{"id":8494,"date":"2016-05-27T13:42:57","date_gmt":"2016-05-27T13:42:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/?p=8494"},"modified":"2017-06-20T13:41:12","modified_gmt":"2017-06-20T13:41:12","slug":"krakow-film-music-festival-polanski-desplat-and-goldsmith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/?p=8494","title":{"rendered":"Krak\u00f3w Film Music Festival: Polanski, Desplat and Goldsmith"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

By Ray Bennett<\/p>\n

KRAK\u00d3W \u2013 The plaintive trumpet solo that Jerry Goldsmith wrote for Roman Polanski\u2019s 1974 film \u201cChinatown\u201d hovered like a blessing over a concert of music from the Polish director\u2019s movies to kick off Krak\u00f3w\u2019s annual Film Music Festival on May 25.<\/p>\n

Legendary Polish jazzman Tomasz Sta\u0144ko performed the theme with the mix of hope and disillusionment that reflects the film and would have delighted the late Hollywood composer as much as American trumpeter Uan Rasey\u2019s original.<\/p>\n

Polanski was on hand with frequent collaborator Alexandre Desplat, winner of the \"Polanski<\/a>festival\u2019s second Kilar Award (left with concert host Magda\u00a0Mi\u015bka-Jackowska), \u00a0as Belgian maestro Dirk Bross\u00e9 conducted the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra (photo below).<\/p>\n

A lyrical and sweeping suite from \u201cTess\u201d (1979) opened the 140-minute programme followed by an ominous suite by Philippe Sarde from the 1976 thriller \u201cThe Tenant\u201d and after French-born local-boy Polanski was introduced to rapturous applause, Sta\u0144ko stepped forward with his trumpet and the success of the evening was assured.<\/p>\n

Producer Robert Evans said in his autobiography that he called on Goldsmith to write the film\u2019s music after preview audiences reacted badly to the original score by classical composer Phillip Lambro. Robert Townson, however, tells a different story.<\/p>\n

The record producer and concert promoter, who runs the Var\u00e8se Sarabande label and was very close to Jerry Goldsmith, tells me\u00a0that it was Polish composer Bronislau Kaper who saw a screening at Polanski\u2019s house and told the director he needed to ditch the music, which had a distinctive Chinese flavour due to Lambro\u2019s impression of the film\u2019s title.<\/p>\n

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

Four pianos, four harps, two percussionists, a string section and a trumpet were Goldsmith\u2019s immediate selection when he was brought in at the last minute and wrote 23-minutes of music in nine days. Clips played above the orchestra at the 2,000-seat ICE Krak\u00f3w auditorium as Bross\u00e9 demonstrated once again that it was the right decision as the mix of instruments\u00a0conveyed the film\u2019s deepening mystery, the trumpet melody floating above a score that is sinister, melancholy and haunting.<\/p>\n

The plangent \u201cMoving to the Ghetto\u201d cue from Polanski\u2019s Oscar-winning \u201cThe Pianist\u201d (2002) by the late Polish legend Wojciech Kilar, for whom the Kilar Award is named, \u00a0followed and Tomasz Sta\u0144ko added his exquisite tones to frequent Polanski collaborator Krzysztof Komeda’s\u00a0 \u201cBallada for Bernt\u201d from \u201cKnife in the Water\u201d (1962).<\/p>\n

\"KFMF-2016<\/a>Kilar\u2019s stark \u201cPaulina\u2019s Theme\u201d from\u201cDeath and the Maiden\u201d (1994) led to a cue by Desplat from \u201cVenus in Fur\u201d\u00a0 (2013) that began playfully and then went off-kilter to pulsate with danger, and Krak\u00f3w Opera star soprano Wioletta Chodowicz sang beautifully on Kilar\u2019s ethereal \u201cVocalise\u201d from \u201cThe Ninth Gate\u201d (1999).<\/p>\n

After an intermission, the show resumed with a genuine treat for lovers of great jazz as \u00a0Sta\u0144ko joined the wonderfully impressive Obara International Quartet for a joyful 30-minute suite of themes by Krzysztof Komeda.<\/p>\n

Polish composer and alto saxophonist Maciej Obara led his foursome \u2013 Dominik Wania on piano, Ole Morten V\u00e5gan on bass and Gard Nilssen on drums \u2013 with Sta\u0144ko on themes from the feature films \u201cCul-de-Sac\u201d (1966) and \u201cThe Fearless Vampire Killers\u201d (1967) and the 1958 short, \u201cTwo Men and a Wardrobe\u201d.<\/p>\n

The five men performed Komeda\u2019s eclectic and expressive music \u2013 sometimes aching, then frenzied and thrilling \u2013 with a finesse that was so disciplined that even though they played from a score, it sounded like sublime improvisation.<\/p>\n

A suite by Ennio Morricone from the Harrison Ford thriller \u201cFrantic\u201d (1988) was all tense strings, French horns and the inevitable guitar with a touch of Gallic mystery. Sta\u0144ko returned for Komeda\u2019s baleful lullaby from \u201cRosemary\u2019s Baby\u201d (1968) and the venerable musician, now 73, had to be persuaded to return for a standing ovation.<\/p>\n

Kilar\u2019s percussive and propulsive \u201cRoberto\u2019s Last Chance\u201d from \u201cDeath and the Maiden\u201d preceded two more Desplat suites. Typically playful at first, the music from \u201cCarnage\u201d (2011) soon heated up to reflect the picture\u2019s escalating conflicts while his intricate score for \u201cThe Ghost Writer\u201d (2010) engaged the full orchestra and a deep bass guitar as it accelerated towards the film’s assassination scene, shown in the clip onscreen.<\/p>\n

The audience were on their feet immediately to applaud Bross\u00e9, the orchestra and the soloists, and they turned to acclaim Polanksi and Desplat in the balcony as director and composer tore their bouquets apart to toss roses out into the crowd.<\/p>\n

The festival runs through May 31.<\/p>\n

\"Polanski5<\/a><\/p>\n

Photos: Wojciech Wandzel, www.wandzelphoto.com<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Ray Bennett KRAK\u00d3W \u2013 The plaintive trumpet solo that Jerry Goldsmith wrote for Roman Polanski\u2019s 1974 film \u201cChinatown\u201d hovered like a blessing over a concert of music from the Polish director\u2019s movies to kick off Krak\u00f3w\u2019s annual Film Music … 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":[1694,14],"tags":[314,513,4312,4307,4305,4308,4310,4311,4306,4087,3380,4309,2176,4313,3866],"class_list":["post-8494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-krakow-film-music-festival","category-reviews","tag-alexandre-desplat","tag-dirk-brosse","tag-ennis-morricone","tag-jerry-goldsmith","tag-krakow-film-music-festival-ice-krakow","tag-krzysztof-komeda","tag-maciej-obara","tag-obara-international-quartet","tag-polish-national-radio-symphony-orchestra","tag-robert-townson","tag-roman-polanski","tag-tomas-stanko","tag-varese-sarabande","tag-wioletta-chodowicz","tag-wojciech-kilar"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8494","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=8494"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8494\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9128,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8494\/revisions\/9128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}