Bob Bernhardt, a Rochester native and former principal
conductor, guest conducted the RPO, or as he put it “your Carnegie Hall
triumphant orchestra,” for this delightful concert. The fun began before we entered the hall; there were
characters from Star Wars throughout the lobbies posing for photos with
audience members. And this was not
the usual RPO crowd; there were children, and 20- and 30-somethings. (Charlie
remarked that there probably wasn’t much overlap with the Carnegie Hall
crowd.) I chatted briefly with the
young couple behind me, who confirmed that this was their first RPO concert,
because they were drawn by the composer (and the husband was a huge Star
Wars fan). Unfortunately, although they were accompanying their
parents, who seemed to be frequent RPO-goers, they admitted they were unlikely
to return for another concert, classical or pops.
Bernhardt was very engaging with the audience, giving
introductions to each piece along with various John Williams fun facts, but he
also interspersed amusing personal anecdotes and groan-inducing puns. After the
opening piece from Superman and a brief
introduction, he joked about changing the program to Bruckner and locking all
the doors. You could hear some
nervous laughter, but I also sensed many in the audience just thought,
“who?”
While many of the selections were familiar to most of the
audience, I suspect some were not, either because they hadn’t seen the movie
they were from, or they hadn’t really noticed the music when they did see
it. It’s certainly a different experience to
listen to movie music “front and center,” instead of as a backdrop to the
action for which it was composed.
And it was interesting to hear music from separate films that sounded
extremely similar (e.g., Star Wars and Jurassic
Park), as well as pieces that were
completely different, like the lovely, quiet “Dartmoor, 1912” from War
Horse. Hearing that piece, as well as the “Hymn to the Fallen” from
Saving Private Ryan and “Sayuri’s
Theme” from Memoirs of a Geisha,
made me want to see all of these movies, which I’d missed.
When Bernhardt introduced Kenny Grant for his solo in
“Viktor’s Tale” from The Terminal
(another one to add to my Netflix list…), he explained that the work needed “a
terrific clarinetist, and boy do we have one!” Kenny, in gypsy garb, practically danced as he expertly played the
bluesy passages, and he was clearly enjoying the piece.
Among the fun facts we learned about Williams: he doesn’t own a computer, so
everything he composes is done with pencil and paper; he’s been nominated for an Oscar 49 times (and won 5), many
times running against himself; he composed the NBC Theme song, which the RPO
played in its entirety, not just the 30 seconds you hear on TV; and his two favorite composers are
Haydn and Elgar. At 82, Williams
is still going strong, and we can look forward to his score of Star Wars VII (and VIII and IX?).
 |
| The Star Wars characters joined the orchestra on stage |
Hearing the RPO play a suite from Jaws made me realize that those two initial notes, just a
half step apart, are probably as instantly identifiable as the first four notes of
Beethoven’s 5th Symphony. And who wouldn’t recognize the famous
five notes from Williams’ Close Encounters of the Third Kind?
Unfortunately, that piece was not on the program, because there just
wasn’t time to perform everything one might want to hear (and Bernhardt
admitted that the program was selected based on “stuff I like”). Although the audience probably would
have stayed at least another half hour to hear Close Encounters, and the theme from E.T., and more, Bernhardt threw us a bone for
the encore, as he donned an Indiana Jones hat, and led the orchestra in a
rousing suite from Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Who knows, maybe the door is open to present another John Williams
concert down the road. And maybe
the conductor could even sneak in a little Haydn and Elgar…
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