LONDON CONCERT ORCHESTRA – BRIGHTON CENTRE 18.12.25
OK so it’s heading towards Christmas and things start to get a tad cheesy on the music front, and so we thought, “Yeah, why not!” and so we booked in to review a trio of vastly different tribute (or if you prefer homage) performances across three consecutive days here in Brighton.
First up then is the London Concert Orchestra who were founded in 1972 by Raymond Gubbay CBE and are one of the UK’s most versatile orchestras. They are conducted by Anthony Inglis at the Brighton Centre and this circa 70 strong collection of talented musicians are here this evening in order to entertain the audience with a solid selection of some of the greatest film themes that have been delivered to us by two of the greatest film composers of all time Hans Zimmer and John Williams in an ultimate showdown of film music.
Sixty-eight year old German born Hans Zimmer has received numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, a BAFTA Award, three Golden Globe Awards, and five Grammy Awards as well as nominations for seven Emmy Awards. He uses modern synthesisers and samples, plus live instruments, from electric guitars to strings and brass, to create a unique and dynamic sound. Zimmer’s music often has a dark, brooding atmosphere that works to enhance the tension of the film. His work includes ‘Pirates Of The Caribbean: The Curse Of The Black Pearl’, ‘The Dark Knight’, ‘Gladiator’ and ‘Inception’, to name just a few.
The American composer John Williams is remarkably still active and composing at the age of 93. He is famed for using a full orchestra for lush, sweeping scores and has received numerous accolades, including 26 Grammy Awards, five Academy Awards, seven BAFTA Awards, three Emmy Awards, and four Golden Globe Awards. With a total of 54 Academy Award nominations, he is the second-most nominated person in the award’s history, after Walt Disney. He is also the oldest Academy Award nominee in any category, receiving a nomination at 91 years old. He has composed for blockbusters ‘Star Wars’, ‘E.T.’, ‘Superman’, ‘Close Encounters Of The Third Kind’ and ‘Jurassic Park’ to name just a handful of his extensive work.
Anthony Inglis has conducted six royal concerts and has been described as “one of Britain’s most popular conductors” and it’s easy to see exactly why based on his light-hearted demeanor with the audience and orchestra this evening at the Brighton Centre. The idea of tonight is a pleasurable musical head-to-head battle – or as Inglis’ family might suggest “an aerial dogfight” on account of their RAF history – featuring legendary scores that have defined the cinematic landscape for decades. Thus bringing to life music from the most iconic films right here in front of us, in order that we can digest the wonderful efforts that have been undertaken in order to bring the compositions to the giant screens in the first place.
Tonight we were rewarded with 16 epic soundscapes of Zimmer and Williams music across two eight-suite-sets. Before this begins the house-lights go down there is a warning message broadcast across the soundsystem by Darth Vader and E.T. forbidding “phoning home”. The punters of all ages were seated in anticipation and ready to be whisked away…..
The London Concert Orchestra takes to the expansive stage and the gents are wearing black bow ties, white shirts, white jackets and black trousers, and the ladies are wearing long black dresses. They are then joined by Anthony Inglis, who for now, is also clad in the same white gear as all the other guys. At 7:30pm the first of performances commences and we are in their company for exactly 60 minutes until 8:30pm. To the rear of the stage there is a black curtain which sadly remains closed for the duration of the set. It’s a shame as I reckon they have missed a trick here, by not showing accompanying films for each composition, but maybe there could be a copyright situation with using them or it’s simply too expensive to pay all of the royalties. So we are left with concentrating on as many orchestra members as possible in order to see what they are up to.
The first offerings are two John Williams compositions. These are ‘Jaws’ from the 1975 film and ‘Star Wars’ from the 1977 film. After virtually every instrumental track, the orchestra stands and is rewarded with applause. Anthony Inglis first addresses the audience on completion of ‘Star Wars’ and tells us some background information on the songs and films, which is quite interesting and adds backbone and more meaning to them. He then introduces the first Hans Zimmer offering, which isn’t the most immediate choice, this being from the 2006 ‘The Holiday’ film. Interestingly, a small section of this track reminds me of Kraftwerk’s ‘Tanzmusik’ from their 1973 ‘Ralf & Florian’ album. A John Williams composition follows with the arrival of ‘Hedwig’s Theme’ which first appears in the 2001 Harry Potter ‘The Philosopher’s Stone’ film.
It’s back to Zimmer with the arrival of ‘Gladiator Suite’ from the 2000 ‘Gladiator’ film. After which Inglis informs us that they are going to perform John Williams’ ‘The Duel’ from ‘The Adventures Of Tin Tin’ 2011 film for the very first time! After more talk it was time for John Williams’ ‘E.T.’ from the 1982 film, and the final offering of set one was we are told from ‘Batman’ and I think this probably was ‘Bane Suite’ from ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ from the 2012 film.
At 8:30pm the punters either rush to the bar, the ice cream vendors or the toilets. At 8:53pm the orchestra returned and struck up again until 10:09pm. However, before this we get an announcement over the tannoy that Inglis is locked in his dressing room, but instead they have a special guest to take care of proceedings whilst they try and free him, this being Captain Jack Sparrow, who strolls on stage with a wave. Hmmmm he looks mighty familiar methinks! The first selection for this half is ‘Pirates Of The Caribbean Suite’ which first appeared in 2003 ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse Of The Black Pearl’ film. After this, the stand-in conductor’s garments are disrobed and it actually turns out to be Inglis in disguise…what a surprise…he said in jest! He then tells us some background on how Zimmer operates and if his workload is too much, then he (Zimmer) offloads work to others within his organisation and thus the last tune was actually credited to Klaus Badelt on their music sheets.
We are then informed that the next choice is a popular one and he’s not wrong either as they perform Zimmer’s ‘Interstellar Suite’ from 2014 the ‘Interstellar’ film. It’s a good amalgam and one I’m pleased to have seen performed live, but it did feel as though they were whizzing through it quite a bit. I prefer the slow build of the original album soundtrack that I have on CD. We are told that Inglis’ son, Alexander, is in tonight and that it’s one of his favourite tunes. He then calls him out in the audience and the young chap is forced to stand. File under embarrassing dad!
We are then told that they are going to play a “march” and this is Williams’ ‘The Raiders March (‘Raiders Of The Lost Ark’) from the 1981 “Indiana Jones” film. Part way through his conducting Inglis suddenly dons a traveller which is a classic fedora-style hat, which brings some sniggers from the punters. The next offering isn’t introduced or mentioned but my son informed me it’s from William’s ‘Jurassic Park’ score from the 1993 film. After this shenanigans ensue and Inglis explains about the 5 note passage from Williams’ piece for the 1977 ‘Close Encounters Of The Third Kind’ film and then he cajoles the whole audience into singing the 5 notes used for alien communication. These being D, E, C, C (octave lower), G, or in solfege, Re, Mi, Do, Do (lower), and so form a simple, memorable “hello” which Williams developed from over 300 combinations to be easily played and recognized. These represent a universal musical greeting that bridges human and alien understanding, often depicted with corresponding hand signs in the film. The audience at the front were the humans and the punters at the back and sides were the aliens and we had to sing quicker and quicker, just like in the movie! Thankfully the sound on stage was a better quality than us lot, and they ended the main section of set two with Zimmer’s ‘Man Of Steel Suite’ from the 2013 “Batman” film.
Inglis returned to the stage after we had cheered, clapped and stamped our feet. He is dressed as Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi and we are rewarded a second offering from the ‘Star Wars’ franchise. They signed off with a “march” from 1978’s ‘Superman’ and I must say that throughout the whole performance the timing of the many members of the London Concert Orchestra was absolutely perfect. They must have rehearsed no end and were dutifully rewarded with a hearty standing ovation from everyone present.
London Concert Orchestra setlist:
Set 1:
‘Jaws’ (John Williams cover from 1975 film)
‘Star Wars’ (John Williams cover from 1977 film)
‘The Holiday’ (Hans Zimmer cover from 2006 film)
‘Harry Potter’ (‘Hedwig’s Theme’) (John Williams cover first appears in 2001 ‘The Philosopher’s Stone’ film )
‘Gladiator Suite’ (Hans Zimmer cover from 2000 ‘Gladiator’ film)
‘The Duel’ (‘The Adventures Of Tin Tin’) (John Williams cover from 2011 film) (premier performance)
‘E.T.’ (John Williams cover from 1982 film)
‘Bane Suite’ (‘The Dark Knight Rises’) (Hans Zimmer cover from 2012 film)
Set 2:
‘Pirates Of The Caribbean Suite’ (Klaus Badelt & Hans Zimmer cover first appears in 2003 ‘Pirates Of The Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl’ film)
‘Interstellar Suite’ (Hans Zimmer cover from 2014 ‘Interstellar’ film)
‘The Raiders March (‘Raiders Of The Lost Ark’) (John Williams cover from 1981 “Indiana Jones” film)
‘Jurassic Park’ (John Williams cover from 1993 film)
‘Close Encounters Of The Third Kind’ (John Williams cover from 1977 film)
‘Man Of Steel Suite’ (Hans Zimmer cover from 2013 film)
(encore)
‘Star Wars’ “second piece” (John Williams cover from 1977 film)
‘Theme From Superman (Main Title)’ (John Williams cover from 1978 film)
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