Music
RSNO
Usher Hall, Edinburgh
Hazel Rowland
three stars
AN EVENING of film music certainly feels appropriate for the run up to the Oscars, but despite the popularity of John Williams’s film scores, pulling off such a concert is no easy task. On Friday evening, the RSNO, under the baton of the film music veteran Richard Kaufman, squeezed music from twelve different films into a single programme. The orchestra had to navigate between their vast changes in mood, with varying degrees of success.
Summon the Heroes, the fanfare Williams wrote for the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, and therefore not actually film music, made for a brash and triumphant opening, with the timpani and brass satisfyingly filling the Usher Hall’s expansive space. Yet the orchestra had difficulty in shaking off this feeling in Hymn to the Fallen from Saving Private Ryan that followed. A slower pace and greater wistfulness from the melody in the lower woodwinds was required.
The orchestra played with greater enthusiasm as the evening progressed, however. The strings responded with utter sweetness to the gentle flute solo by Helen Brew in The People’s House from Lincoln, producing nostalgia without becoming sickly. The players enjoyed taking the drama to the max in the theme from Jaws, and during their heroic rendition of The Raiders of the Lost Arc’s main theme, they maintained a relentless drive. Kaufman took the Flying Theme from E.T. at a swift speed, allowing the violins to gloriously sour, while their edgy approach successfully captured the suspense in The Duel from The Adventures of Tintin. The brass remained on top form for the music from Star Wars – taken at a brisk speed, it made for a thrilling close.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel