Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		4.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		5.0

John Williams: The Berlin Concert Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman April 1, 2022

Some folks (ahem) may be old to enough to remember when the venerable John Williams was at least occasionally billing himself as Johnny Williams and who among other activities was churning out an incredible array of often percussively acute television themes for Irwin Allen's science fiction television series of the sixties like Land of the Giants, The Time Tunnel and Lost in Space (and as my now long ago Lost in Space: The Complete Adventures Blu-ray review mentions, Williams actually wrote two themes for both this series and Land of the Giants). Williams by that point had already dipped more than a mere toe in writing and/or playing for films, but it probably wouldn't be until the seventies, and especially his epic scores for classics like Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and probably especially Star Wars that Williams assumed something close to the kind of monolithic and maybe even extraterrestrial status of a certain rectangular artifact from another science fiction classic, 2001: A Space Odyssey 4K.

Williams' somewhat later, more lionized, scores may have unfortunately detracted from some of his remarkable earlier work, including those many aforementioned themes for television series (I'd also point fans who love the Irwin Allen work to Williams' fantastic theme for Kraft Suspense Theater). But even Williams' film work from the fifties and sixties prove what a reliable crafter of cool, jazz inflected scores he was, in a tradition that might also be compared to the work of such titans as Henry Mancini or Dave Grusin. Listen, for example, to the brilliant "Make Me Rainbows" from Fitzwilly to marvel at not just Williams' facility with a "catchy" melody, but with a technical finesse that sees him virtually skipping through (and around) the circle of fifths in an almost delightedly bonkers way.

Williams' work in the seventies and beyond has contributed one memorable score after another, and if some of his scores can reflect Williams' love of earlier classical composers (Raiders of the Lost Ark , Superman and Star Wars all have moments reminiscent of Richard Strauss, and Harry Potter offers moments clearly influenced by Prokofiev), he's also remarkably "on point" with music that adds to the emotional undercurrents of any given scene without drawing too much attention away from the scene.

Wonderfully, Mr. Williams is still among us as this review is being written, and he proves himself to be amazingly spry and energetic in this enjoyable concert which was recorded live in October 2021. This was Williams' debut in Berlin with what Williams himself calls "perhaps the world's greatest orchestra", which is an understandable slight hedge which might allow Williams to continue contracting session players in Los Angeles (and, yes, that's a joke). Deutsche Grammophon is offering a rather interesting package here, one with a "video" Blu-ray and a separate audio Blu-ray, though kind of interestingly only the video disc has Dolby Atmos. Both discs contain the following playlist:

• Olympic Fanfare and Theme


• Excerpts from Close Encounters of the Third Kind


• Suite from Far and Away


• Selection from Harry Potter:

  Hedwig's Theme

  Nimbus 2000

  Harry's Wondrous World

• Theme from Jurassic Park


• Superman March


• Selections from Indiana Jones:

  Scherzo for Motorcycle and Orchestra

  Marion's Theme

  Raiders March

• Elegy for Cello and Orchestra


• Selections from Star Wars:

  The Adventurers of Han

  Yoda's Theme

  Throne Room & Finale

  Princess Leia's Theme

• Flying Theme from E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial


• The Imperial March from Star Wars

John Williams: The Berlin Concert Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

John Williams: The Berlin Concert is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Deutsche Grammophon with an AVC encoded 1080i transfer in 1.78:1. This is a perfectly competent looking presentation which offers generally secure detail levels throughout, and some fine detail in close-ups that is good enough that you can actually spot beads of perspiration popping out on some players' foreheads (it's probably stressful playing Williams' music under the baton of Williams, even if you are a member of "perhaps the world's greatest orchestra"> There's also good delineation in some of the darker tones, so that no real detail is lost with a wash of black clad orchestra members. As with many interlaced presentations of concert fare, there are anomalies that can be spotted, some of which are clearly visible in some of the screenshots I've uploaded to accompany this review (pay special attention to things like bows).

John Williams: The Berlin Concert Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Kind of interestingly, the audio specs are slightly different for the video Blu-ray and separate audio Blu-ray included in this package. As stated above in the main body of the review, only the video Blu-ray offers a Dolby Atmos track, while also offering DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48/24) and LPCM 2.0 (48/24). The audio Blu-ray sports either DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (96/24) or LPCM 2.0 (192/24). You really can't go wrong with any of these tracks and despite the differences in kHz, I really didn't notice huge variances between the "shared" 5.1 and 2.0 presentations. All of the surround tracks (obviously including the Atmos track) have gorgeous, full bodied sound which is beautifully spacious and reflective of the hall ambience of the performance. Both massed tutti elements and some really evocative solo playing (as with Bruno Delepelaire's athletic cello) are well mixed and problem free with regard to fidelity. Dynamic range is nicely wide, though there is a prevalence of "show stopping" material on display here which can tip amplitudes up toward "11" territory, so to speak.

John Williams: The Berlin Concert Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

There are no on disc supplements of any kind. The DigiPack comes with a nice booklet with an essay in German and English, stills, and a track listing and other technical data. It should be noted (no pun intended) that our original database entry included CDs, our "overview" tab ported over an image from Amazon clearly showing two BDs and two CDs, and in fact an ad in the back of the booklet lists the various formats this is coming out in, and this particular release is shown to include at least one CD, but there were no CDs in the review copy I received, and in fact there was no place for CDs in the packaging. I'm wondering if some marketing "genius" decided that the audio Blu-ray was a CD or if somewhere along the line the release was changed to only include Blu-ray discs and Amazon and other retailers aren't up to date with their specs yet.

John Williams: The Berlin Concert Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

It's uniquely heartwarming for those of us who love music in general and film music in particular so much to see someone of John Williams' caliber get celebrated so beautifully. It's also uniquely heartwarming to see Williams himself conducting the Berlin Philharmonic and offering some fun anecdotes as interstitials during this concert. Technical merits, especially audio, are solid, and John Williams: The Berlin Concert comes Highly recommended.