Jaws in Concert at Colston Hall - Review
Posted on: 2018-04-16
Our rating:
There's something absolutely thrilling about seeing and hearing a live orchestra play in sync with a movie like this..energy levels are ramped up ten-fold by the combination of iconic, indelibly-etched images and the evocative music of a true master
As the camera guided us mysteriously through the murky, briny depths in the foreboding opening seconds of Steven Spielberg's classic Jaws, a cheekily mirthful ripple of subdued laughter accompanied John William's legendary alternating bass notes. Duuuuh-da. Duuuuh-da. Duh-da- Duh-da Duh-da Duh-da.
.jpg "Jaws in Concert at Colston Hall - Bristol Review")
Along with Bernard Herrmann's screeching strings from Psycho, William's ominous, minimalist 2-notes of impending threat have entered the pop culture pantheon and, just as Spielberg's 1975 masterpiece helped define the modern blockbuster, so Williams' music re-introduced and shaped our appreciation of how effectively an orchestral score can used in a contemporary film.
Of course, there's a lot more to Williams' score than just those two immediately recognisable notes, and the Czech National Symphony Orchestra did another stunning, sterling job when this fabulous ensemble played the classic score live to picture on Saturday 14th April 2018 at Bristol's Colston Hall. After their resounding success and adrenaline-pumping performance of Raiders of the Lost Ark in sync with the film a few weeks ago - and with Jurassic Park lined up later in the year - this orchestra are proving themselves to be absolute masters of interpreting and playing Williams' scores to picture.
Based on Peter Benchley's best-selling novel of the same name, Jaws established the concept of the modern tentpole blockbuster, the notion of high-concept storytelling, and firmly cemented Spielberg as a filmic force to be reckoned with and Williams as a master of orchestral film scoring. They'd previously worked on Sugarland Express a few years before and, as we all now know, the Spielberg/Williams collaboration is one which has endured and now spanned over 40 years and created some of the most iconic motion picture/music pairings in the history of cinema.
Things are not good at the New England seaside community of Amity Island, with a spate of shark attacks threatening to close down its busiest tourist season over the 4th July weekend. Enter a disparate group of unlikely heroes thrown together to save the day in the form of police chief Martin Brody (Roy Scheider), oceanographer Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss), and gruff local sea captain Quint (Robert Shaw), who sail out to hunt down and kill the terrifying great white before it claims any more victims.
Jaws is one of those films that has so much penetrated the modern psyche and become such an irrevocable part of contemporary pop culture and celluloid lexicon that it's influence cannot be underestimated. In context, when it was released in 1975 it truly was a watershed, breakthrough moment in modern cinema. Before Star Wars arrived a few years later in 1977, Jaws was the biggest grossing film of all time and won Oscars for its editing and Williams' magnificent score.
It also spawned three sequels that neither Spielberg nor Benchley had anything to do with - Jaws 2 was actually an enjoyably effective and tightly-paced thrill caper with another cracking Williams soundtrack, while Jaws 3-D was pretty dismal and Jaws 4: The Revenge with Michael Caine ("Damn that bloody shark!") hammered the final nail in the franchise's rapidly sinking coffin.
Once again, under the assured, confident baton of conductor Ben Palmer, the players of the Czech National Symphony Orchestra displayed an innate kinship with the material, hitting every orchestral mark with spot-on timing and pitch-perfect playing. From the terrifying opening salvo of Chrissie's death to the eerie glissando strings accompanying the classic reverse-zoom shot of Roy Scheider on the beach; the tender father and son music; the exhilarating orchestral swell as the massive shark glides past the boat for the first time; the pirate-style, sea shanty-like heroics of the thrill of the shark-hunting chase; and the musical tour de force culminating in the great white's final, explosive annihilation.....more than 40 years later, Jaws still remains a stunning alchemy of image and score.
There's something absolutely thrilling about seeing and hearing a live orchestra play in sync with a movie like this. Even though it's a film many of us have easily clocked into double figure viewing counts (although shockingly, my film-going filly had never seen it before in her life), the energy levels are ramped up ten-fold by the combination of iconic, indelibly-etched images and the evocative music of a true master at work.
Watching it with an excited, spirited audience (many sporting Jaws t-shirts) who leapt out of their seats and laughed at all the rights moments makes it the communal, shared experience great cinema should often be (in restrospect, as well as still being a tension-filled, nerve-jangling thriller, it's easy to forget just how damn funny some of it is). And of course, Brody's classic "You're going to need a bigger boat" quip got one of the biggest cheers of the night.
Spielberg has always credited William's score for accounting for half of the film's success, and Jaws set the summer flick touchstone for the way the industry and audiences have looked at movies ever since. With the breathtaking musicianship of the Czech National Symphony Orchestra guided by Ben Palmer's faultless timings, Jaws in Concert was never going to be anything less than an utterly triumphant visual and sonic thrill-ride. To that end, it was a chomping, romping treat from start to finish.
5/5
Article by:
Jamie is a writer, blogger, journalist, critic, film fan, soundtrack nerd and all-round Bristolian good egg. He loves the music of Philip Glass, the art of Salvador Dali, the writings of Charles Bukowksi and Hunter S Thompson, the irreverence of Harry Hill, and the timeless, straw-chomping exuberance of The Wurzels. You can sometimes find him railing against a surging tide of passing cyclists, or gorging himself senseless on the Oriental delights of a Cosmos all-you-can-eat buffet.
