This year’s Ludlow Fringe Festival was mostly held online, because of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, some events were able to be performed live. One of the live events was a concert given by the Film Orchestra at Stokesay Court in Shropshire, last Sunday. In 2006 Stokesay Court was one of the locations for Christopher Hampton’s film adaptation of Ian McEwan’s novel Atonement, a book that I have recently studied for my English literature A-level. Built in the late 19th century, but in a style that harks back to an earlier period, Stokesay made a stunning backdrop to this open-air concert.
The concert began at 3pm and was introduced by film composer Hillgrove Kenrick, whose good humour was perfect for the many different pieces in the concert. In his introduction Kenrick talked about how much the live music industry has suffered during the pandemic and concluded by saying that “Live music can really be a “great escape”. The concert therefore opened with Elmer Bernstein’s classic march from The Great Escape, conducted by the orchestra’s principal conductor David Curtis.
As a person who is used to hearing orchestras consisting of high-grade musicians, I had high expectations for the Film Orchestra, and they did not disappoint. The Great Escape was followed by Back to the Future by Alan Silvestri and then by Bernstein’s theme from The Magnificent Seven. Film composer John Debney had donated a piece from his music to the remake of The Jungle Book (2016), and that was followed by Alan Menken’s score from the remake of Beauty and the Beast (2017). The first half was concluded by a composition that was relevant to the location of the concert; Dario Marianelli’s Oscar winning score from Atonement. The score made use of an old-fashioned typewriter, the sound of which was used as an important storytelling device in both the film and its score. Marianelli also incorporated the hymn Dear Lord and Father of Mankind for the Dunkirk sequence in the film. After a 20-minute intermission, the concert resumed with John Williams’s stirring march from Superman. This was followed by Chariots of Fire by Vangelis, then the music from The Mission (Ennio Morricone), Breakfast at Tiffany’s (Henry Mancini) and the obligatory Star Wars and Indiana Jones themes by John Williams. The concert was concluded with the music from Pirates of the Caribbean by Klaus Badelt and Hans Zimmer.
If I had the opportunity to select an additional score, it would be John Addison’s music from A Bridge Too Far, one of my all time favourites.
To round-off
this brief review, the afternoon was a thoroughly enjoyable auditory tour of 57
years’ worth of glorious film music.
A recording of The Great Escape march can be heard here: https://chirb.it/4yGK5B?fbclid=IwAR3-bV4DBugKw9QFhFBJnmz4tiwCVF7u8VNdAhdOQo1fD9rv9PlgGS-TlDI
