John Williams’ latest concert work, a harp concerto entitled “On Willows and Birches,” was premiered by the Boston Symphony Orchestra in their season opener on wednesday night. James Levine conducted the premiere performance of the work, which was commissioned by the orchestra to honor the BSO’s retiring principal, Ann Hobson Pilot. The fifteen-minute two part work was described in today’s reviews as a work that “showed the composer at his best”. According to the Boston Herald, “the music was accessible without sounding simplistic. The first movement, inspired by Psalm 137, airily conjured the musical atmospheres one expects from the harp. The second movement bore a bouncy sense of rhythmic invention, never settling on a steady beat but investigating shifts in pulse throughout.” According to the Boston Globe, the work is “a well-crafted two-movement concerto that clearly fulfills its stated aims of paying tribute to Pilot and showcasing her formidable musicianship. That said, it is a modest work in its musical substance and in its effect.”

In the world of film, John Williams is currently working on the score for Steven Spielberg’s and Peter Jackson’s eagerly anticipated The Adventures of Tintin.