Last Thursday, whilst on a trip to Stockholm, I attended a concert of film music performed by Broadway singer Kim Criswell and The Royal Stockholm Philharmonic. It was conducted by the champion of film and theatre music, John Wilson.
The concert opened with Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s title music from ‘King’s Row’. John Wilson paraphrased Andre Previn saying that people have often said that Korngold sounds like Hollywood, but in fact it was the reverse, Hollywood sounded like Korngold. The main title music from the film provided us a stirring fanfare somewhat reminiscent of what John Williams would later write for Star Wars. This is no coincidence, as it was what George Lucas wanted for his films. It was a very energizing opening. This was followed by Bronislaw Kaper’s overture to ‘Mutiny on the Bounty’. This music is somewhat of a rarity when it comes to live performances, and it is a score that I am not familiar. ‘Mutiny on the Bounty’ was written in the 1960s, but it sounds like one of those swashbuckling tunes of the 1930s from films like ‘Captain Blood’ and ‘The Sea Hawk’. To me, it sounded very Golden Age.
The theme of movie musicals began with George Gershwin’s overture from the film ‘Strike Up the Band’, which was a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film, produced by the Freed Unit. This is the same group that gave us musicals like ‘Singin’ in the Rain’ and ‘The Band Wagon’. After that, Kim Criswell came on stage to sing her first song of the evening, ‘I Get A Kick Out of You’, written by Cole Porter. Then came the ‘Wizard of Oz’ suite; a compilation of songs by Harold Arlen with the incidental music by Herbert Stothart. John Wilson has recently recorded this for his Hollywood Soundstage album with the Sinfonia of London for Chandos, which I reviewed in October. We then had a couple of love songs from Kim, one by the Gershwin Brothers called ‘Love Walked In’ from the film called ‘Goldwyn Follies’ and then a song called ‘Love’ that was originally sung by Lena Horne in the film “Ziegfeld Follies’. In comparison to ‘Love Walked in’, ‘Love’ is a slightly naughty, sexy song, and Kim really captured this mood. The song was composed by Hugh Martin with lyrics by Ralph Blane. Just before the interval, we had the ‘Ride of the Cossacks’ by Franz Waxman from the film ‘Taras Bulba’. This is a rhythmic piece, mimicking galloping horses. It makes use of instruments like Wagner tubers, which give it a unique sound.
After the interval, we had the overture from the film ‘My Fair Lady’. Again, this was a wonderful opening piece. The music was by Frederick Loewe and the arranger was Alexander Courage, who is best remembered for composing the theme to the original Star Trek series. The film ‘My Fair Lady’ won Andre Previn an Oscar for musical direction. We then had the suite from ‘Casablanca’ composed by Max Steiner. A completion of highlights from the film score, which included the famous piano solo, ‘As Time Goes By’, which isn’t by Steiner, but by Herman Hupfeld. We then had the overture from the movie ‘The Sound of Music’. The score was arranged by Irwin Kostal, who, at the time, had just worked with Julie Andrews on ‘Mary Poppins’. This overture is typical of Kostal, with horns, low woodwinds and heavy on percussion. Following the overture, the orchestra segued into the song, ‘I Have Confidence’, which was written specifically for the film version of ‘The Sound of Music’ by Richard Rodgers. He is credited with writing both music and lyrics, but it is said that that this song was ghost-written by Saul Chaplin, though Richard Rogers got the credit for it. Even so, it sounds very ‘Richard Rogers’. Kim did a ‘spot-on’ Julie Andrews-style performance. She is excellent at channelling famous singers and gave me a wonderful sample of her talent when I interviewed her for my podcast. ‘I Have Confidence’ is set at a point in the film when Maria is leaving the nunnery and going to work as a governess for Captain Von Trapp and his children. At first, she's frightened and nervous but tries to shake it off and pretends to have confidence, and as she sings she gets cockier, and the music matches her mood. The rhythm gets faster until eventually, at the climax of the song, we get trumpets blasting in a vaudevillian style. This is typical of Irwin Kostal arranging-style and is probably why he got the ‘Mary Poppins’ gig; his old vaudevillian sound also fits well with Julie Andrews because she was from an English music hall background. Irwin Kostal got an Oscar for music direction for ‘The Sound of Music’.
Next, were the Barbra Streisand songs, which was something I was looking forward. The song ‘People’ from the movie ‘Funny Girl’ was arranged by Walter Scharf. I had heard his arrangements before, but I was really looking forward to hearing one in concert because he has a very atmospheric way of arranging. Kim really channelled her inner-Barbara Streisand for this song. Barbra Streisand and Julie Andrews, as well as Judy Garland, are some of Kim’s childhood heroes. If you want to know more about this, listen to my podcast with her. I really love Scharf’s arrangement for the film ‘Funny Girl’, but I’ve read that Jule Styne, the composer, actually didn't like his arrangement because he thought they were too pop orientated. But I completely disagree! I've listened to the original cast album, and compared it with the film version, and I think some of those film arrangements are much better. Scharf did a wonderful job at expanding, not just the orchestra size, but also adding additional textures and re-harmonizing and reworking parts and adding in quality that the stage version lacks.
Next was John Williams, who is probably one of the greatest living composers. ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’ was directed by Steven Spielberg and, as John Wilson said at the performance, it is one of John Williams most ‘unique’ scores because it is avant-garde in places and involves a wide range of orchestral techniques. The highlight of the piece was the famous five-note motif, which the entire score pretty much derives from. I only wish that John Wilson could have performed some of the ‘Conversations’ music, which is perhaps some of the greatest music Williams has ever written. It is said that he composed it to 12 minutes of blank film!
Moving back to Barbra Streisand, the concert concluded with two numbers from Yentl, with music by Michel Legrand and lyrics by Alan and Marilyn Bergman. Yentl was a film that Barbra Streisand not only starred in, but also directed and produced. The story is set in a traditional Jewish community in Eastern Europe. It is about a young Jewish girl called Yentl who wants to study so she disguises herself as a boy in order to fulfil her dream. ‘The way he makes me feel’ is about when Yentl falls in love with a young man at school. The final song ‘A Piece of Sky’ was the perfect ending to a concert. It was perfect in the sense that not only did it sound perfect, but, if you think of the chronology of movie musicals, Yentl was the most recent. I think the final two songs were probably the two best pieces of the evening. Legrand is one of those composers who is a great songwriter and arranger, a well as being a famous jazz pianist. He is probably best known for scoring films like ‘Ice Station Zebra’ ‘Summer of '42’ and ‘Never Say Never Again’. Yentil was released in 1983 and it won Legrand and the Bergman’s Oscars for their work.
I have seen both John Wilson and Kim Criswell perform live before, but never together. So, it was a wonderful experience to see them collaborating on film music, supported by such a fine orchestra.
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