{"id":7214,"date":"2012-10-12T11:17:03","date_gmt":"2012-10-12T11:17:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/?p=7214"},"modified":"2015-04-18T11:20:22","modified_gmt":"2015-04-18T11:20:22","slug":"music-review-the-lso-a-life-in-film-at-the-barbican","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/?p=7214","title":{"rendered":"MUSIC REVIEW: The LSO: A Life in Film at the Barbican"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"LSO<\/a><\/p>\n

By Ray Bennett<\/p>\n

LONDON \u2013 The London Symphony Orchestra celebrated its 70-plus years making music for movies with a sold-out concert at Barbican Hall on April 4 that ended with an enthusiastic standing ovation.<\/p>\n

The warm response was sparked not only by hearing some of the finest film music from composers such as John Williams, Patrick Doyle, Trevor Jones and George Fenton but also out of respect for the superb playing of the musicians.<\/p>\n

The concert, titled \u201cThe LSO: A Life in Film,\u201d was interspersed with video interviews of composers including Williams and James Horner and presenter Tommy Pearson, whose company Red Ted Films, produced the videos, brought onto the stage both Doyle and Jones to say a few words about their music and the orchestra.<\/p>\n

Pearson\u2019s brief remarks about the LSO\u2019s history provided useful context and he leavened the proceedings with amusing asides. Although the LSO\u2019s connection with film dates back to the silent era, it\u2019s modern popularity in pictures came about after Williams told producer George Lucas that it would be perfect for his score to \u201cStar Wars\u201d.<\/p>\n

Themes from the original and \u201cThe Phantom Menace Suite\u201d were on the program along with the \u201cSuperman March\u201d and \u201cRaiders of the Lost Ark\u201d.\u00a0 On video, Williams spoke of how playing as unit gave the orchestra \u201can added edge\u201d that could not be duplicated by session musicians, no matter how brilliant.<\/p>\n

Horner, whose many scores were represented by a suite from his Oscar-nominated \u201cBraveheart\u201d (he won for \u201cTitanic\u201d), said the LSO had \u201ca diamond sharp sound and it’s quite extraordinary how they do it with music they’ve never seen before.\u201d<\/p>\n

Extracts from the score by Arthur Bliss for H. G. Wells\u2019 1936 film \u201cThings To Come\u201d were included plus music from two 1941 films \u2013 \u201cThe 49th Parallel\u201d by Vaughan Williams, and Richard Addinsell\u2019s \u201cWarsaw Concerto\u201d from \u201cDangerous Moonlight\u201d featuring John Alley on piano.<\/p>\n

Other scores on the program were George Fenton\u2019s \u201cShadowlands\u201d; Trevor Jones\u2019s \u201cThe Dark Crystal\u201d; Philippe Rombi\u2019s \u201cJoyeux Noel\u201d with violin soloist Carmine Lauri; William Walton\u2019s \u201cHenry V\u201d; and Alexandra Desplat\u2019s \u201cThe Queen\u201d.<\/p>\n

As fine as they all were, the highlight came from Patrick Doyle\u2019s themes from \u201cHarry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,\u201d which fully conveyed the joy that the irrepressible Scotsman brings to any gathering.<\/p>\n

Conductor for the evening was venerable 93-year-old Harry Rabinowitz, a tiny figure at the podium whose foibles, which included letting the baton fly from his fingers and losing his place in the scores, were readily forgiven by musicians and audience alike.<\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t matter anyway. So accomplished is this orchestra that, like a modern jumbo jet, it can take off and land all on its own. Doyle said as much afterwards. Once, while conducting the LSO he stopped, shook his head, and said, \u201cYou don\u2019t really need me, do you.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Ray Bennett LONDON \u2013 The London Symphony Orchestra celebrated its 70-plus years making music for movies with a sold-out concert at Barbican Hall on April 4 that ended with an enthusiastic standing ovation. The warm response was sparked not … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,8,14],"tags":[364,604,3519,723,801,950,1186,1197],"class_list":["post-7214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-film","category-music","category-reviews","tag-barbican-hall","tag-george-fenton","tag-james-horner","tag-john-williams","tag-london-symphony-orchestra","tag-patrick-doyle","tag-tommy-pearson","tag-trevor-jones"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7214"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7214\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7216,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7214\/revisions\/7216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}