‘Music from Movies’

Press, 1 April 1985, Page 4

‘Music from Movies’

“Music from the Movies," presented by the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Lionel Newman, at the Town Hall Auditorium, Saturday, April 30, at 8 p.m. Reviewed by John Farnsworth. As the title suggests, this was designed less as a concert and more as a light and sound show. It also seemed suspiciously like a heavy promotion for 20th Century Fox whose Musical Director, Lionel Newman, conducted the orchestra. Perhaps that is part of the price exacted from the orchestra as a result of its new commercial orientation. Whatever the case, it is interesting to see the orchestra seeking out a new audience in an apparently more market-oriented approach. The difficulty it may face, eventually, is* in straddling two audiences, classical and popular, and two accompanying sets of expectations. Whether it will succeed is another matter but, on Saturday, it showed it had at least the r

musical skill to do so. The well organised programme ranged almost exclusively over Hollywood movie themes, from “Singing in the Rain” and “Academy Award Medley” to the self-advertising “Main Themes from five outstanding 20th Century Fox Films.” . It also included a rather limp selection of blues numbers which sounded mostly indistinguishable from earlier pieces. Still, the programme seemed to suit the orchestra, which, in respone to Mr Newman’s direction, produced playing that was tight, jaunty, and highly competent The instruments, including xylophones and drums, were weir balanced, alert and reproduced the idiom of virtually every theme they tackled. They did push their luck, however, in simulating “Chariots of Fire” synthesiser effects. On the other hand, their aptly lush reading of Lerner and Loewe’s “My Fair Lady” served to underline

how expertly scored it is. While the sound was excellent, the light was less so. Focused on a set designed as a huge strip of sprocketed film, it frequently seemed to be merely visual gimmickry, intrusive or : poorly related to the music. Apart from the bright idea to back-project a dancer to “Singing in the Rain,” the slides shown were hazy and unimaginative, while other effects rapidly wore out their impact by repetition. One could only pity the players, who were alternately assaulted by anklehigh dry ice or blinded by garish light changes and roving spotlights. Nonetheless, the total effect appeared to be appreciated by the audience, including Mr Newman’s amiable but largely inaudible introductions.

The concert ended jovially with a single encore accompanied by streamers and balloons in what was obviously a popular conclusion to a well played and expertly conducted performance.