Sony Classical has announced the album A Gathering of Friends, an all-new recording of two concert works by Academy Award winner John Williams (Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Jaws, Jurassic Park, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone) written for cellist Yo-Yo Ma. Also included are selections of Williams’ film scores from Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List, Lincoln and Munich conducted by the composer himself and performed by the New York Philharmonic. The recording also includes special appearances by the Spanish guitarist Pablo Sáinz-Villegas and harpist Jessica Zhou. The album w ill be released digitally and physically on May 20 and is now available for pre-order on Amazon. A first track (Theme from Schindler’s List) is already available to stream/download now. Check out a visualizer featuring Williams and Yo-Yo Man discussing the theme after the jump.
Here’s the track list of the album:
Cello Concerto (2021 Revision)
1. I. Theme & Cadenza
2. II. Blues
3. III. Scherzo
4. IV. Song
Three Pieces from Schindler’s List
5. I. Theme
6. II. Kraków Ghetto – Winter ’41
7. III. Remembrances
8. Highwood’s Ghost
9. With Malice Toward None from Lincoln
10. A Prayer for Peace from Munich
Among the tracks featured on the album is the first recording of Williams’ newly revised version of his Cello Concerto, a work composed for Ma in 1994 and originally recorded for Sony Classical in 2001. The other concert work on the film is Highwood’s Ghost, which Williams composed to celebrate the Leonard Bernstein centennial at Tanglewood in the summer of 2018.
