Howard Shore’s Brilliant Score Given Remarkable Interpretation Before Capacity Audience
By GEORGE B PAROUS
Live-to-film symphony concerts are a unique and exacting fusion of the cinematic and musical art forms – and the literary as well, for J. R. R. Tolkien certainly added his part. These events combine live orchestral music with cinema, offering audiences an exciting new experience. We’re fortunate to have the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, a world-class organization – as has been said here many times – that is quite capable of the precision, boldness and stamina to provide brilliance and succes to such a task.
We’re also lucky to be visited by conductor Ludwig Wicki, a thorough musician with an extensive resume, who has an extensive background in just the sort of this weekend’s performances. He’s conducted live-to-film symphonic performances of The Lord of the Rings trilogy before, as well as Pirates of the Caribbean, Gladiator, Fantasia, Titanic, Indiana Jones and others, in cities such as New York, Paris, London and Sydney. The orchestra under his direction played remarkably well; the film’s complex and majestic score offered no challenges they weren’t able to overcome. Scenes such as battles, escapes, chases – that sort of thing, were positively thrilling. A few times Mr. Wicki gave the orchestra a bit too free rein. The on-screen dialogue was smothered and the closed captions weren’t always the best. A large percentage of the audience seemed to know the dialogue by heart anyway. In any event, Mr. Wicki and the orchestra gave a stellar performance for nearly three-and-a-half hours.
Also on hand to make the live-to-film experiences as complete is possible are the Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh, under the direction of Daniel Singer, and the Pittsburgh Youth Chorus, directed by Lee Saville-Iksic. They waited patiently for their opportunities and made the very best of the when they came. Both bodies of singers seem to improve with every performance.
Kaitlyn Lusk, soprano, a Penn State alum, with a lengthy genre-spanning list of accomplishments, sang two songs from a discrete spot in the orchestra. She received a mighty ovation at the film’s conclusion. Actually, all concerned did. But, of course Wicki and the orchestra stirred the biggest uproar of all.
Ordinarily, at this point, we’d refer the reader to the PSO website for tickets, but tonight’s 7:00 repetition of the concert is 98% sold-out, and tomorrow’s 2:30 matinee, 99%. It would be better to call the box- office at (412) 392-4900. They would best know if tickets have been returned, especially since tonight’s few seats are in the $70-$170 range and tomorrow’s in the $55-$170 range. And few remain.
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