John Williams in Toronto

I am sure a lot of people will associate the name John Williams with the guy who has composed the Star Wars theme. There is also another John Williams, the classical guitarist who has become famous from the piece Cavatina, the main theme of the movie The Deer Hunter. I finally fulfilled my wish of seeing such an amazing guitarist live and tonight was a beautiful musical experience, probably my highlight of 2009 so far.

The tempo between the slow and fast paced sections are wonderfully done, let alone the lightning fast fingerstyling. Those fingers alone is a show on its own, a bit like a mini-dance from the body to the fret board. The pieces that were played tonight:

Concerto in D Major, Op. 3, No. 9 (“L’’estro armonico”) _____Allegro _____Larghetto _____Allegro	Vivaldi/Bach Arranged by John Williams
Two Sonatas	D. Scarlatti Arranged by John Williams
Valses poeticos, H. 147	Granados Arranged by John Williams
Torre Bermeja (Serenata) from 12 Piezas caracteristicas, Op. 92, No. 12	Albéniz Arranged by John Williams
Notes in the Margin	John Williams
Intermission
La Catedral _____Lento (Preludio saudade) _____Andante religioso _____Allegro solemne	Agustin Barrios Mangoré
Djilile	Peter Sculthorpe
Theme from Schindler’s List	John T. Williams Arranged by John Williams
Theme from Cinema Paradiso	Ennio Morricone Arranged by John Williams
Cavatina from The Deer Hunter	Stanley Myers Arranged by John Williams
Prelude to a Song Open End Song without Words Hello Francis	John Williams
Carolan’s Concerto and Irish Tunes	Trditional Arranged by John Williams

On top of classics like Torre Bermeja, La Catedral and Cavatina, I was really impressed with the rhyme in Valses Poeticos, his own composition Notes in the Margin and the Irish music on a guitar. The latter was a first for me, I thought Irish tunes were only possible with a violin. The night was also sprinkled with a few jokes from the guitarist himself to get the crowd more engaged with the music.

At the end of the concert, John Williams was given four standing ovations. On the fourth outing, he came back on stage for an encore where he played the pretty Como Llora una Estrella. Seeing and listening to such a guitar legend performing live will stay in my memory forever.