On Saturday the Film Concert Series returned to Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre with a matinee and evening concert of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, the third, and probably the most exciting film in the Harry Potter series. The ‘Great Hall’ of the Brisbane Convention Centre was a fitting location and was packed with excited wand waving Wizards and Witches with a smattering of Muggles. The unique angle to screening the 14 year old film was the entire magical score of John Williams was performed live by the Queensland Symphony Orchestra below a high-definition 12-metre screen. The film audio including the dialogue were maintained, with the enchanting musical score and some special effects played live by the orchestra with the choral aspect performed by the Voices of Birralee.
Despite the renowned film score, John Williams earned only an Oscar-nomination for Best Original Musical Score for the now renowned magical melodies for the third of an eight-film series. The third film is based on J. K. Rowling’s exciting third novel Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, adapted by Steve Kloves it was the first to be directed by Alfonso Cuarón with producer Chris Columbus, who directed the first two films.
For those less familiar with the film, Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) embarks on his third year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry after first blowing up his wicked Aunt during the school holidays. A new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher Lupin (David Thewlis), takes Harry under his wing (or more correctly, paw when it is discovered he is a werewolf) to teach Harry how to defend himself against Sirius Black (Gary Oldman), who has escaped from the dreadful wizarding prison of Azkaban and is determined to kill Harry, or so they think…
As a massive Harry Potter fan, whose favourite book and movie of the series is Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, I was rather trepidatious of combining a much loved and watched film with the spectacular Queensland Symphony Orchestra, as it had the potential to be too distracting. Having previously seen the QSO perform Hedwig’s theme live and many scores by John Williams, I knew the QSO would be fantastic, but would watching an orchestra playing the score to a film detract from both? Fortunately, the answer was a resounding no!
The live music divided into two Acts with 58 pieces in total, enhanced the film and gave a greater understanding of the integration between the musical score and the film. It was fascinating to notice musical nuances, such as how the comedy is accentuated when Ron does his pithy one-liners, or how much the swelling music heightens the fear when the Dementors appear.
The violins combined with the live chilling tones from the choir, as the Dementors descend on Sirius to suck out his soul turned the audiences’ blood to ice-cold mercury. The audience whooped and cheered when Harry expelled the soul-sucking horrors with his Stag Petronus as the orchestra and waxing and waning clustered chorus voices sang “The Patronus Light.” Also, with subtitles on the screen I also realised that I had been missing some of the less obvious hidden dialogue, some of which was integral to the plot!
A favourite part was the song Double Trouble performed by the chorus in the first Act, which was a play on the famous witches ‘Double Double Toil and Trouble’ quote from Macbeth. It used Medieval choral cues with an upside-down-like melody of harpsichord and medieval pipes to create a haunting tune which was written during production as an additional piece.
The whole audience were sharing the film and music rather than watching it silently, as in a movie theatre. There were cheers and boos as the plot progressed with a much more jovial and magical atmosphere; it was as if the conductor John Jesensky had waved his wand (or baton), casting the Wingardium Leviosa spell to elevate the audience’s delight. There are five more films to come, so be sure to catch the next one in the series next year: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
If you are a John Williams or Star Wars fan, the QSO are performing a symphonic screening of Star Wars: A New Hope which debuts on Saturday 7 July, 2018. Don’t miss it!
By Dr Gemma Regan