John Williams
The virtuosic skills of acoustic guitarist John Williams have allowed him to move far beyond classical music genres and audiences in his long career. Even for those who don't know him by name or confuse him with the film score composer of the same name, they are probably familiar with his recording of Cavatina, used in the film The Deer Hunter (1978), which is just one facet of his musical interests.
Williams was born in Melbourne in 1941 and was given his first lessons by his father, also a guitarist. The family moved to London in 1952 to further Williams' musical education. He impressed Andrés Segovia and was invited to study at Segovia's summer courses at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena, Italy each year until 1959. Williams also attended the Royal Academy of Music between 1956 and 1959, studying piano and composition because there was no guitar program at the time. During that period, he made his official London debut recital at Wigmore Hall and first recordings when he was just 17, followed by his Paris debut a year later. Williams established the guitar department at the RAM in 1960 and remained a professor there until 1973. By that time, he had been signed to Columbia Masterworks as a counterpart to RCA Victor's Julian Bream and Angel Records' Christopher Parkening. His first release for the label was Columbia Records Presents John Williams, comprised of a transcription of a Bach lute suite and a selection of Spanish guitar music -- classical guitar fans know him well for these two types of work.
Williams' interests have always extended beyond the classical guitar repertory. Even as he performed with well-known orchestras and gave recitals with Bream, he made more wide-ranging music, including the album Changes (1971) -- where he first recorded Stanley Myers' Cavatina -- and The Height Below, both done for the progressive imprint Fly Records. He also worked in a jazz-classical fusion mode with Ronnie Scott, and in folk music on a tour with Ralph McTell. He and four other musicians -- Francis Monkman, Tristan Fry, Kevin Peek, and Herbie Flowers -- formed the jazz-rock fusion quintet Sky in 1978, in which he sometimes played electric guitar. Sky made the charts in England in 1980 with his arrangement of a Bach toccata and fugue. After the release of The Deer Hunter, the Cavatina made the British Top 20.
Among Williams' more famous albums are his 1974 version of Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez with the English Chamber Orchestra; his collaborations with Julian Bream, and ones with Cleo Laine and Paco Peña; and 2002's The Magic Box, which explores world music. In 2010, Williams began his own label, JCW Records, often -- but not always -- featuring his own compositions. Its 2018 release, The Flower of Cities, was titled after the concerto by Stephen Goss, one of many Williams has commissioned over the years.
© Patsy Morita /TiVo
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Harvey: Concerto Antico - Gray: Guitar Concerto
Classical - Released by Sony Classical on 20 Feb 1996
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Echoes of Spain
Classical - Released by Sony Classical on 16 Aug 1983
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
John Williams Plays Vivaldi Concertos
Classical - Released by Sony Classical on 15 Apr 1991
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Baroque Album
Classical - Released by Sony Classical on 1 Apr 1988
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Schubert: Arpeggione Sonata in A Minor, D. 821 - Giuliani: Guitar Concerto No. 1 in A Major, Op. 30
Classical - Released by Sony Classical on 1 Apr 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach: Lute Suites, Vol. I
Classical - Released by Legacy Recordings on 30 Sep 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Latin American Guitar Music by Barrios and Ponce
Classical - Released by Sony Classical on 20 Jan 1992
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Duo: Itzhak Perlman & John Williams
Classical - Released by Sony Classical on 17 Mar 1987
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
John Williams: The Spanish Guitar Anthology
Classical - Released by Sony Classical on 11 Oct 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Four Lute Suites of Johann Sebastian Bach
Classical - Released by Sony Classical on 1 Aug 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rodrigo & Albéniz: Works for Guitar
Classical - Released by Sony Classical on 27 Jul 1989
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Guitarist
Classical - Released by Sony Classical on 22 Sep 1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ponce: Music for Guitar
Classical - Released by Sony Classical on 20 Nov 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach: The Four Lute Suites
Classical - Released by Sony Classical on 1 Aug 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rodrigo & Castelnuovo-Tedesco: 2 Favorite Guitar Concertos
Classical - Released by Sony Classical on 20 Nov 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Guitarist
Classical - Released by Sony Classical on 13 Oct 2003
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Boccherini: Guitar Quintets Nos. 5 & 6 - Guastavino: Jeromita Linares
Classical - Released by Sony Classical on 1 Jan 1980
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
John Williams Plays Spanish Music
Classical - Released by Sony Classical on 1 Jan 1970
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rodrigo: Fantasía para un gentilhombre - Dodgson: Guitar Concerto No. 1
Classical - Released by Sony Classical on 20 Nov 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Guitarist
Classical - Released by Sony Classical on 22 Sep 1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
John Williams in Seville
Classical - Released by Sony Classical on 1 Jan 1993
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo