OMM GOES TO THE MOVIES IV / Orchestra of the Music Makers / Review

OMM GOES TO THE MOVIES IV

Orchestra of the Music Makers

Esplanade Concert Hall

Friday (13 January 2023)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 18 January 2023 with the title "OMM showcased breadth of film and games music."

 

There was a time when music aficionados pointed their noses up at movie music, as if it were inferior products by composers who could not cut it as serious artists. Not anymore, as film composers are now the best remunerated of creative talents, and even considered legitimate heirs to legacies of Wagner, Mahler and Rachmaninov.

 

The Orchestra of Music Makers’ fourth concert of film music, conducted by music director Chan Tze Law, demonstrated the breadth and depth of the medium which continues to capture the imagination. 150 minutes did not seem overlong thanks to the variety offered, which did not include a single minute from Star Wars or Lord Of The Rings.

 

Opening with End Credits from Star Trek: First Contact, Jerry Goldsmith’s music had a touch of familiarity by including Alex Courage’s music from the older television series. From celestial realms to somewhere local, there was a reference to Singapore in Hans Zimmer’s music from Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World’s End, which opened in the pre-1819 lair of Chow Yun-Fat’s Lord Sao Feng. Dressed in musical Chinoiserie, this later continued to the sea-jig dominated music of the swashbuckling series.

 

Numbering close to 110 members, this orchestra of mostly young non-professional musicians  performed the scores with energy and zest. Totally admirable were the brass and percussion, working overtime in the flashy music. Their spirits never flagged, even in the longest work, a Suite from seven Harry Potter movies with music by John Williams, Patrick Doyle, Nicholas Hooper and Alexander Desplat.

 

Of all these, John Williams’ Hedwig’s Theme (accompanying Hagrid’s snow owl) with its tinkling celesta appeared to be the most familiar leitmotif of the cycle. If one were to poll older listeners, chances are Williams’ Adventures On Earth from E.T. The Extra Terrestrial, with its soaring Mahlerian melody, would win hands down. And not far behind, the broad open vistas of John Barry’s Main Title from Out Of Africa. If its expansive string passages sounded like those in James Bond movies, that was because Barry scored no less than twelve of those.  

OMM alumnus composer
Tsumugu Misugi takes a bow.

 

Significant was the world premiere of Tatsumeeko Suite, music from a mass multiplayer online role-playing game, by Tsumugu Misugi, who was an alumnus of both the School of the Arts and OMM. His score was both novel and imaginative, matching the likes of Michael Giacchino and Alan Silvestri, whose Spiderman and Avengers music followed his.

 

Memorable music from Disney movies included Alan Menken’s Beauty And The Beast and Choral Suite from The Hunchback Of Notre Dame, joined by the excellent choir of over 130 singers from Voices of Singapore (Darius Lim, Chorusmaster). Tenor Leslie Tay had idiomatic solo cameos in the latter and the encore, Christopher Tin’s Baba Yetu (The Lord’s Prayer in Swahili) from Civilisation IV, before the orchestra rounding up with John Powell’s How To Train Your Dragon.

 

OMM has become Singapore’s top film music orchestra, without a doubt. Little wonder it plays Mahler symphonies and Wagner operas just as well too.