Heroes and Monsters at Colston Hall - Live Music Review
Posted on: 2018-06-11
Our rating:
Heroes and Monsters was an absolute film music hoot and orchestral tour de force from beginning to end, ensuring one of the venue's final gigs went out, not with a whimper, but a very definite, hugely enjoyable bang. Superb.
You've got to hand it to those marvellous musicians of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra - those guys certainly know how to put on an absolute corker of a concert. Of course, they're Colston Hall's resident orchestra, putting on regular gigs of classical performances by some of history's most famous composers, but their intermittent shows focusing on film music represent some of the best nights on my music-going calendar, and I always look forward to them a feverish, giddy enthusiasm. Their most recent one at the venue last Thursday 7 June 2018 - rescheduled from its original early March slot due to that pesky, inconvenient flurry of snow - was simply another musical treat, an utter orchestral movie-scoring romp from start to finish.
Once again led by conductor Pete Harrison - witty, charming and exuding an infectious enthusiasm and knowledge for this often maligned and under-appreciated genre (as well as having a clear affinity for the work of John Williams, several of whose scores made up the night's programme) - both he and the BSO were on their top-notch, barnstorming best. Suites from Jurassic Park and The Lost World by Williams were crowd-pleasing, energizing curtain-raisers, and from then on the film music jukebox of classic themes came thick and fast.
Much of the music performed by the faultless BSO are so irrevocably linked to the movies themselves you could almost envision the flickering celluloid images in your mind's eye. Cue, then, the evocative, lyrical majesty of Howard Shore's Lord of the Rings; Bernard Herrmann's much-imitated-but-never-matched screeching strings from Hitchcock's slasher flick Psycho; Alan Silvestri's nobly heroic score from James Cameron's The Abyss; and Jerry Goldsmith's rousing The Mummy. Thrown in for good measure were a few pleasant surprises too - skilfully navigating the tricky balance between well-known themes with lesser-known works - including James Newton Howard's epic, alternately thunderous and delicate King Kong; Michael Giacchino's beautiful Super 8; Hans Zimmer's creepy, dissonant renderings for The Ring; and a few enjoyable video games scores (David Buckley's Shrek, and Richard Jacques' Bond Bloodstone).
Needless to say, the granddaddy of film music, John Williams, waged his compositional heft with many of the evening's most famous and well received cues; besides the opening Jurassic shenanigans, Harry Potter elicited delighted 'Ahhhhhs' from the gig's younger contingent; The Adventures of Tintin injected swashbuckling vigour and jest; while the opening, unforgettable two-note Jaws theme stirred many a wry, knowing chuckle. Jerry Goldsmith's classic, funky Gremlins Rag almost brought the night to a close - but this is the BSO, right?, and the practically sold-out crowd cheered, whistled and stomped with such an enthusiastic, irrepressible ruckus that conductor Harrison was left with no choice but to finish with a whip-cracking, gun-toting encore: The Raiders March from Raiders of the Lost Ark, naturally.
These concerts just get better and better, and the interpretations by the exemplary musicians of the BSO were more often than not so spot-on in terms of tempo and dynamics it would be quite easy to think you were listening to the original soundtrack recordings (I know these things because, one, I collect them and two, I'm a fully signed-up film music nerd). Pete Harrison is a superlative maestro who undoubtedly gets as big a kick out of these concerts as the spirited audience, and his enthusiasm and affable nature indubitably gets the best out of his musicians. As one of the final concerts before Colston Hall closes for a two-year revamp, Heroes and Monsters was an absolute film music hoot and orchestral tour de force from beginning to end, ensuring one of the venue's final gigs went out, not with a whimper, but a very definite, hugely enjoyable bang. Superb.
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.
