New Album Feature: John Williams Reimagined for Flute, Cello and Piano
John Williams Reimagined
Sara Andon, Cécilia Tsan, Simone Pedroni
Star Wars. Memoirs of a Geisha. Schindler’s List. Far and Away. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. The list goes on and on. Legendary film composer John Williams has for decades reigned as the most celebrated film composer of all time. But John Williams Reimagined is Williams like you’ve never heard him before.
John Williams’ themes and orchestrations have resonated in moviegoers’ minds for generations. Steven Spielberg called him “the greatest of all maestros.” George Lucas once told him, “You brought my stories to life beyond my wildest dreams.” For film score producer par excellence Robert Townson, it was the “extraordinary flute solos John has featured in so many of his film scores” that triggered the idea of “a John Williams album…unlike any other.”
But could the album Townson imagined—scored for chamber trio of flute, cello, and piano—become reality? With a long career of film score productions to his credit, the producer knew that Williams seldom approves new arrangements of music from his iconic scores.
Townson had more than a dream, though. He had a dream ensemble in mind: flutist Sara Andon, cellist Cécilia Tsan, and pianist Simone Pedroni. So, with no guarantee they’d ever see the light of day, he enlisted Pedroni to create three sample transcriptions; record them with the three musicians; and sent them to the composer. Much to their delight, Williams approved Townson’s full track list and sanctioned the trio to exclusively record and perform the full set.
Pedroni, for his part, describes the orchestral color of John Williams’ film scores as “always masterful—which made me think that it is impossible to do better.” Yet as the pianist worked on the transcriptions he realized that “Williams’ compositional genius…pure, deep, and great in itself” was precisely what would enable him to reimagine the selections—some iconic, some relatively obscure—for the chamber trio Townson had in mind.
The result is a revelation.
Familiar themes pepper the track list, intermingling with lesser-known music. “Princess Leia’s Theme” from Star Wars made a lasting impression on Sara Andon when she first heard it as a child. The score for Memoirs of a Geisha features cello solos that Williams wrote for his friend Yo-Yo Ma, and that translate perfectly for Cécilia Tsan, who is a childhood friend of Ma. The trio premiered their John Williams Reimagined concert recital at the Rome Film Music Festival in 2023.
The selections cover more than half a century—from Williams’ Emmy-winning score for the 1970 telefilm Jane Eyre—Townson’s original inspiration for the album—to the main theme of 2022’s The Fabelmans, one of over two dozen collaborations between Williams and Spielberg, which affords the brilliant Pedroni a solo piano spotlight. From the canon of iconic Williams scores over this timespan, the two-CD set includes selections from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, A.I. Artificial Intelligence, The Witches of Eastwick, Jurassic Park, The Accidental Tourist, Dracula, The Sugarland Express, Jane Eyre, War Horse, Hook, The Patriot, and more, not to mention the Star Wars saga, Schindler’s List, and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.
During the recording sessions in Los Angeles, John Williams invited the trio to perform a selection of the new arrangements for him privately in his writing studio at Amblin. This was in 2022, during Williams’ 90th birthday year, and he was being celebrated all over the world. Following the performance of “The Face of Pan” from Hook, the composer was very moved. He warmly remarked, "This is one of my best birthday gifts," and gave each of the musicians a hug. Sara, Cécilia and Simone will remember this moment with immense joy and heartfelt gratitude for the rest of their lives.
Film music producer Robert Townson founded his first record label in 1985 and has produced nearly 1,500 film music recordings over the past four decades. He has worked with a galaxy of eminent composers, from Jerry Goldsmith, Elmer Bernstein and Alexandre Desplat to Hans Zimmer, Lalo Schifrin, Danny Elfman, and of course John Williams.
Flutist Sara Andon is a versatile international soloist and recording artist equally at home with symphonic and chamber music, opera, ballet, new music, jazz, and Broadway. She has performed with top-tier orchestras and is heard on countless film, TV and video game scores. She has recorded with such composers as Brian Tyler, John Debney, Marco Beltrami, and Jeff Russo and for labels Sony Classical and Varèse Sarabande.
Cellist Cécilia Tsan, winner of the Debussy Prize at the Paris International Competition, performs as a soloist and chamber musician in her home country of France and abroad. She has recorded hundreds of movie soundtracks in Los Angeles by composers such as John Williams, Randy Newman, James Horner, and Alan Silvestri.
Pianist, conductor and arranger Simone Pedroni launched his solo career winning the gold medal at the Van Cliburn Competition in 1993. He has performed in sold-out concerts throughout the world, working with artists such as Yehudi Menuhin, Zubin Mehta, and Leonard Slatkin, and recorded for labels including Sony Classical and Decca Records.
TRACKLIST
CD – JOHN WILLIAMS REIMAGINED
CD 1
- Star Wars: Princess Leia’s Theme
- Jane Eyre:
- To Thornfield
- Reunion
- Memoirs of a Geisha:
- Sayuri's Theme
- A Dream Discarded
- Going to School
- Images: In Search of Unicorns
- The River:
- Growing Up
- The Pony Ride
- Love Theme
- Young Friend’s Farewell
- The Sugarland Express: Theme
- Elegy for Cello and Piano
- A.I.: The Reunion
- The Empire Strikes Back: Han Solo and the Princess
- Far and Away:
- County Galway, Joseph and Shannon
- Blowing Off Steam
- Finale
CD 2
- The Fabelmans
- Seven Years in Tibet
- Jurassic Park: A Tree for My Bed
- Hook: The Face of Pan
- The Accidental Tourist
- Schindler’s List: Theme
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban:
- Double Trouble
- A Window to the Past
- Hagrid the Professor
- Chasing Scabbers / Hagrid’s Friendly Bird and The Snowball Fight
- Dracula: End Credits
- War Horse:
- Dartmoor 1912
- Bringing Joey Home and Bonding
- The Death of Topthorn
- Finale and The Homecoming
- The Patriot
- Sabrina: How Can I Remember?
- The Witches of Eastwick:
- The Tennis Game
- The Seduction of Suki and The Ballroom Sequence
- Devil’s Dance
- E.T.: Over the Moon
Produced by: Robert Townson
Artists:
- Sara Andon, flute
- Cécilia Tsan, cello
- Simone Pedroni, piano
Sara Andon – flute, alto-flute, piccolo, bass flute, penny whistle, recorder
SARA ANDON is an international soloist and recording artist known for her ravishing tone and deeply engaging musical interpretations. She has performed all over the world with orchestras such as the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Orquesta Sinfónica de Tenerife, Los Angeles Philharmonic, LA Opera, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, as well as orchestras for hit Broadway shows Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast,” “Les Misérables,” “Wicked,” and “Phantom of the Opera.”
Ms. Andon is also Principal/Solo Flutist of the Redlands Symphony, Los Angeles Ballet Company, Brightwork Newmusic Ensemble, and records weekly with the Hollywood Studio Orchestras. Her countless TV, video game and film score recordings include such blockbusters as Avatar: The Way of Water, The Super Mario Brothers Movie, The Color Purple, Creed III, Disney's The Jungle Book (live action), and Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire.
As a Varèse Sarabande concert soloist, Andon has been featured in concerts all over the world since 2013, performing the music of iconic composers Alex North, Elmer Bernstein, Georges Delerue, John Williams, Lalo Schifrin, Henry Mancini, John Corigliano, Alan Menken, John Barry, and Ennio Morricone.
Her two most recent solo recordings are on Sony Classical: "Cinema Morricone - An Intimate Celebration" and "Return to Life", both honoring legendary composer Ennio Morricone.
Andon was a soloist for the 2022 global symphony project “Symphony of Three: Peace – Love – Tolerance” commissioned by the Abu Dhabi Festival and composed by Ihab Darwish, David Shire and John Debney.
Andon is a graduate of USC and the Yale School of Music and is the Artist Teacher of Flute at the University of Redlands Conservatory of Music, Idyllwild Arts Academy and gives master classes throughout the world.
For more information, please visit: www.sara-andon.com