John Williams on writing a new violin concerto for Anne-Sophie Mutter

Anne-Sophie Mutter premiered John Williams’s Second Violin Concerto, written for her, in Boston in July 2021 and DG recorded the work shortly after. One of the most listened-to composers on the planet, thanks to his peerless film scores, Williams has long been drawn the concerto as a form, and has written for many great musicians, including Gil Shaham and Yo-Yo Ma. 

James Jolly caught up with John Williams by phone earlier this year to talk about the new violin concerto, Williams's concert music and his love of conducting. 

John Williams features on the cover of the July issue of Gramophone, out on June 10. Andrew Farach-Colton writes about Williams’s concert music and we review the new DG recording of the Second Violin Concerto as well as Yo-Yo Ma’s new Sony Classical recording of the revised version of John Williams’s Cello Concerto.