RSNO Out of This World Usher Hall Edinburgh 19th May 2023 Review
RSNO Out of This World at the Usher Hall Edinburgh tonight took us all on a musical adventure into science fiction and super-hero film and television fantasy worlds with some of the most iconic music of the genres, dating from the 1936 classic “Things To Come” march by Arthur Bliss to music from some of the more recent Marvel Comics franchise.
Classical music and film music have always blended together with ease, and many great composers’ works are probably now as well known for their use in film and television as for their original intended audience. From the very early days of sound, classical music has formed the soundscape to many of our most iconic films, and some such as the opening music in tonight’s performance - Sunrise from “Also Sprach Zarathusrta (2001 : A Space Odyssey) by Richard Strauss seem to have almost taken on a life of their own and need no introductions at all. To get an idea of the sheer scope and power of this work, no recording on film, CD, DVD (or whatever) ever really matches the experience of it being performed live by a full orchestra such as RSNO.
Film and television music scores have attracted some of the most gifted composers of their day to explore the almost endless possibilities that these media can offer their creative talents, and some of the very best are represented in this selection this evening.
By their very nature, two film franchises were represented here tonight – Star Wars and Star Trek -and although it is always good to hear the main title music by Jerry Goldsmith for Star Trek The Motion Picture, it was also a pleasure to hear the original Star Trek television theme from 1965 (first aired 1966) by Alexander Courage. Sometimes, with its immediately identifiable opening it is easy to forget the sounds of those French horns and bongos, and the RSNO brought out the full sound of this music as only a live performance can. Oddly now (well for me anyhow) this music is both futuristic and very much an orchestral arrangement of the 1960s at the same time.
John Williams is without any doubt one of the most important composers of his generation and his contribution to film music alone cannot be overstated. There can be few film fans out there who have not heard at least some of his work and fewer still (if any) who do not recognise the music from Star Wars films. Music from Return of The Jedi - Parade of the Ewoks, and Luke and Leia - gave us glimpses of the sheer range of music that was written for these films and, of course, what could end our evening better than Star Wars main title music. To take us all firmly into fantasy land, some of the classic characters from the films were there too with photo opportunities with them available outside the venue and inside at the interval.
Super Heroes were well represented here with Ant-Man theme (Beck), Batman Main Title (Elfman), Guardians of the Galaxy (Bates), Captain America : The First Avenger main theme (Silvestri), X2 : X-Men United Suite (Ottman) and Thor : Ragnarok Suite (Mothersbaugh).
A very well chosen programme also gave us music from Close Encounters of The Third Kind, Shutter Island, Mars Attacks, Apollo 13, Avatar and Interstellar. The latter film is interesting for many reasons, particularly when taken into account that when director Christopher Nolan initially approached Hans Zimmer to write the music, he gave him no clue that this was a sci-fi film. The Cornfield Chase played tonight is a wonderful four minute piece for organ and piano which the composer wrote in one night to form the basis of his score.
Perhaps one of the most memorable musical moments of this evening was the theme music (variation) from the classic 1960s television show “The Twilight Zone” (arr Phillips). Somehow this music by French avant-garde composer Marius Constant never seems to lose that ability to somehow unnerve the listener.
Keeping all of our many “Out of This World” sounds together for this programme was conductor Robert Ziegler.
Review by Tom King © 2023
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
Classical music and film music have always blended together with ease, and many great composers’ works are probably now as well known for their use in film and television as for their original intended audience. From the very early days of sound, classical music has formed the soundscape to many of our most iconic films, and some such as the opening music in tonight’s performance - Sunrise from “Also Sprach Zarathusrta (2001 : A Space Odyssey) by Richard Strauss seem to have almost taken on a life of their own and need no introductions at all. To get an idea of the sheer scope and power of this work, no recording on film, CD, DVD (or whatever) ever really matches the experience of it being performed live by a full orchestra such as RSNO.
Film and television music scores have attracted some of the most gifted composers of their day to explore the almost endless possibilities that these media can offer their creative talents, and some of the very best are represented in this selection this evening.
By their very nature, two film franchises were represented here tonight – Star Wars and Star Trek -and although it is always good to hear the main title music by Jerry Goldsmith for Star Trek The Motion Picture, it was also a pleasure to hear the original Star Trek television theme from 1965 (first aired 1966) by Alexander Courage. Sometimes, with its immediately identifiable opening it is easy to forget the sounds of those French horns and bongos, and the RSNO brought out the full sound of this music as only a live performance can. Oddly now (well for me anyhow) this music is both futuristic and very much an orchestral arrangement of the 1960s at the same time.
John Williams is without any doubt one of the most important composers of his generation and his contribution to film music alone cannot be overstated. There can be few film fans out there who have not heard at least some of his work and fewer still (if any) who do not recognise the music from Star Wars films. Music from Return of The Jedi - Parade of the Ewoks, and Luke and Leia - gave us glimpses of the sheer range of music that was written for these films and, of course, what could end our evening better than Star Wars main title music. To take us all firmly into fantasy land, some of the classic characters from the films were there too with photo opportunities with them available outside the venue and inside at the interval.
Super Heroes were well represented here with Ant-Man theme (Beck), Batman Main Title (Elfman), Guardians of the Galaxy (Bates), Captain America : The First Avenger main theme (Silvestri), X2 : X-Men United Suite (Ottman) and Thor : Ragnarok Suite (Mothersbaugh).
A very well chosen programme also gave us music from Close Encounters of The Third Kind, Shutter Island, Mars Attacks, Apollo 13, Avatar and Interstellar. The latter film is interesting for many reasons, particularly when taken into account that when director Christopher Nolan initially approached Hans Zimmer to write the music, he gave him no clue that this was a sci-fi film. The Cornfield Chase played tonight is a wonderful four minute piece for organ and piano which the composer wrote in one night to form the basis of his score.
Perhaps one of the most memorable musical moments of this evening was the theme music (variation) from the classic 1960s television show “The Twilight Zone” (arr Phillips). Somehow this music by French avant-garde composer Marius Constant never seems to lose that ability to somehow unnerve the listener.
Keeping all of our many “Out of This World” sounds together for this programme was conductor Robert Ziegler.
Review by Tom King © 2023
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
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