As part of “Pacific Standard Time,” the Getty’s initiative throughout Southern California looking at Los Angeles art from 1945-1980, the Los Angeles Philharmonic contributed Hollywood film score music last week. It’s always a pleasure when the Philharmonic celebrates this unique musical heritage, because they don’t do it too often inside Disney Hall. It’s typically relegated to the annual John Williams concert at the Hollywood Bowl. Not only did the audience benefit from the hall’s acoustics, but they also got to hear some rarely-performed music, under the baton of the affable conductor Thomas Wilkins.
The formal setting didn’t stop Wilkins, who doubles as principal guest conductor of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, from bringing his particular brand of audience interaction to the room. He gave insight and context to each of the selections, which were presented chronologically to show film score evolution through the decades.
The Erich Wolfgang Korngold pieces were indicative of the European classical tradition that was coming to an end after flourishing under the studio system and the likes of composers Franz Waxman and Max Steiner. “Kings Row” Fanfare was given a typically rich interpretation and it gave way to his “Cello Concerto in C” from the 1946 Bette Davis film “Deception.” Cellist Zuill Bailey created an august but sad sound, dutifully supported by Wilkins, who brought out orchestral accents markedly.
As the music approached the 1950s, the American sound in movie music emerged. This was the most interesting part of the program because along with the oft-performed “North by Northwest” overture by Bernard Herrmann, the audience heard the suite from “The Best Years of Our Lives” by Hugo Friedhofer (which won him an Oscar) as well as music by Elmer Bernstein used in “To Kill a Mockingbird.” Tenderly played and showing off the superb orchestration, the Philharmonic gave this music vivid, colorful character that made an emotional connection easy. They then brought some swagger and panache to Alex North’s music from “A Streetcar Named Desire” and Henry Mancini’s pop-influenced theme to “Charade.”
Appropriately, the pieces became more avant-garde and modernist as the 1960s and 1970s pushed musical frontiers, beginning with the “The Hunt” from “Planet of the Apes” by Jerry Goldsmith, sharply infused with tension and drive. With Goldsmith’s “Chinatown Suite” that followed, the audience heard James Wilt give the seemingly exhausted trumpet solo theme over an accompaniment covered by a patina of age and wear. The Philharmonic drew the connection between the haunted strings and long-lost romance in this suite to its spiritual predecessor in Korngold.
The suite from 1977’s “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” was essential not only to pay tribute to our most famous living film composer, John Williams, but to show his contribution to the complex musical structures of film music of this era. It was an enthusiastic finish to this survey, and as the orchestra performed the “Superman” march as an encore, it was a powerful reminder of just how much of an impact this art form has made with audiences, and how important it is to honor it.
Ebner Sobalvarro is a Los Angeles-based classical music and jazz aficionado. Having studied English at Boston College, he shares his passions for music at his blog cornerbooth.tumblr.com. Email him at ebner.sobalvarro@gmail.com.
