Overview

• Williams said movie scores “usually aren’t” good beyond brief stretches and suggested affection for them often reflects nostalgia.
• He argued film music should not share equal footing with the concert canon, calling much of it “fragmentary” until reconstructed.
• The interview’s publication has been widely picked up this week as attention builds for Greiving’s book, John Williams: A Composer’s Life, due this fall.
• Biographer Tim Greiving described the views as genuinely self-deprecating rather than false modesty.
• Williams’ career includes 54 Oscar nominations and five wins, a long partnership with Steven Spielberg he called “very special,” and notable non-film work for the Olympics, NBC, and the Boston Pops.