Episode 60 - The River

Probably the least stressful thing for John Williams in 1984 was composing the score to "The River," which reunited him with director Mark Rydell for the fourth and final time. Williams employed the talents of longtime collaborator Tommy Tedesco for the score's wonderful guitar solos, and created an Oscar-nominated score light years from the work he had done on his previous two films. The work kept his mind off the drama that unfolded earlier in the summer when he abruptly resigned as conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra over reactions from musicians. And after working on "The River," Williams found himself quite busy in 1985 though he had zero film commitments that year. Host Jeff Commings talks about the story behind Quincy Jones taking over as composer on "The Color Purple," Williams' return to television and the concerto he composed for the Boston Pops after the relationship was rekindled.