I’ve been a bit slow catching up on movie sound score concert performances, which apparently have covered a swathe of titles including The Godfather, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and the Harry Potter collection. Cineconcerts have specialised in these productions – where the movie is screened in full, and the soundscore reproduced by orchestral performance.
The multiform genre is still fresh for me, and quite creative in its effect. Gladiator Live comprised four domains – the film itself (which included voice and captions but no music), the Philharmonia Choir (filling one rear side box area, under the guidance of Elizabeth Scott), the Sydney Symphony (directed by Benjamin Northey) and the score of music from the film. In terms of length (3 hours with interval) and resources this concert was generous, well appreciated, and gauging by expression of players at its end, quite a journey in performance.
We can separate the score from the film because it lived again in a long, pronounced accomplished performance by the Sydney Symphony, in an experience not possible in reproduction of recorded music. It was not only the acoustic quality of the concert hall – the Symphony rose to the occasion, excelling at the epic range and intensity offered by the melodramatic narrative of Gladiator. If one wondered why this populist film had been chosen for the exquisite potential of a symphony orchestra, a few minutes in the performance left no doubt.
It was as if after countless attendances at classical performances, a curtain was lifted, and we could see the music, and follow its progression in a rich narrative sequence. There was a genuine excitement to be felt in the visual quality indeed spectacle of this event – the Philharmonia rose and sat throughout, almost like an ancient chorus; the percussion shook and horn section blasted as they felt the visceral (if fictional) world of Roman body contact sports (so to speak); the soloist Lisa Gerrard (composer / soprano) stunned us with a distinct emotive vocal style that reverberated with melancholic, Middle Eastern and classical sounds, that filled the vast auditorium; and we, who where we, seats arrayed in the raked concert hall, if not spectators at the Coliseum participating (whether always with pleasures) in the all its brutality and mob outburst.
The multiform style, benefiting with the new generation of large screen, high fidelity LED technology, is a welcome addition to the SSO repertoire. Perhaps a shorter commissioned work could co-join with original video, or an Australian film. I think the Australian Chamber Orchestra has done as much with an oceanic theme. After enjoying the evening a lot more than expected, there was still reservation about the Hollywood blockbuster content – a film I would not normally see. However, the opportunity it provided for superior orchestral performance balanced out such reservation. Much of this was due to the range and achievement of the score, composed by Hans Zimmer and Lisa Gerrard. This concert style gives an opportunity to enjoy music in its own right, while still keeping in contact with cinematography.
Gladiator was a multiform work, comprising the interplay of several (4) layers or artistic elements. The balance of the parts was not uniform – even if billed as an orchestral event, at times the film dominated. Sometimes the stage was silent, and we were all watching a film in the same mode of a movie theatre. Hereby hangs my second, and slightly more serious, reservation. The same issue was observed in Dracula, by the Sydney Theatre Company. When performance (in the case of Dracula actors on stage seen doubled on the large screen) includes a very large screen the audience can remain fixed on it, and music (or action), however superlative, can become background. We live, after all, in screen culture, and live performance cannot reproduce that culture too much. The screen at the Opera House was as wide as the orchestra itself. If the orchestra does continue future multimedia concerts, it might consider a mix of smaller screens that can highlight the orchestra even more.
However, there was enough play between elements for this ‘parental’ role of the film not to overwhelm. The energy of the orchestra and the exotic singing and choir performance foregrounded the music a lot, and musicians quite became part of a spectacle that extended from film to live experiences.
I use the term creative quite consciously, applied to the unexpected mix of different elements. I am sure this style of cinema concerts can become familiar, and less creative in style, but when first experienced it is very striking. In content, Gladiator Live has a range of modes and moments (lyrical, romantic, confessional in addition to combatant), and almost redeems its populist narrative through focus on the film’s accomplished score.
Cineconcert have produced work with different timbres, such as Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and I’d queue to see one of those.
