A Different Scifi Review...

Saturday found the Husband, myself and the Parents at the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra for an evening with the music of John Williams.  Now, this doesn't seem very scifi'ish, but given that this very prolific composer did the musical score for Star Wars, ET, Jaws, Superman, Close Encounters, Indian Jones, and Jurassic Park (just to name a very select few) I figured it rated a review.

The concert opened with Star Wars.  Classic.   Simply classic.  However, as I sat there in an orchestra hall that was about a bazillion degrees, I felt something was missing (other than air movement and air conditioning).  I decided the orchestra just wasn't big enough for this particular piece - there just wasn't the resounding overtones that make this song "Star Wars".  

The conductor was a hoot for this performance - engaging the audience and providing some great commentary on each selection and interjecting a lot of humor into the evening, which I think was great given the number of kids and young adults in the audience.  The second selection was Jaws, and the tuba kept doing the da dum and the conductor would wave his hands and say not yet! not yet!  While I have never seen Jaws, I could appreciate the chilly undertones this music conveyed. 

We then moved on to Empire of the Sun - a supposed fusion of oriental and English tones to denote both cultures.  I felt the oriental tones were significantly lacking and we were left with mostly a variation of Handel.  The Duluth Symphony Choir however, was outstanding. 

This segwayed into Schindler's List, with its haunting violin melodies.  The principal violinist did an outstanding performance.  I think this was my favorite selection of the evening. 

The conductor talked a little bit about Saving Private Ryan, and how Mr. Williams did not watch significant parts of the movie for this due to some of the gruesome war scenes.  Yet he was still able to match mood to movie and did a resplendent job.  The Choir accompanied on this piece as well.

The next selection was Amistad, accompanied by the Duluth East Women's Chorale and the Duluth Symphony Choir.  Now this really reflected the fusion of English classical and African tribal more so than Empire of the Sun.  

The last selection before intermission was Superman, and the brass section got to stand up and pull off their shirts to show the Superman T-shirt underneath.  Cute. 

Intermission provided an opportunity for a costume contest in three categories - little tykes, teens and adults.  Three winners were selected from each and they got their picture taken with the guest conductor.   There were some well thought out costumes - several Indiana Jones, several Princess Leia and Padme's, a couple Harry Potter characters, C3PO, Anikan's, well, you get the idea. 


With break over (an the hall no less cool) the orchestra did a rendition of the Harry Potter theme song and then a selection from one of the other movies.  A good illustration of William's style - grandiose sweeping themes.   

And how can we have an evening without ET?  I could have skipped this one in favor of, well, anything else but I'm in the minority here.  Didn't like ET.  No fault of the orchestra or conductor.

The audience was informed that for Jurassic Park William's didn't want to make music for another "monster movie" and instead wanted to acknowledge the nobility of the dinosaur.  I felt you could really feel the vast open spaces with the tropical plants and the almost Eden atmosphere at the start of the movie when they take a fly-over of the island.  Well done.

Star Wars Phantom Menace.  I think that's what it was.  By this point I was getting very fidgety - I was hot, my feet were hot, it was super stuffy, I just wanted to go.  However, the conductor must have had some espresso at intermission because he was still in fine form and in fact, encouraged the audience to wave around their light sabers (yes, they were selling light sabers in the hallway that changed lights was you shook them).  Kinda cool.  

Encores.  Like extra innings in a baseball game, I despise encores.  However, you couldn't do An Evening with John Williams and NOT do Indiana Jones.  Conductor ran off, we all applauded, he ran back on with his fedora and bullwhip, and away we went into a rousing rendition of Indian Jones.  However, I wondered if this wasn't a last minute add-on because there were a couple of noticeable "oops!" from the brass section.

My main criticisms with the evening were actually centered around the hall itself - besides the atrocious heat, they had these lights set up to beam pretty patterns onto the ceiling and walls, but folks on the main floor wouldn't be able to see them and all they did for the folks in the balcony was make it hard to see the orchestra.  It was like having 6 flashlights pointed at you from the sides of the stage.  And due to the angle of the ceiling, the patterns weren't all the noticeable.

However, lest you think me cranky, it was overall a delightful evening and I am very glad I went.