The Genius of Film Music 1960-1980

[Omen II 1,251]

The London Philharmonic Orchestra has just announced its 2013-2014 season schedule, which will include two concerts in November 2013 celebrating The Genius of Film Music. The concerts, part of a year-long celebration of twentieth century music entitled 'The Rest Is Noise', will be conducted by expert film music conductors John Mauceri and Dirk Brosse respectively. The first covers the period 1960 to 1980, the second 1980 to 2000 (although someone might need to remind them what year Star Wars was released ). Details are available here:

http://www.lpo.org.uk/whats-on-and-tickets/search-events/89-the-genius-of-film-music-19601980.html

http://www.lpo.org.uk/whats-on-and-tickets/search-events/91-the-genius-of-film-music-19802000.html

Both look like interesting programmes with a mix of the usual suspects and other pieces not heard in concert very often. Both concerts will take place at the Royal Festival Hall in London.

[Omen II 1,251]

The programme for tonight's LPO concert (1960 to 1980) is now available online. It's interesting that some quite lengthy suites have been programmed, including nearly half an hour of music from Alex North's Cleopatra, very little of which I have ever heard before.

http://issuu.com/londonphilharmonic/docs/8_nov_lpo_programme_final_for_web/1?e=1206116/5419546

The second concert later this month has now sold out but it looks as though there are tickets still available for the one tonight.

[TheTennisBallKid 17]

That's an incredible lineup. Should be a heckuva concert.

[Omen II 1,251]

That's an incredible lineup. Should be a heckuva concert.

It was! Although the longer suites meant that only six scores were represented (excluding the encores), it was a real treat for film music aficionados to hear beloved music beyond just the main themes. I particularly enjoyed the suite from Bronislau Kaper's Mutiny on the Bounty, which included the Polynesian singing from the original soundtrack in a couple of the selections such as Christian's Death, as well as other personal favourites from that score such as Portsmouth Harbour.

The orchestra was absolutely huge, with no less than seven horns, two tubas, two contrabassoons, alto flutes, the lot. There was even an accordion and a mandolin featuring prominently in The Godfather. Oh, and Alex North's widow was in the audience to hear the lengthy suite from Cleopatra. Conductor John Mauceri mentioned that the orchestra had only had a day and a half to rehearse, but you would not have thought so given how well they played (I noticed only a couple of minor mistakes in The Enterprise such as when one of the keyboards - I think - came in a few bars too early near the beginning); I guess that Howard Shore has been keeping them on their toes for the last few years.

As well as the selections listed in the programme linked to above, the concert started with Alfred Newman's 20th Century Fox Fanfare, while the encores were Lawrence of Arabia and Deborah's Theme from Once Upon A time In America. It was smashing!

[Omen II 1,251]

A review of Friday's concert on Classical Source:

http://classicalsource.com/db_control/db_concert_review.php?id=11523

[Omen II 1,251]

Whoa, which means stop a horse! The LPO website is streaming this concert online until 18th December. You can listen to it at the following link:

http://www.lpo.org.uk/explore/listen-again-concert-streaming.html

[Incanus 5,795]

Fantastic! Thank you very much for heads up!

[Omen II 1,251]

The London Philharmonic Orchestra will be releasing a recording of this concert on their own label as a 2-CD set. It was a really classy film music concert, so I will definitely be ordering this (even if they have misspelled Bernard Herrmann's surname on the CD cover!).

http://www.lpo.org.uk/recordings-and-gifts/4521-cd-genius-of-film-music-1960s80s.html?utm_source=mail2&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=MKT%3A%20enews%20August%2015&source_no=9740

The long, world premier suite from Alex North's Cleopatra is reason enough for a purchase, but I also loved the stuff from Mutiny on the Bounty.

[Omen II 1,251]

I got this double CD in the post today and have been listening to them this evening. The quality of the performances and sound are awesome, so this one comes very highly recommended. It sounds even better than I remembered it!

[Dixon Hill 4,236]

Yeah it's great to have more North in modern sound quality.