RSNO The Music of John Williams Usher Hall Edinburgh 2nd May 2025 Review
RSNO The Music of John Williams at the Usher Hall Edinburgh was a sold out concert tonight and that was no surprise. The RSNO have a long established and highly regarded reputation for their work with the music from films both live and recorded (check their website for more information), and the orchestra’s annual tribute to the music of one of the most influential of living film score composers has obviously become a fixture in many people’s “go to calendar”.
There is always something special to hearing the film music of John Williams performed live by the RSNO and watching and listening to details that might just pass you by on screen, or on a recording of the music. With an orchestra like the RSNO, life is infused into every performance. As a composer John Williams has also become part of the very fabric of contemporary films, and with over 54 Oscar nominations (and still counting) for his music to date, he is the most Oscar nominated living person.
What is always interesting about any RSNO performance of the music of John Williams are the surprises that there are in the performance. Yes, of course the music of the now iconic films has to be there, and as you would probably have expected, “Raiders of The Lost Ark”, “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone”, “Jurassic Park”, “Star Wars”, and “E.T.” were all represented tonight, but the RSNO’s reputation always allows them to offer that little bit more, that little surprise to their audiences.
Some of tonight’s musical surprises came from conductor Richard Kaufman. Not only does he have an impressive career which has seen him conduct many film scores, but he has also over 30 live-performance-to-film credits to his name too. A personal friendship with John Williams also allowed Richard Kaufman access to the composer’s private library and permission to add into this concert series some rarely performed live music including “The Lost Boys’ Ballet” from “Hook” and music from the 1995 remake of “Sabrina”. Throughout the evening, Richard Kaufman was also an interesting host, with many facts and trivia on the music to share with the audience.
There were also a few non John Williams works in this programme of music. It was good to hear one of the greats of film score music, Dimitri Tiomkin, given the spotlight with “I am Your Dream” from “The Old Man and the Sea”.
As mentioned earlier in this review, the RSNO have a major commitment to film music scores, and part of that is their Film Composers Lab. This series of concerts features the World Premiere of music composed for the Film Composers Lab by David Ford (born 2000) and his 5 minute long music for the animated film “Crow Moon”. David Ford was also at the Usher Hall this evening to hear not only his fine music performed live, but also the audience applause that his music rightly deserved.
Once again, the individual soloists for this evening’s music and the whole of the RSNO made it clear to everyone why, whether the music be film scores, classical, or contemporary music, their combined talents will always produce a special evening of music for their audiences to hear.
Review by Tom King © 2025
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
There is always something special to hearing the film music of John Williams performed live by the RSNO and watching and listening to details that might just pass you by on screen, or on a recording of the music. With an orchestra like the RSNO, life is infused into every performance. As a composer John Williams has also become part of the very fabric of contemporary films, and with over 54 Oscar nominations (and still counting) for his music to date, he is the most Oscar nominated living person.
What is always interesting about any RSNO performance of the music of John Williams are the surprises that there are in the performance. Yes, of course the music of the now iconic films has to be there, and as you would probably have expected, “Raiders of The Lost Ark”, “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone”, “Jurassic Park”, “Star Wars”, and “E.T.” were all represented tonight, but the RSNO’s reputation always allows them to offer that little bit more, that little surprise to their audiences.
Some of tonight’s musical surprises came from conductor Richard Kaufman. Not only does he have an impressive career which has seen him conduct many film scores, but he has also over 30 live-performance-to-film credits to his name too. A personal friendship with John Williams also allowed Richard Kaufman access to the composer’s private library and permission to add into this concert series some rarely performed live music including “The Lost Boys’ Ballet” from “Hook” and music from the 1995 remake of “Sabrina”. Throughout the evening, Richard Kaufman was also an interesting host, with many facts and trivia on the music to share with the audience.
There were also a few non John Williams works in this programme of music. It was good to hear one of the greats of film score music, Dimitri Tiomkin, given the spotlight with “I am Your Dream” from “The Old Man and the Sea”.
As mentioned earlier in this review, the RSNO have a major commitment to film music scores, and part of that is their Film Composers Lab. This series of concerts features the World Premiere of music composed for the Film Composers Lab by David Ford (born 2000) and his 5 minute long music for the animated film “Crow Moon”. David Ford was also at the Usher Hall this evening to hear not only his fine music performed live, but also the audience applause that his music rightly deserved.
Once again, the individual soloists for this evening’s music and the whole of the RSNO made it clear to everyone why, whether the music be film scores, classical, or contemporary music, their combined talents will always produce a special evening of music for their audiences to hear.
Review by Tom King © 2025
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
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