London Soundtrack Festival: Gala Concert
A dazzling display of classical music that serves to spotlight the often overlooked importance of soundtrack.
© Julie Edwards / London Soundtrack Festival.
Spread across various venues and locations across the capital, the London Soundtrack Festival has quietly been taking place over the past week. This first of its kind showcase aims to highlight and celebrate the music of film, TV and gaming, with panels, Q&As, and performances from world-class orchestras. Its Gala concert was recently held at the Royal Festival Hall, performed by the venerable London Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Ben Palmer.
In a packed auditorium, the LPO glided through renditions of both recent and classic film and TV scores. Introduced by the artistic director of the festival Tony Pearson, they launched first into ‘Nautilus’, a cut from the Bo Burnham feature ‘Eighth Grade’. Meticulous syncopation between the bass, string, and string sections highlighted the immense talent on stag, while a haunting arrangement of Hildur Guðnadóttir’s score from Todd Field’s ‘Tár’ featured heavy string swells. The orchestra’s percussion section also had its moment to shine with Anne Dudley’s compositions from ‘American History X’, with pouding timpanis bookending the otherwise somber piece. Stephen Barton’s soundtrack to ‘Star Trek: Picard’ not only provided the evening’s first TV offering, but also demonstrated the technical prowess required when balancing innovation and tradition when adapting iconic music themes; with bright brass juxtaposing some delicate xylophone and harp work.
Closing the first half of the evening, The Beast (Mark Labbett) from the British game show staple ‘The Chase’ forwarded a medley of game show scores, as the LPO effortlessly brought these recognisable overtures from television to life. Hamish Duff from First Artists Management then took the stage to introduce the next composer, up-and-comer Lauren Finch, who had the pleasure to see the Philharmonic perform an original piece she had written with the Composer Assistant and Mentor Program (CAMP), where bright flutes were a standout. The final TV piece performed was Natalie Holt’s work from ‘Loki’, as Tom Hiddleston provided video introduction before comedically rushed onto his West End performance that night. A theremin was performed by Charlie Draper, perched on the upper balcony and stellar pianos accurately reflected the eponymous character’s mischievous nature, further cementing how important soundtracks play in our understanding of visual mediums.
The latter half of the gala was dedicated to celebrating the great Howard Shore, the Canadian composer graciously accepting the inaugural Gunning Inspiration Award, named after the late Charles Gunning. The LPO performed an expansive suite of work from his partnerships with director David Cronenburg in ‘The Fly’ and ‘Dead Ringers’, to ‘M Butterfly’ and ‘Ed Wood’. Cronenburg was also in attendance to present the award to his peer and good friend, and Shore was given the long-lasting ovation he deserves as he remarked with misty eyes his enduring working relationship with the London Philharmonic, who had recorded some of the original performances of ‘The Fly’ and his work on ‘Lord of the Rings’.
Speaking of, perhaps the greatest surprise of the evening was Sir Ian McKellen taking the stage to express his admiration to Shore on how fundamental a resonant film score is when bringing not only the Lord of the Rings films to life but also Gandalf. The Philharmonic then began an arrangement of Shore’s score from the renowned films, with flutes working their way though classic themes and motifs, while the orchestra itself proved that it really takes every last one of them to create an enduring and resonant piece of music. On a truly celebratory evening, the Philharmonic, conductor Ben Palmer, and Shore himself proved with no question essential soundtracks are in our experience of film and TV as they transported the audience so fully to drastically different worlds. Seeing a full orchestra perform these classics on stage is a completely different emotional experience, and in Shore’s own words, it was an honour to hear his music played exactly the way he imagined them to sound.