Movie music to captivate festival audience
Thursday night is cinema night at the Burton Bradstock Festival which starts this weekend. On 17 August, the Festival Players will perform theme music from box-office record busters from Psycho to Platoon. Some – such as the Mahler piano trio used in Shutter Island and the Samuel Barber Adagio for Strings used to such effect in Platoon were classical greats long before the films existed. Others, like the themes from Schindler’s List and Psycho are ground breaking compositions.
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Says festival organiser Janet Whittaker: “Hearing these pieces as we watched fine drama, comedy and horror has seared them into our memories. Collectively, they are probably responsible for turning the UK into a nation of classical music lovers. All of them are works of art in their own right, whether they were composed for the films or borrowed by the film–makers from the classical archives.”
Artistic director David Juritz had plenty to choose from in creating the evening’s programme:
“We've got a programme packed with silver-screen classics and it's all great music too. Samuel Barber's Adagio has been put to picture in everything from Platoon to The Simpsons. Stanley Myers' Cavatina from The Deerhunter has embedded that film in modern culture in a way that moving pictures alone could never achieve. The Mahler Piano Quartet captures perfectly the dark, brooding atmosphere of Stanley Kubrick's thriller, Shutter Island, while John William's Theme from Schindler's List has become a modern classic in its own right. Ennio Moricone, one of the most instantly recognisable voices in film music, is one of those composers who can take your breath away with just three or four notes. You can hear what I mean in his theme from Cinema Paradiso.
“We won't be able to sell you popcorn but I guarantee you lots and lots of memories!”