From the Dundee Courier 21 June 2010
CINEMATIC FLAVOUR
BRINGS HALL TO LIFE
The Annual Tayside Symphony Orchestra concert in Dundee, conducted
by Ron Walker is now awaited with confidence that the standard of performance
will be high – the orchestra fields a large body of strings and in the warm
Caird Hall acoustic the sound is excellent. This year, the evening was called ‘A
Showtime Extravaganza’ with music composed direct for cinema or TV or from
musicals that have been filmed. The question is always whether such music is
strong enough to stand on its own when removed from its original
context.
The best music on display was actually an exception to the above.
The ‘Adagio’ from Spartacus by Khachaturian has justifiably become a concert
piece in its own right, and has been used to great effect on TV. The orchestra
gave full expression to the luscious string
melodies.
There were three pieces that typified music for American westerns,
signifying the wide-open spaces of that country. Richard Meyer’s ‘American
Rhapsody’ got the concert off to a strong start. John Barry’s music from ‘Dances
with Wolves’ came over as excellent
atmospheric music that stood comfortably on its own. Ron Walker had himself
reconstructed an excellent short piece – so much ephemeral music for the theatre
and cinema has been lost, so it is
good to have someone who believes in forgotten music. Bill Conti’s score for the
1980s American Civil War series ‘North &South’ proved to be a worthwhile
discovery.
The other items were suites arranged from popular musicals.
‘Evita’ and ‘Phantom’ represented Andrew Lloyd Webber – perhaps one would have
been enough. Schoenberg’s second show, ‘Miss Saigon’ seemed a bit characterless
on its own and really could have done with its famous helicopter sequence. The finale left no room for
doubt that John Kander’s music for ‘Chicago’ can certainly stand on its own. The
players seemed to relax into jazz band mode to end the concert in lively
toe-tapping style.