Heroes and Superheroes 2 at the Colston Hall in Bristol - Review
Posted on: 2015-03-02
Our rating:
Under Pete Harrison's spot-on conducting interpretations and an obvious affinity and affection for the scores, the players responded with genuinely awesome, consummate musicianship. A blisteringly jam-packed movie music jamboree.
You can't keep a good superhero down and, after last year's stupendously successful Heroes and Superheroes concert, the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra made a magnificent return for the sequel, aptly titled Heroes and Superheroes 2, on Friday 27 March 2015 at Bristol's Colston Hall.
There's often been heated debate in filmic circles that sequels are invariably never as good as the originals, but this concert of classic hero movie themes - under the confident, assured hand of conductor, Pete Harrison - incontrovertibly proved the exception to the rule. Think Godfather Part 2 as opposed to American Werewolf in Paris.
John Williams sensationally heraldic Summon the Heroes got things off to a blisteringly rousing start, the piece originally being written for the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. Maurice Jarre's Lawrence of Arabia - orchestrally dense, rhythmic, exotic and interspersed with its unforgettable main theme - was superb, and lead to John Barry's evocative, haunting Dances With Wolves, Ron Goodwin's tough, snare drum-led Where Eagles Dare and Elmer Bernstein's iconic, cheeky melody (and football terrace favourite) for The Great Escape.
The musical mood shifted from bombastic to achingly beautiful with John Williams' contemplative, yearning theme from Schindler's List with a heartfelt solo from Amyn Merchant, before John Barry's Zulu aggressively broke through then led to Ron Goodwin's toe-tappingly propulsive 633 Squadron (with conductor Harrison actively encouraging everyone to outstretch their arms aeroplane-style).
Charles William's Devil's Galp was a real treat and a musical hoot, brisk and comedic, and most familiar as the theme from the radio series, Dick Barton: Special Agent, while Koji Kondo's Legend of Zelda and David Buckley's Shrek Forever After exemplified how orchestral music as been successfully woven in to the contemporary melieu of of computer games, offering rich themes and powerful orchestrations. Hans Zimmer's The Last Samurai fused the traditional orchestra with a myriad of Japanese instruments to haunting effect, and led nicely to the interval.
John Williams' Raiders March from Raiders of the Lost Ark was a spirited curtain raiser to the second half, followed by Randy Edelman's delightful and noble Dragonheart, and Howard Shore's Scottish-tinged Ironfoot from The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies.
(Everything I Do) I Do It For You from the Kevin Costner starring Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, spent an incredible 16 weeks in the UK charts in 1991, and the Michael Kamen/Bryan Adams power ballad was given a lush, romantic orchestral arrangement. The immediately recognisable, unusually 5/4 time signatured Mission: Impossible theme by Lalo Schifrin was given a thorough, pumped up jazz rendition that really got the crowd juiced up, while David Buckley's composition Atonement from the video game Call of Duty was poignant and elegiac.
Three musical powerhouses rounded off the evening: John Williams' legendary Imperial March from The Empire Strikes Back (OK, so Darth Vader's a villain but, as the conductor infectiously enthused, it's such a great piece of music how could you not include it?), an absolutely barnstorming suite from Hans Zimmer's Gladiator, and the omnipresent Williams' triumphant, stirring and majestic theme from Superman.
The near-capacity crowd - as usual made up of a cross section of enthusiastically young orchestral-loving whippersnappers to more mature classical music fans - went insane, hollering and clapping and giving a standing ovation, before conductor Harrison returned to the podium, raised the baton one final time and lead the orchestra into an encore of Barry Gray's playfully adventurous theme from 60's marionette show Thunderbirds.
The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra is a faultless, world-class ensemble and every concert they play is a real musical event in the city. Under Pete Harrison's spot-on conducting interpretations and an obvious affinity and affection for the scores, the players responded with genuinely awesome, consummate musicianship. A blisteringly jam-packed movie music jamboree.
Here's hoping Heroes and Superheroes returns next year to make it a trilogy.
5/5
Reviewed by Jamie Caddick for 365Bristol - the leading events and entertainment website for Bristol
Article by:
Born and raised in the suburbs of Swansea, Jimmy moved to Bristol back in 2004 to attend university. Passionate about live music, sport, science and nature, he can usually be found walking his cocker spaniel Baxter at any number of green spots around the city. Call James on 078 9999 3534 or email Editor@365Bristol.com.
