The Yellow Label is pushing out the boat for John Williams, with ‘Across the Stars’ following in quick succession from the recent Dudamel/LAPO two-CD set of his film music (6/19). Williams’s adaptations of some of his most celebrated scores for the violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter offers a luxurious feast of music-making, including the welcome inclusion of several titles that have been bypassed in the vast canon of Williams’s cinematic output. Now they are given a new lease of life by the extraordinary artistry of Mutter and the clear-headed direction of the composer.

The question on everybody’s lips will be to ask how far the original scoring – and thus the character of the film itself – is called into question by the substitution of Mutter’s violin for the original instrument. Rest assured that this is a violinist who can cast a spell over everything set before her, the impact of each performance offering something special to complement the original soundtrack.

‘Luke and Leia’ from Return of the Jedi, where the violin takes precedence over the horn, carries greater emotional impact in Mutter’s elegiac reading, carrying with it the poignant reminder of Carrie Fisher’s Princess Leia. Mutter’s elegant styling of the cocktail-hour piano theme from Sabrina (1995) is one of total enchantment, the waltz music floating to and fro, a picture of couture, reflected not least in the gowns worn by Mutter that are illustrated in the CD booklet.

The soundtrack of Cinderella Liberty (1973) was linked indelibly to the harmonica of Toots Thielemans in ‘Nice to be around’ – one of Williams’s rare outings as a songwriter – which was nominated for an Academy Award. The gorgeous tune is caressed and spun by Mutter in a loving recreation of the original. On ‘Hedwig’s Theme’ she brings to bear every trick in the fiddler’s book in a showpiece worthy to set alongside Saint-Saëns’s Danse macabre. In ‘Donnybrook Fair’ from Ron Howard’s Far and Away (1992) Williams has adapted his modest cue ‘Blowing off steam’ into a tour de force for violin and orchestra, a close cousin to the finale of Korngold’s Violin Concerto. Exhilarating and uplifting by turns, it strengthens my belief that Williams is at his most imaginative in action music, a point borne out by the pyrotechnics and clash of swords in ‘The Duel’ from The Adventures of Tintin, a brilliant scherzo where the sparks from sword on stone seem to permeate the air with cordite.

Mutter adds an ethereal counterpoint to ‘Across the Stars’ (the theme of this one was originally for oboe) and in the opening cue, ‘Rey’s Theme’, she takes centre stage from the start, sprinkling her magical tones in a mischievous and elegant shaping of the theme against glockenspiel and horns. The dramatic heart of the CD is the relatively little heard ‘Night Journeys’ from Dracula (the 1979 version starring Frank Langella), where the dramatic climax brings a powerful reminder of Walton’s First Symphony. Mutter’s Strad enlivens the penny-plain theme of ‘Yoda’, while Schindler’s and Sayuri’s themes stand up there alongside the many versions now on the market.

These recordings took place in Culver City studios where, as Mutter explained to Gramophone in September, her former husband, André Previn, had started his film career. Previn introduced John Williams into the film world, and through his involvement in ‘Across the Stars’ has brought a chapter in all their lives to this celebratory conclusion.