Concert Hall, QPAC
Sat 24th April 2021
Conductor Nicholas Buc
NEWMAN Twentieth Century Fox Fanfare
WILLIAMS Main title from Star Wars Suite for Orchestra
ZIMMER Music from Gladiator
DESPLAT Main Title from The Imitation Game
WAGNER Ride of the Valkyries' from The Valkyries
SILVESTRI The Avengers Theme
TOPRAK Captain Marvel Open World Suite
ROWLAND The Man from Snowy River
GRIEG In the Hall of the Mountain King from Peer Gynt Suite
GOODWIN Miss Marple Theme
DUKAS The Sorcerer’s Apprentice
HISAISHI My Neighbor Totoro
GIACCHINO Full Mayhem from The Incredibles
Dr Gemma Regan
A scintillating cinematic adventure through the world of soundtracks with the QSO musicians as the real heroes and heroines.
The packed concert hall was abuzz for the family-friendly Queensland Symphony Orchestra’s Cinematic: Heroes and Heroines concert, with the audience ages spanning a century from babes in arms to great grandparents. All who behaved impeccably throughout the spellbinding performance. As the musicians entered the stage there were squeals of delight from the parents and children alike as all were dressed as famous film characters. Outfit highlights included the terrifying Joker and a wicked witch in the double basses, contrabassoon Claire Ramuscak with a blue head as Sully from Monster’s Inc and oboist Sarah Meagher who made her own stunning Mickey Mouse wizard Fantasia costume. The terrifying fanfare of The Imperial March announced the brass playing stormtroopers and Darth Vader brandishing his lightsaber as they took their seats amongst the horns.
Indiana Jones, alias Tuba player Thomas Allely opened the concert, requesting that all communicators, phasers, lightsabers and other noisy devices were turned off. Spiderman (concertmaster Warwick Adeney) tuned the orchestra with his A for arachnid and conductor Nicholas Buc brandished a lightsaber as his baton. As the Fox Searchlights flashed around the hall the 20th Century Fox Fanfare opened a brilliantly entertaining concert of eclectic film scores.
The iconic theme from Star Wars blasted out causing a big cheer from the audience and much bouncing of excited kids (and myself) in their seats. The brass and percussion sections were awesome and appeared to be thoroughly enjoying hogging the tune which echoes Holst’s Planets Suite using distinctive leitmotifs. Star Wars is synonymous with science fiction movies and the soundtrack by John Williams elevated the Star Wars series from a cheesy low budget movie, to one of the best Sci-Fi movies of the 20th century winning an Oscar, a Golden Globe and a BAFTA. Williams was originally asked to compose the soundtrack by George Lucas after being recommended by Steven Spielberg for his famous score for Jaws. He is a movie-score titan and one of the most award-nominated individuals in history with 51 Oscar nominations and 5 Oscars to date.
The flash of blades and the slap of sandals entering the colosseum were evoked by the etheric sound of Hans Zimmer’s Gladiator, strongly influenced by Australian co-composer Lisa Gerrard. Then a convincing Harry Potter on the glockenspiel created the repeating mechanical notes of the Enigma machine for The Imitation Game, identified by the musicians as being popularised in an advert for Australian Colourbond.
“Kill the wabbit, Kill the wabbit” from Looney Tunes was instantly recognisable with Wagner’s chilling chase in the Ride of the Valkyries. The inhibitory costumes may have caused the few wonky notes in the brass fanfare, but otherwise, the violins tumbled behind the might of the brass.
The now-iconic Avengers theme and the Captain Marvel suite thrilled the comic book aficionados with Hisaishi’s My Neighbor Totoro titillating the anime fans. The Man from Snowy River by Bruce Rowland changed the pace to a 70’s styled Western, where the music mimics the pattering of the brumbie’s hooves as they race across the snowy mountains. The piece finishes with the iconic Waltzing Matilda theme derived from Banjo Patterson’s 1890 poem and the inspiration for the Australian movie.
Incredibly, Grieg detested his magnificent In the Hall of the Mountain King, describing it as “reeking of cowpats and super Norwegianism!” The violins evoked Peer Gynt stealthily tiptoeing past the sleeping trolls through the cave until finally fleeing to crashing cymbals and a pounding kettle drum, it was superb with not a cow in sight!
The oddball Miss Marple theme by Ron Goodwin had Buc wiggling his butt and swaying to the swinging 60s tune. With Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple films being about an aged sleuth the music was paradoxical with its funky upbeat rhythm. Poms like myself could also identify the many English folk tunes that were weaved throughout the theme and there is the greatest use of a hip harpsichord in any film score. It was a massive hit with even the kids bopping in their seats.
Dukas’ greatest masterpiece The Sorcerer’s Apprentice was popularised in the Disney 1940 animated film Fantasia, starring Mickey Mouse neé QSO oboist Sarah Meagher. Reticent to the hard work, Mickey bewitches the pail and broom to perform his chores in the sorcerer's castle with dire consequences. The magical piece is another percussionists delight and had four musicians tapping away on xylophones and timpani throughout the programmatic music. The long silent pauses were incredible, with composer, podcaster and conductor, Nicholas Buc lengthening the silence to create a palpable tension until broken by bold brass and whirling strings as he cast his spell over the orchestra with a whirl of the baton.
The full mayhem of The Incredibles from Michael Giacchino, one of the top three composers in Hollywood, closed the concert with the ultimate 60’s spy soundtrack. The jazzy clarinets and big brass swung with the brush of the drums and the tap of the glock for a fabulous funky finale celebrating film soundtracks. As the multitude of characters left the stage in their various disguises the kids whooped and the adults cheered. It was a scintillating Cinematic adventure through the world of soundtracks with the QSO musicians as the real Heroes and Heroines.