Book review: John Williams: A Composer’s Life

John Williams: A Composer’s Life

Tim Greiving

640PP ISBN 9780197620885

OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS £31.99 

It’s hard to fathom that one of the most recognisable composers on this planet has yet to have a full-scale biography written about him. After six decades composing music for some of the world’s most beloved movies, as well as an ever-expanding catalogue of pieces for the concert hall, famed composer John Williams finally has a book worthy of his legacy.

Against all odds, owing to the fact that Williams never wanted a biography written about himself, through a series of serendipitous moments author Tim Greiving gained access to the composer and was allowed into the inner sanctum, interviewing him over a range of a year and a half. What follows is a fairly straightforward presentation of his life and career, amplified by commentary from Williams throughout. This is as close to a memoir as we will likely ever get from the composer, and it’s something very special indeed.

Greiving didn’t just interview Williams: he interviewed numerous individuals associated with the composer throughout Hollywood and the classical music world. The book begins with information on his family, his own start on the piano, and how he had aimed to be a concertising virtuoso, eventually studying with the great piano pedagogue Rosina Lhévinne at Juilliard, where his classmates were Van Cliburn and André Previn, the latter becoming one of his closest friends.

We learn about his time in the US Air Force, his first steps into orchestration, and eventually moving into composing for television and films. Greiving goes through each of Williams’s film projects, giving an analysis of the film and the score, and not shying away from personal opinion.

As we go through Williams’s history, ending at the present day, the book presents a wealth of background information, and reads like a who’s who of Hollywood, history and pop culture. For a man who supposedly hasn’t had interesting life, describing himself as ‘a simple musician’, he has crossed paths with a staggering number of luminaries.

Although the majority of the book covers Williams’s voluminous catalogue of film scores, Greiving gives due diligence to the composer’s often-overlooked works for the concert hall, the overwhelming majority of which are concertos, and all written for a specific performer in mind. Conductor Stéphane Denève, a friend of Williams and champion of his music, states in the book that Williams seems to have ‘always written music for someone else’.

Of interest to string players in particular is the information on his concertos and chamber works for strings (this includes two violin concertos, a viola concerto, a cello concerto, a duo concertante for violin and viola and a harp concerto), not to mention an earlier work, Essay for Strings.

We learn about the sudden death of his first wife, a devastating incident that inspired his First Violin Concerto, his collaborations with Yo-Yo Ma and the impetus for his other works for stringed instruments. We hear direct quotes from Ma, Anne-Sophie Mutter and violist Cathy Basrak about working with Williams and what it’s like to have music written for you from one of America’s greatest living composers.

For his part, Williams comes across as amiable, humble almost to a fault, and driven, not just in his career pursuits but in the pursuit of something greater. The last quote in the book has him waxing philosophically on the merits of seeking beauty and truth, something he’s aimed for every time he’s put pencil to paper.

This will undoubtedly not be the last academic book on John Williams (there are a few more in the works on various aspects of his career and music), but it will always be the touchstone, the magnum opus. For fans of Williams, this book is an absolute must-read. It will affirm why you love his music in the first place, and certainly give you an even greater appreciation of it.

For those not as familiar with his music, this book pulls back the curtain on a legendary man, the film industry and what it’s like to be a composer. It’s exceptionally detailed, yet never gets bogged down; facts and quotes are seamlessly woven in. Greiving has done the unthinkable: not only to write a biography on Williams in the first place, but also to receive his blessing and participation. It’s a rich archive of a full life and career, and it’s a gift. We’re all the better for it.

BRIAN HODGES