Through his recognizable scores for movies like Jaws, Star Wars, and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, John Williams solidified himself as a powerhouse in film composition. Williams’ scores for the Indiana Jones trilogy, the Jurassic Park movies, and Schindler’s List, as well as his arrangement of the Olympic Fanfare for the 1984 Games are familiar to all. The theme from Superman, heard here, exemplifies his control over orchestral textures and demonstrates his characteristic “touch,” which makes his melody unmistakable.

This excerpt starts with the trumpet melody several measures into John Williams’s theme (isolated on the second recording). This eight-measure excerpt is in the key of C major and starts on C5.

. Frost Symphony Orchestra, Andrés Jaime, conductor

. Roberto Betancourt, recording engineer