約翰·威廉姆斯：余音繞梁柱，愛樂半世紀

如果要細數我們這個時代的殿堂級人類瑰寶，美國鋼琴家、作曲家、指揮家兼電影配樂宗師約翰·湯納·威廉姆斯（John Towner Williams）必在其列。從慘烈的巨輪（《海神號遇難記》）到迷離的祗園（《藝伎回憶錄》），從苦難的集中營（《辛德勒的名單》）到奇幻的魔法城堡（《哈利·波特》系列），作為獲得奧斯卡提名第二多的人（僅次于華特·迪士尼），他的曲子幾乎就是美國電影發展的背景音樂。盡管已經取得數不勝數的藝術成就，這位音樂泰斗從不固步自封；縱使年過耄耋，他至今仍在指揮臺上活蹦亂跳——就連歲月，都無法阻止他對音樂的摯愛追求！

For well over 50 years， John Williams’music has taken us to galaxies far， far away...（Soundtrack from “Star Wars”）

On adventures here on earth...（Soundtrack from “Indiana Jones”）

Made us feel 1）giddy joy... （Soundtrack from “E.T.”）

And occasionally scared us to death.（Soundtrack from “Jaws”）

He might be the most recognized contemporary composer in the world， but John Williams says writing music wasn’t what he started out to do. He wanted to be a concert pianist， and studied at 2）Juilliard with renowned teacher 3）Rosina Lhevinne.

John： I played pretty well. I did hear players like John Browning and Van Cliburn around the place， who were also students of Rosina’s. And I thought to myself， if that’s the competition， I think I’d better be a composer.

Williams moved to L.A. where he became a popular session musician， playing piano on movie and television soundtracks. He began getting jobs 4）arranging music and then composing it. He worked at Universal Studios， writing TV scores.

John： We had 12 shows a week at Universal that had to be recorded， which meant there were 12 three-hour sessions with orchestra， of some kind， on the stage every week—three sessions a day， usually. So I filled one or two of those as a composer， and conducted all of my own work also for seven years. So that， it was a， I suppose， a graduate program in， if nothing else， how to get things done.

Williams wrote his first film score in 1960， and hasn’t looked back. Whether he’s writing for Steven Spielberg， or George Lucas， or Oliver Stone， Williams says his process has always been the same. He writes music the old-fashioned way—with pencil and paper—and doesn’t begin composing until he’s actually seen a rough cut of the film.

John： I， over the years， have always felt more comfortable if I could go into a projection room， look at a film and not really know what to expect. If you read the script first， you form all kinds of 5）preconceptions about how things look， and what the location’s like， what the actors are like. And then you may look at what the director’s chosen， and it doesn’t 6）comport with your conceptions at all.

On the other hand， if I have the luxury of going into the dark projection room， and being surprised when the audience is surprised， and being bored when they’re bored， I think that gives me a sense of what my job is， where I can press the 7）accelerator button if I need to， or support an emotion， or don’t.

Lukas Kendall （Editor）： His themes sound inevitable. They sound like they’ve always existed. It’s extraordinary how you get just two notes for Jaws or five notes for Close Encounters and have them feel like they’ve always existed. （Soundtrack from“Close Encounters of the Third Kind”）

Williams says it takes two to three months on average to compose a film score， going back and forth from his studio to his screening room to make sure everything 8）syncs up properly.

John： I’m happy to be busy. I’m happy to have a wonderful family. And I think also…especially for practicing musicians， age is not so much of a concern， because a lifetime is simply not long enough for the study of music anyway. You’re never anywhere near finished. So the idea of retiring or putting it aside is unthinkable. There’s too much to learn.

半個多世紀以來，約翰·威廉姆斯的音樂曾經帶著我們遨游遙遠星系……（《星球大戰》電影音樂）

在人世間踏上冒險旅程……（《奪寶奇兵》電影音樂）

讓我們感受到令人目眩的快樂……（《E.T.外星人》電影音樂）

偶爾還會把我們嚇得半死。（《大白鯊》電影音樂）

他也許是當今世上最有名的作曲家，但約翰·威廉姆斯說，作曲并不是他剛開始學習音樂的方向。他本想當一名鋼琴演奏家，還去茱莉亞音樂學院上學，拜入名師羅西娜·列文涅門下。

約翰：我的琴技還挺不錯的。但我后來聽說像約翰·布朗寧、范·克萊本這些人都在那里混，他們也是羅西娜的學生。于是我心想，如果要和這些人搶飯碗，我還不如去當個作曲家好了。

威廉姆斯后來搬到了洛杉磯，在那里成為一名很受歡迎的客席音樂家，為影視音樂彈奏鋼琴。他逐漸接到一些改編曲子的活計，隨后開始自行作曲。