When conductor, Benjamin Northey romped onto the stage of the Riverside Theatre wearing an Eagles scarf on September 28, there were cheers. When the words of the theme song appeared on the giant, 3-storey high, wide screen, voices in full throttle accompanied the West Australian Symphony Orchestra and I was ready to leave. Football is not my scene! However, when the voices calmed, Northey turned to the enthusiastic audience and said ‘No, ladies and gentlemen, you are not at the wrong show! We’re thrilled to perform this music (Star Wars:A New Hope) for you … and we want you to be active participants, to comment or scream as much as you like. We love applause!’
With that short speech, from this icon of energy and enthusiasm, I was more than happy to stay as I realised the similarity between my attitude to football and that of thousands of people, young and old, who are reluctant to attend classical music performances.
For some time, concert organisers have been intent on finding ways to entice young people to be part of the audience at orchestral concerts. It must have been encouraging for them to witness this football-loving, capacity audience of 2300 people of mixed ages, completely in the hands of the conductor. But was it the music that had enticed them?
The Star Wars; A New Hope presentation is part of a ‘Film Concert’ idea, produced under license by a division of the music arm of the Walt Disney Company and aimed at bringing attention to the musical scores which accompany blockbuster movies.
At the Riverside Theatre, the tiered seating design, which gives the audience a clear view of the entire orchestra below, had to be a stroke of genius. Kettle drums, glistening cymbals and the united front of a standing brass section never failed to bring gasps of appreciation and applause at dramatic moments on the screen. As well, there was respect when musicians and conductor were able to sit down for a few moments while Luke, for example, pondered his future, gazing at the dual moons of Tatooine in the distance.
Many in the audience may not have realised that they were having a double musical treat, as Northey, at 48 years of age, has a litany of accolades, not only as Chief Conductor of the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra in New Zealand and Associate Conductor of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, but also with many orchestras around the world or that the man responsible for the music of all Star Wars features is John Williams, now nearly twice Northey’s age and one of the world’s most successful and revered composers.
It is a masterful work, combining confronting terror with gentle romanticism, and the music stays in your head for days after the show has ended and decades since the movie first hit the screen in 1977. Powerful and complicated, it is a credit to the Western Australian Symphony Orchestra for the way it blends with the distraction of sound and screen to deliver a performance that is as fresh and dynamic as it was 40 years ago.
In Northey’s introduction he said, ‘The time has come to witness the power of this orchestra’ and, indeed, the spontaneous, standing ovation said it all.
I have just one query in this age when jazz and classical music are accepted as being closely related and there is also concern about declining numbers for that genre.
Both John Williams and Benjamin Northey began their musical careers as jazz musicians. Why then, did the orchestra not actually play the Cantina Band Theme?
4 ½ stars: ★★★★☆Star Wars: A New Hope – In Concert
West Australian Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Benjamin Northey
Riverside Theatre
Perth Convention & Exhibition Centre
Friday 28 September, 2018
