SLSO Warmes up Season with Magical Performance of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

–by Tom Schmidt

–photos by Virginia Harold

 

I attended the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra concert performing the music score for the movie Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets conducted by Justin Freer on September 19 in Powell Hall at the Jack C. Taylor Music Center.  This concert was technically before the Symphony’s opening weekend, which is the following weekend.  Justin did a remarkable job navigating the orchestra through a wonderful score composed by John Williams.

Thanks to CineConcerts, the timing and tempo for the score is put on a screen in front of the conductor to help guide him through the movie.  The communication from the conductor to orchestra was flawless.  The orchestra responded well to Justin’s direction, and the dialogue was closed captioned on the screen.  This was helpful in a few instances where the action was so intense on the screen and music was composed to reflect that.  The orchestra in those few times tended to overpower the dialogue.

I also noticed that whenever the score called for a celeste, there was no celeste present on stage, but instead was played by a synthesizer, one of two synthesizers on the stage.  During intermission, I had a conversation with St. Louis Symphony Orchestra Music Director Stéphane Denève. He said that even though the symphony owns a celeste, there are other sounds in the score that used a synthesizer in the recording studio, so that is why those instruments are utilized.  They already had a pianist, so, in total, it required three keyboardists to help bring the score to life.

For much of the movie, it could be easy to forget that this wonderful orchestra was performing the music live.  They did a marvelous job with the music.  Perhaps some audience members forgot that this wasn’t just a movie with a soundtrack, because some were leaving during the end credits instead of listening to the rest of the beautiful live score.  The audience that stayed until the end rewarded the symphony and Justin with a standing ovation and much applause.