiences have become jarringly passive. Both for this concerto and for many other pieces, I pay close attention to melodies, but take for granted the harmonic progressions supporting them; I can recognize instruments, but often do not understand how all of the voices in the orchestra interact with each other in complex dialogue and polyphony. I am also learning firsthand how difficult it is to translate woodwind and string textures to the piano.
So, lessons for the future: accompanying can reveal both previously uncovered insights about a piece of music and unsuspecting areas for improvement in your own piano playing.
Anyhow, my friend/soloist sent me the above recording because of Zimerman’s particularly clean sixteenth notes, which start at around 6:58. Overall, this is just an amazing performance with an all-star cast that demands to be heard.
