The adventures of the ‘hobbit’ Frodo Baggins in Middle Earth from ‘The Lord of the Rings’ can be relived whenever you feel like it at home, with a sofa and a blanket, but the collective ritual linked to cinema opens up new paths: watch out for the wave of legendary soundtrack concerts that rages on our billboards.
Sessions of ‘scores’ with orchestral packaging, where sound immersion and evocation of the film come together in an ‘experience’, a fetish word. And in community sharing adventures, liturgies and even, sometimes, costumes and makeup.
Venues such as the Palau, the Liceu or the Auditori have long accused this trickle of concerts with film music: there they dominate Ennio Morricone, John Williams and Hans Zimmer, the golden trio is aThe trend that “has caught on, as in countries like the United States or the United Kingdom”, explains Javier Martí, president of the Excelentia Foundation, a programmer of this type of show. “The audience relives that lived experience and can listen to the soundtrack performed live by a symphony orchestra,” he points out, pointing to films such as ‘La misión’, ‘Cinema Paradiso’ (both, with a soundtrack by Morricone) or ‘ Schindler’s (Williams) list as “perfect examples of merging great movies with great music.”
on a giant screen
The ‘scores’ can be accompanied by the projection of fragments of the films, or of the entire tape, and there the greatest bet is to ‘Lord of the Rings in concert’: three sessions, 14, 15 and 16 April 2023, at the Palau Sant Jordi (and three more at the Wizink Center in Madrid), each dedicated to one part of the trilogy. Subsequent installments of the film will be projected on a giant screen, one per evening, while the Vallès Symphony Orchestra, assisted by three choirs, two for adults and one for children, will perform the scores created by Howard Shore.
More than 200 musicians on stage. “A complex score, with its own language, and a considerable organizational difficulty, but very exciting”, confesses Martín Pérez, director of the Concert Studio. Around 40,000 tickets are on sale, with the option of subscribing to three films, the preferred mode, says the promoter, from “medium audience”.
Fellowship of the Ring
He plays with an ace up his sleeve: the international community of ‘Lord of the Rings’ fans, “with around 80,000 fans in Barcelona alone” and others who, according to Pérez, will come from other countries to attend the event. “We see a lot of movement in the networks of people who will be dressed up, wearing rings and pendants and participating in a collective ritual.” Not so far from football, he slips, “where people continue to gather at the stadium in T-shirts and scarves, even being able to watch the game on television.”
So, in the face of the cinema crisis, is music recovering its collective immersion? “People have more and more better screens at home, but this is an experience to fully immerse themselves in,” reasons Martín Pérez, who sees potential in other classic films, such as ‘The Godfather’ or ‘Star Wars’, even if he suspects that “it is difficult for them to have the mobilizing force of ‘The Lord of the Rings’”.
drip on the agenda
But the concert program in Barcelona is punctuated by this offer of live soundtracks and, soon, appointments with the music of Morricone and Nino Rota (with the Simfònica del Vallès, December 3, Palau), Williams and Zimmer (Hollywood Symphony Orchestra, January 15, Liceu), or the concert ‘Zimmer and the best action cinema’ (Royal Film Concert Orchestra, February 7, Palau). And many others. With or without projections, trusting in the evocative power of music. In these concerts “it is possible to recover the collective ritual of experience and memory, regardless of whether the public has seen the film at the cinema or on an ‘online’ platform,” says Natallia Kafionava, director of promoter NK Prodarte.
The members of the young and equal Original Soundtrack Orchestra, created a year ago in Vic and composed, for the most part, by music students, aged 16 to 26. This orchestra was born “to give opportunities to young musicians”, since “people think they have no experience, but they are in the best shape, they play eight hours a day”, reasons its co-director Belén Clemente.
Film scores are the bulk of their repertoire, although they like to take the opportunity to sneak in classical music pieces. And venture into little-used “scores,” such as “How to Train Your Dragon,” by John Powell. They try to keep prices at bay (“we’ve never exceeded 15 euros”) to attract a young audience. They confirm that film music “moves audiences”, and they are there to capitalize on the trend. “Going to the cinema has always been a very social event”, Belén Clemente meditates. “And now, even these kinds of concerts, that you go to with family or friends, are unique experiences.”
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