Spotlight Articles And Features Jerry Goldsmith 75th Birthday Concert February 17th 2004 @ 7:30pm The Barbican Centre London The news had filtered through on Sunday that Jerry Goldsmith would not be attending on health grounds and not surprisingly there was a certain amount of sadness and concern amongst his loyal followers, some travelling from Canada and mainland Europe just to see him at the podium. But although Jerry Goldsmith was not there in person he most certainly was there in spirit as acclaimed conductor/composer Dirk Brosse stood in for the maestro at the very last minute, bringing the magical sound of Jerry Goldsmith back to the Barbican Centre in London. Brosse, revealing himself to be a great Goldsmith aficionado, was clearly humbled by being able to perform some of the composer's finest music in front such an enthusiastic audience. The evening was introduced by BBC Radio presenter Tommy Pearson who had spoken to the composer the night before for an hour. Goldsmith had provided Pearson with commentary between the pieces and relayed a special message to the audience. Goldsmith repeated how sad he was not to be there and had clearly tried up until the very last minute to travel to London, but in the end was advised by his Doctor not to and quite rightly stayed at home. He praised both the LSO and guest conductor Dirk Brosse and wished everybody a great evening and sent his love to all his fans. Dirk Brosse was enthusiastically greeted by the auditorium and quickly launched into the end credit arrangement of Star Trek The Motion Picture. Apart from Brosse annoyingly emulating Goldsmith here and gesturing to the orchestra to play a portion of the theme slower, for me the end result sounding much like someone turning the volume down, it proved to be a crowd pleasing performance and a fine start to the evening. Pearson recalled Goldsmith's comments on actively avoiding the use of the original TV theme for his classic score but had to give in when he was forced to include it during one sequence in which he got in friend and theme composer Alexander Courage to arrange and conduct it. Next came the lengthy Motion Picture Medley and it was here we got properly introduced to Brosse's theatrical conducting style. Here Brosse was often lunging at parts of the orchestra and later in the evening actually jumping around on the podium to face different parts of the orchestra! Clearly the LSO were influenced with a noticeably different interpretation than the maestro himself would have given, especially during The Sand Pebbles, Brosse attempting to give the piece a more dramatic feel rather than pop orientated love theme that Goldsmith develops the piece into. Pearson read Goldsmith's comment about the fact that all but one of the movies in the medley were nominated for the Oscar and that the ones that were never won. Pearson then humorously emulated Goldsmith's sigh of disappointment. Pearson also recalled Goldsmith telling him that during the recording sessions for Basic Instinct the composer commented that he had never seen so many musicians huddled in the booth for the playback of some of the music which happened to be for the explicit sex scenes. Then came the premiere of Goldsmith's newest score; Looney Tunes Back In Action, replete with electric guitar. Again Pearson provided commentary from Goldsmith on how fun Dante is to work with and the more madcap the score is, the better! For Looney Tunes Goldsmith's piece started off slow encompassing the hugely enjoyable music from Bad Guys and Car Trouble. In fact it was so much fun, with its bells and whistles complementing the orchestra's enthusiastic performance, I'd wished the piece had been more developed into a lengthier concert theme as the fun was over far too quickly. The Masada suite followed, which is one I hadn't heard for a long time. Goldsmith's memorable main theme combining melancholy with bombast is perfect concert fare and received another enthusiastic response from the audience. Later on Pearson reading Goldsmith's commentary recalled his early discussion with Sidney Pollock on the possibility of Masada becoming a big screen movie that he could score, that of course never got made. The first half closed with the rousing Generals Suite. Though MacArthur is the poorer cousin filmically,and musically to Patton it always plays just as good if not better here and clearly Brosse and the LSO enjoyed the workout. I never noticed before but the piano used during the opening features a percussionist hitting the Piano wires. Pearson added a comment from Goldsmith on Schaffner and how the director never wanted to hear the music until the recording sessions. Something that even the closest composer and directors of today would never do. Testament to the respect Schaffner had for Goldsmith. Brosse and the LSO left the stage after a lengthy round of applause, and returned after the 20 minute interval for more from the Goldsmith/Dante cannon. Small Soldiers followed on nicely from the marshal music of the Generals Suite with more elaborate conducting from Brosse. The Gremlins piece came across as a slightly different performance than the one I remember with the first part of the theme performed by a smaller section of the orchestra. But after the bridge the whole orchestra joined in for a real toe tapping finale and the delayed crescendo. The Medley Of TV Themes brought the concert closer to its finish with an exciting workout for the likes of Man From U.N.C.L.E. and Barnaby Jones, though the suite has most definitely sounded louder before. For some, who clearly had not attended a Goldsmith concert before, the performance of Dr Kildare and The Waltons brought back memories of these series' and gave them something to smile about. Goldsmith's comments on this part of his life recalled how exciting it was to be writing so much music in the company of so many other great talents; John Williams and Henry Mancini to name but two. He recalled how he would constantly be checking out other composer's work and deciding whether he thought the quality of it would be a threat to his own, and if so a reason to double his efforts! Originally The Agony And The Ecstasy prologue was scheduled for inclusion here but it was curiously dropped from the programme, perhaps in favour of playing the two crowd pleasing encores of Supergirl and The Wild Rovers (Bronco Bustin). But before these we got to hear the beautiful Soarin' Over California. This gorgeous piece for Disney's IMAX style ride over famous California landmarks is another perfect selection for the concert stage, and if I'm not mistaken had been extended to emphasise the melodic 'south of the border' sequence. Brosse clearly enjoyed the conducting of this piece and seemed to slow the tempo just a little with his emphatic gesturing. Pearson had already hinted at the possibility of there being more music to hear but before that he paid tribute to Dirk Brosse for stepping in at such short notice and the wonderful musicians that make up the London Symphony Orchestra. Brosse then took the microphone and spoke eloquently of his fondness for Jerry Goldsmith's music and the sense of excitement and honour of being asked to conduct it and get to see the composer's manuscripts. His moving tribute to the composer and his hopes that more generations listen to his music in the future went down very well with the Goldsmith audience receiving special personal applause for his efforts that night. Brosse closed the evening with a lively performance of the Supergirl theme and followed it up with Bronco Bustin from The Wild Rovers. A second, even better performance of Supergirl was played, after the audience stood up and just wouldn't stop clapping. Finally Blosse, showing the music to the audience, waved good bye and the conductor and LSO musicians filed off stage at about 9:30pm. All in all this was a wonderful celebration of Jerry Goldsmith's 75th Birthday but of course the fans desperately wanted to be clapping Jerry Goldsmith at the podium and I'm sure an impromptu 'Happy Birthday' would have broken out at some point if he had been there. But none of us would have wished the composer risk his life just to be there for us that night. In the end everyone seemed hugely impressed by the conducting of Dirk Brosse and his podium theatrics, clearly appreciating his skill and of course the wonderful musicians that make up the LSO. We only hope that one day Jerry Goldsmith will return himself to the Barbican and the London Symphony Orchestra.