Though I went in with modest expectations, this string quartet tribute to Hans Zimmer turned out to be delightful, and the venue wasn’t too shabby either.
You could say I like Hans Zimmer quite a bit. So far I saw him live in concert twice, and I also loved the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra tribute I went to a couple of years ago. After experiencing his grandiose, epic scores performed by a full band and a big fat orchestra, a string quartet didn’t initially sound like an enticing prospect. How much would be lost in the process of stripping down to just four instruments? How on earth could you perform Interstellar soundtrack without that celestial organ? It would be like trying to re-create the Sistine Chapel with crayons, surely.
In the end, I was lured in by the cheap tickets and the concert venue. Abbotsford is not really my area and so I’ve never been to the Collingwood Town Hall before. It turned out to be a grand 19th-century building with Art Deco style interior, conveniently close to the train station. Our seats were too far at the back to see the details of the stage decorated by the flameless candles, but they still added to the ambience and the ballroom itself is quite beautiful.
This Candlelight concert was by the four young women of the Melbourne-based Invictus Quartet. Their hour long set included all the signature Hans Zimmer film scores you’d expect to hear: Gladiator, The Lion King, Inception, Interstellar, his work for the DC superhero films and others. A more obscure pick was a theme from the 2002 animated film Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, introduced as a personal favourite. This was also the first time I heard the more recent Dune score in concert. It sounds just as enchantingly strange and alien when performed by the string quartet.
The players put a lot of heart and passion into their performance, and my reservations were gone in a flash. Though these were the more minimalist interpretations of Zimmer’s film music, they still transported me into their cinematic worlds, capturing the drama and emotion as well as the experimental nature of some of his scores. I especially liked the nervy, jarring and tense take on a theme from Dunkirk, reminding me what a white knuckle ride that movie was. And no matter the rendition, Now We Are Free from Gladiator never fails to move me.
All of the performers were wonderful, but I’d have to single out the cellist as the MVP of the night. Those deep, rich and delicious tones really added to the fullness of the sound, which really did exceed my expectations.
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