Seen any good films lately? It’s what we typically ask, isn’t it? And it’s what we typically think we‘re doing – seeing a film that is.
But, with a small number of notable exceptions, we are most often actually engaged just as much, if not more, with our ears as with our eyes when we enjoy a film. And the more ‘blockbuster’ the film is, the more the sound or the score is likely to influence our overall enjoyment and even our understanding of the cinematic experience.
Since filmmaking began – silently, but with live musical accompaniment – music has been the not-so-silent partner in the filmgoer’s experience. The film’s score anticipates, it guides and it amplifies what we see on the screen both through our ears and through our brain, very often shooting, in a powerful and direct line, straight to our hearts.
And we know something has lodged in our hearts when the merest reprise of a leitmotif or passage of notes triggers not just a memory, but a whole mood or state of mind.
Colleagues Andrew Pogson, Dan Golding and Nicholas Buc co-host a podcast series called Art of the Score,which provides a platform for their shared love of movie scores. And they are the trio behind this special MSO concert with Buc as the MSO’s lively guest conductor and Pogson and Golding as enthusiastic and informative co-hosts.
In this concert they pay tribute to John Williams: a living legend of sonic storytelling. Williams may well be both the greatest and most widely heard film composer of all time (who some people still may never have heard of).
Between 1970 and 1990, the yearly film box office was topped by a film with music by Williams every second year. Literally millions of people around the world have heard John Williams’ compositions. His music lies at the heart of western popular culture.
Williams is best known for his collaborations with directors Steven Spielberg and George Lucas and he has received numerous awards, including 26 Grammys, seven BAFTAs, five Oscars, four Golden Globes and three Emmys. Astonishingly, he is still guest conducting well into his 90s.
In this concert, orchestrated and arranged by Nicholas Buc, we are transported back to the 1970s with excerpts from Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Superman, to the 1980s with selections from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and Indiana Jones, the 1990s with pieces from Jurassic Park and Schindler’s List, and finally back to the 2000s with pieces from Harry Potter. There’s even the theme tune to Lost in Space, which really took me back.
Melbourne’s favourite band, our beloved Symphony, are in tremendous form and it’s always a precious joy experiencing over 85 of its musicians performing and weaving together all that virtuosity.
Williams’ and the MSO’s incredible talents and range are showcased beautifully in this concert as we traverse musical genres and the orchestra scares and soars and soothes.
Read: Classical music, new ideas: growing the fine music audience
Particular mention must be made of the stand out performances of Principal Oboe Michael Pisani, Principal Flute Wendy Clarke and the sublime and transcendent solo of First Violin (and Acting Assistant Concertmaster) Anne-Marie Johnson in Remembrances from Schindler’s List – utterly breathtaking.
Well done to Art of the Score for putting this concert together, who have more attractions in store. John Williams changed the shape of the film score in our lifetime and this concert is a wonderful tribute to him, to be enjoyed by young and old, fans and newcomers alike. Afterwards you can no longer watch without hearing and, in the profound words of Paul Simon, no longer hear without listening.
John Williams: Sounds of Cinema
Presented by Art of the Score
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Nicholas Buc
Tickets: $88 – $150 plus booking fee
Hamer Hall, Arts Centre Melbourne
17-19 October 2024
