RSNO Star Wars A New Hope in concert Usher Hall Edinburgh 20th September 2024 Review
RSNO Star Wars A New Hope in Concert at the Usher Hall Edinburgh tonight was a perfect start to a new season of music from this always popular and innovative orchestra with a sell-out concert.
This performance, one of several “RSNO at the Movies” in this new 2024/25 season of music was an opportunity to celebrate the work of one of the most successful film score composers of all time, John Williams, and of course a chance for Star Wars film fans to see the film that started this hugely successful film series on a big screen. Combining Star Wars the film (premiered in 1977), the music of John Williams, and the RSNO together was obviously a huge crowd-pleaser tonight and a big commercial success for everyone.
Conducting any film score with an orchestra live on stage (or in a studio) is a huge task that requires not only a large degree of technical skill but also precision in timing to ensure that the film and the orchestra are in synchronisation. Tonight Ben Palmer, conductor, made the very difficult look effortless and this is no doubt why he is personally authorised by John Williams to conduct his film scores in concert and why he is one of the world’s most sought after specialists on conducting to film and live to picture performances. To bring all of his skills to life, Ben Palmer of course needs an orchestra that is up to the task, and as usual both as a musical ensemble and individually, the combined talents of the RSNO delivered everything that this music demanded of them.
Musically there can be no doubt about the talents of John Williams as a composer, and his many film scores testify to the sheer diversity of work that he has created, but it is for this film tonight and perhaps the score for Superman the Movie (which does share some similarities) that many people know his work best. Tonight the music of John Williams was an important bridge between what many people consider to be “Classical Music” and the world of film scores.
To my mind there is no difference, music is music, and when you can clearly see on stage when the RSNO perform just how structurally complex this film score is, it is obvious that this music deserves the same respect as anything written by some of the great names in classical music. I have no doubt that if they had been alive to do so, great musical talents such as Tchaikovsky, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, and many more would have embraced writing for film and enjoyed the income derived from their efforts too.
The “RSNO at the Movies” programme of music is important for many reasons, but perhaps the most important one is that they bring many new people to a performance to perhaps experience for the first time the sheer scale and power of a live orchestra performing music on stage. This is something that no download on your mobile device is ever going to even begin to compare with musically, and hopefully once some people discover this they begin to explore with the RSNO (and other orchestras) the limitless variety of music that is out there just waiting to be discovered by new concert-goers.
Review by Tom King © 2024
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
This performance, one of several “RSNO at the Movies” in this new 2024/25 season of music was an opportunity to celebrate the work of one of the most successful film score composers of all time, John Williams, and of course a chance for Star Wars film fans to see the film that started this hugely successful film series on a big screen. Combining Star Wars the film (premiered in 1977), the music of John Williams, and the RSNO together was obviously a huge crowd-pleaser tonight and a big commercial success for everyone.
Conducting any film score with an orchestra live on stage (or in a studio) is a huge task that requires not only a large degree of technical skill but also precision in timing to ensure that the film and the orchestra are in synchronisation. Tonight Ben Palmer, conductor, made the very difficult look effortless and this is no doubt why he is personally authorised by John Williams to conduct his film scores in concert and why he is one of the world’s most sought after specialists on conducting to film and live to picture performances. To bring all of his skills to life, Ben Palmer of course needs an orchestra that is up to the task, and as usual both as a musical ensemble and individually, the combined talents of the RSNO delivered everything that this music demanded of them.
Musically there can be no doubt about the talents of John Williams as a composer, and his many film scores testify to the sheer diversity of work that he has created, but it is for this film tonight and perhaps the score for Superman the Movie (which does share some similarities) that many people know his work best. Tonight the music of John Williams was an important bridge between what many people consider to be “Classical Music” and the world of film scores.
To my mind there is no difference, music is music, and when you can clearly see on stage when the RSNO perform just how structurally complex this film score is, it is obvious that this music deserves the same respect as anything written by some of the great names in classical music. I have no doubt that if they had been alive to do so, great musical talents such as Tchaikovsky, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, and many more would have embraced writing for film and enjoyed the income derived from their efforts too.
The “RSNO at the Movies” programme of music is important for many reasons, but perhaps the most important one is that they bring many new people to a performance to perhaps experience for the first time the sheer scale and power of a live orchestra performing music on stage. This is something that no download on your mobile device is ever going to even begin to compare with musically, and hopefully once some people discover this they begin to explore with the RSNO (and other orchestras) the limitless variety of music that is out there just waiting to be discovered by new concert-goers.
Review by Tom King © 2024
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
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