For this recent concert, the Sydney Symphony was to be showing the entire Pirates of the Caribbean film as you may have already seen it, except they were to provide the soundtrack. But I was more interested in she who came inside. She strode in, you see, as if she owned the place, this woman of somewhat advanced (and advancing) years. She came into the Concert Hall right before the music was to begin, dressed in a long red coat, with a black triangular hat and feather, as well as a sturdy cane by her side. To be perfectly honest, dear reader, I can’t decide – can’t settle my conscience upon – what exactly was the effect that she was going for. Was it, for instance, the obvious – was she meant to be a devilish pirate? Or was she perhaps to be of a more colonial bent, praying less to God that he might save her from stormy weather, and more that he might save the Queen? But in the end, who knows? (Well, she does, but I wasn’t about to ask her, especially considering that I was in the circle while she was in the stalls – my desire for the Truth extends about as far as my arm.)
She was the only person that I saw in costume, however, assuming it was a costume, and not her daily getabout. Usually at these types of concerts, where one or several franchises are involved, more than a few in the crowd will have adjusted their fashion sense to be more in line with their favourite character. (For example, at the Legend of Zelda concert held earlier this year, there was a sign on the main stairwell informing the patrons that swords and shields must be cloaked.)
The Lord of the Rings concerts get a few of these enthusiasts as well (and let it not be said that I am not a fan of such extravagance of costume), from women with obvious elven ears to the more restrained touch of a gold ring on the finger. But the Pirates of the Caribbean – which may or may not be the start of a new concert series, considering that The Lord of the Rings concert trilogy will come to a close later this year – seemed rather barren of any sartorial esprit de corps. Plenty of children, though, including a pair in front of me who rattled through a bag of crisps for a quarter of an hour. (Damn youths!)
If you’ve seen one of these concerts, then you’ve seen them all, bar the change of feature film. Yet there was something slightly different about this. For instance, conductor Richard Kaufman gave a brief introduction to the movie and the music, something that doesn’t usually happen. He also told us that, even if we had seen the film already (which surely most of us had), we ‘won’t have experienced it like this before’. And he was right. This, too, was the first time I had ever, while watching the film, understood only four fifths of the dialogue, with the music drowning out the rest and leaving the audience desperately trying to lip read the actors. The music itself was first rate, as it always is, and choral group Cantillation was in fine form, as well as the symphony itself. But why, oh why, were there no subtitles? The Lord of the Rings has them because the live music often overpowers the speech and sound effects, so why not Pirates of the Caribbean? It marred what would otherwise have been a quite magical experience. One hopes that, if next year the next film is to be shown, the lesson will have been learnt.
Rating: 3 stars out of 5
Pirates of the Caribbean
Sydney Symphony
Conductor: Richard Kaufman
Cantillation
Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House
21 April
