Another fabulous evening with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and the gentlemen of the Art of the Score podcast, dedicated this time to the legendary Hollywood composer James Horner.
The late great James Horner is probably most famous for Titanic, for which he won two Academy Awards, but he also scored some of the biggest, most iconic and best-loved films of all time, including Braveheart, Avatar and Apollo 13. I went mainly because of my love for Titanic, but I was genuinely impressed with how prolific and diverse Horner’s musical output really was, spanning everything from sci-fi horror to children’s classics.
This was the third collaboration between the MSO and the Art of the Score I’ve seen after their tributes to John Williams and Hans Zimmer, and this production must have had a slightly bigger budget. There was nothing grand or over-the-top, but it was nice to have some simple onscreen visuals and animations for every film, such as the sinister silhouette of the xenomorph during the Aliens suite.
The night opened with Horner’s end credits music for Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, which to my surprise I actually recognised despite never watching the movie (yes yes I’m a terrible Star Trek fan, I know). The space theme then continued with the military beat of Apollo 13, which made me feel all pumped up and patriotic despite not being American, and the anxiety-inducing score for Aliens with its eerie high-pitched strings. The two young guys in front of me, obviously big film buffs, were so into it they re-enacted the familiar scenes in their seats.
It of course wouldn’t be an Art of the Score show without some nerdy music theory, film trivia and lovably lame humour. In between, the hosts Andrew Pogson and Dan Golding gave us a crash course in space film scores, starting with Gustav Holst’s immensely influential Mars, the Bringer of War from the early 20th century, and tracing the lineage up to 2009 Star Trek. For some James Horner trivia, the orchestra played a naggingly familiar tune which turned out to be Horner’s fanfare for Universal Pictures, heard in thousands of cinemas through the years.
In a less serious interlude, the duo turned to the audience for a challenge, a theme for the MSO and conductor Nicholas Buc to orchestrate on the spot. A guy who was totally not a plant instantly shouted out, “Channel 7 News!”, and sure enough we heard a beautiful and hilarious rendition of a theme that anyone who’s ever watched evening news on regular TV would know… a dwindling number these days, perhaps.
After the fun adventurous suite for The Rocketeer, the first act concluded with the stirring Braveheart, a movie about a Scottish hero made by an Aussie American and featuring Irish bagpipes on the soundtrack. Very little in that film is historically accurate, so I guess I have no problem with an inaccurate Celtic instrument. I love the movie and its heart-tugging score, and I really enjoyed the guest appearance by the pipes and whistles player.
Another wonderful addition was the Australian Girls Choir, who really shined during the medley of choral parts for Casper, An American Tail and The Land Before Time. James Horner was obviously the guy to go to for the children’s movies in the 80s and 90s, having also composed the music for Willow, which opened the second act.
A Beautiful Mind, The Amazing Spider-Man, Field of Dreams and The Mask of Zorro are yet more famous movies I never knew were scored by Horner. The Ride theme from the later was one of the highlights, featuring castanets and Spanish guitar and simply brimming with the spirit of swashbuckling adventure.
Then it was down to the big guns and two of the all-time biggest blockbusters, Avatar and Titanic. I do love the Avatar score, the lush traditional orchestra and tribal percussion, but only Titanic could have the honours of grand finale. From the moment that haunting female vocal kicked in, it transported me back nearly thirty years ago when I was utterly obsessed with James Cameron’s romantic epic and the Titanic soundtrack. I would have wished for them to play it all the way through, but even the relatively short suite made me all nostalgic and misty-eyed. For the encore, a guest singer joined the orchestra to perform, what else, My Heart Will Go On, and absolutely did justice to the original Celine Dion powerhouse vocals.
Needless to say, the concert made me want to watch and re-watch every single of these movies, except for The Amazing Spider-Man. With apologies to Andrew Garfield and Tom Holland, Tobey Maguire’s run is about as much Spider-Man as I ever need in my life.
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