April 16, 2023

I remember coming out of my small-town movie theater one night in 1977 rather awestruck by what I had just experienced. I had never seen or heard anything like it. Special effects had been ramped up to an entirely new level. The depth of imagination and creativity that went into the story, the characters, the scenes, seemed like we were entering a new era of cinema. And then, there was the music…that music!... so powerful, so dramatic, so appropriately other worldly…or should I say other galactically (probably not a real word, I know).
 
It was the first Star Wars movie, and of course we now know the composer was the fabulous John Williams.
 
Star Wars was not Mr. Williams’ first, far from it. He had written for many films and television shows, some going back to the 1950’s. A few of the more famous include Valley of the Dolls, Goodbye Mr. Chips, The Poseidon Adventure, Towering Inferno, and Jaws among many, many others. He was a well-known entity in Hollywood, but Star Wars really brought him to the public’s attention.
 
A concert of music from Harry Potter, which the LSO performed last night, is as much about the genius of John Williams as anything else. Yes, J.K. Rowling, questionable social opinions aside, is also a remarkable artist,  someone who created this wondrous world of Harry’s and, in so doing, instilled a love, or should I say craze, of reading in countless young people. These concerts, though, are really about the music and Williams proves himself a master yet again.
 
Mr. Williams could easily have been just coasting in his creative process when these films came out. He was world famous. He had the skills and experience from which he could have just cranked out stock musical gestures that would have fit the bill and still been better than anyone else could create. Yet, in doing a deep dive in these scores, it is apparent that he was not coasting at all. One senses he continues to search, evolve and grow, looking for the subtleties and nuances that would best enhance a character, story or a scene.
 
He has a total command of orchestration comparable to the greats like Ravel, Strauss and Wagner, from whom he clearly learned. Yet he is not simply resurrecting old musical styes. His music is solidly of our time, yet informed from the masters who preceded him.
 
For those of us making the music on stage, we don’t take this responsibility lightly. His music is quite challenging and unforgiving. When he wrote it, he was not thinking that it would be performed in a continuous fashion over the course of a two-hour concert. He wrote this music for short movie scenes, after the recording of which, the orchestra could pause and regroup. He was not concerned, nor should he have been, with the mental and physical endurance it would take to string all those short scenes together into a concert suite. So performing this music in concert is a challenge, but one that my wonderful colleagues in the Lansing Symphony rose to magnificently last night.
 
There were a few other composers represented on this program as well. Comparing them to JW thought is a bit like comparing Telemann to Bach. Telemann was a excellent composer, hugely popular in his day, and one who wrote highly effective and appealing music. Bach was a genius.
 
I will also say it was wonderful to play to a sold-out Wharton Center, over 2000 people there to hear a symphonic concert. The energy and excitement in the house was palpable, and we could all feel it on stage…such a thrill.
 
Next up for me is one of the most important concert initiatives we do in a season, our Young Peoples’ Concerts where a few thousand kids get out of school for a couple of hours to come hear the orchestra. Bringing those young people into our realm of great orchestral music is always a highlight of our year.
 
NEXT UP
 
Lansing Symphony Orchestra,
Link-Up, a partnership with Carnegie Hall
Wharton Center for the Performing Arts
East Lansing, Michigan
 
May 3, 2023 10 a.m. and 11:30 a.m.