Chewbacca on violin. Princess Leia on ‘cello. A host of Jack Sparrows on 2nd violin (or viola: apologies string players, they kinda look the same from the back). Cowboys on double bass. Dotted about, the occasional James Bond, Jedi, and hobbit. Leading the orchestra, a Roman princess. And, conducting the entire affair? The boy wizard himself, Harry Potter. Welcome to the Brunel Sinfonia’s Evening of Film Music.
An amateur orchestra who played with warmth, enthusiasm and sheer gusto ensuring that the audience – a packed out auditorium of all ages, making this a true family event – took us on a journey through the last three or four decades of music accompanying blockbusting films. John Williams was clearly the star of the show – indeed, an entire concert could be devoted to the man’s music, such is his talent – with a suite of music from Star Wars, as well as the main themes from E.T., Jurassic Park, Harry Potter, and Schindler’s List. This latter piece in the second half, along with Barber’s Adagio in the first half (a piece used in Platoon, the only film referenced tonight I hadn’t seen) marked an appropriate break in each half to catch one’s breath from the vivacity of the rest of the music, bombastic as much of it is.
The programme notes were full of helpful notes to show where the inspiration for each composer lay. Some, like Hans Zimmer’s theme for Gladiator, more clearly owe a debt to established classical music (specifically here, “Mars” from Holst’s The Planets). Others are less specific – Williams’ use of the leitmotif so beloved of Wagner. But to only compare film music to other older music – music composed for an entirely different reason – is oft-times to do it a dis-service. Film music serves its own purpose – most notably to evoke either a character, a theme, or a particular emotion. Film music is as equally effective when it is loud, thematically dominant, rousing, or otherwise emotionally vital as it is when it is quiet, subservient to the over-riding emotion on screen, and barely consciously perceptible. By necessity concert performances predominantly comprise the former, and in so doing bring the memories of the relevant film hurtling back to the forefront of your mind. I overheard a man behind me comment that he wanted to go home and watch The Godfather, or Jurassic Park, or any of the Bond films. And this is fair comment: film music is an absolutely integral part of the film such that when it is taken out of context, it becomes immediately apparent the emotional impact it has on one. But it is not merely an accompaniment. It has been said that some films could conceivably be considered lesser if one were to take away, or substitute, the memorable theme or musical score. Psycho, has had this said of it – with Herrmann’s memorable string discord. (Although I personally disagree with this particular example.) Planet of the Apes is another – Jerry Goldsmith’s almost tribalistic score lends what could be slow or dull, an otherworldliness that is unsettling and alien – it is absolutely essential to the film as a whole, and one wonders if the film would have had the same impact with a more traditional score. (For clarification, neither the Psycho theme nor the Planet of the Apes score were played tonight…)
I for one would love to hear more film music in a concert setting. Some of the lesser-known film scores are full of music just waiting to be rearranged for concert playing. Even keeping with John Williams, his score for Close Encounters of the Third Kind works superbly on its own. Clint Mansell’s work for both Darren Aronofsky in The Fountain and Duncan Jones in Moon has such potential in a symphonic setting. They may not be the crowd-pleasers heard tonight – and please the crowd they most certainly did – but the world of film music is rich and varied enough that one could devote an entire season of concerts to it.
One final thing: as a tie-in with the charity “Cots for Tots” with which the Wallace & Gromit characters are associated (their website can be found here – http://www.cotsfortots.org.uk and on which one can make a donation) for an encore the Brunel Sinfonia played the theme music from the Wallace & Gromit short films – a theme that I spent the entire walk home humming and whistling, much to the bemusement of the half-drunk students I passed on my way.
