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Used to be a Christmas regular on BBC
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Yavar, the thread was titled "Live to Film Concerts", last posted on late February. Tried the link, but it failed (probably my mistake). Have "bumped" the thread...
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Well, now I HAVE been to one, and it was an interesting experience. Thanks are due to Tommy Pearson for setting up the venture, and to Peter Bernstein for his able (and precision-right) conducting. It was good to see this old war-horse on a big screen, but as has been mentioned in another thread about these showings, there are drawbacks : first of all the level of the music volume, which cannot be dialled-down and so sometimes actually drowned out the film's dialogue. Also, the lighting from the music stands of the orchestra players affected the lower half of the screen and thus softened the image.
Sadly, the film itself broke down at one point and one had to feel for the conductor as he stood there, not knowing what was going on or how long it would be before the fault could be rectified and the picture could be restored. After several minutes he was supplied with a microphone to address the audience, but still without any concrete info as to if and when he could resume. At this point things were almost reduced to farce, with audience members whistling The Great Escape theme, shouting out that a rendition of the Main Title would be appropriate and even one suggesting that the orchestra should play "God Save the Queen"!
The event itself was preceded by a brief (30 minute) chat between Tommy Pearson and conductor Bernstein.
Overall, it was very enjoyable, the plus being able to meet up with a few fellow film music friends. Additionally, I stopped off in a pub, the Waterloo Tap, on my way back to my hotel. As it happened, a few members of the BBC Concert Orchestra came in and I struck up conversation with one or two of them. Always fascinating to hear what the players themselves feel about the conductors they've worked with, and they had a few stories to tell. The beer was good too!
JMM>
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Being that The Great Escape is one of my all-time favourites both film & score it was a no-brainer then that I had to attend this event. The pre-concert talk was insightful marshalled by Tommy Pearson and Peter Bernstein who talked about growing up with a film composer father and the many complexities of film scoring including this one. Gosh Mr Bernstein even sounded a lot like
his father Elmer! The overall experience was tumendous regardless of the technical glitch with everyone envolved handled this professionally. You can certainly see more detail in this cinematic experience even though it was a DVD shown and not say a 35mm print - A stellar cast, script, performance and direction it was FAB!
The BBC Concert Orchestra conducted by Peter Bernstein played with enthusiastic energy with the many complexities of the score changes I was so immersed within this new sound experience I heard every note perfectly, but unfortunately the dialogue track in places was muffled, drowned out by the overbearing score, this I was NOT bovered as I have watched this many times over and did not distract in anyway. There were many score highlights including that delicate themed piece (feeling goosebumps) that left a kinda of euphoric/exhilarating mood a sort of 'triumph over adversity' experience of what these brave men had to endure to secure their freedom, but surprisingly the best amongst fellow cinemagoers was the reaction of the audience that filled the auditorium from the Gordon Jackson scene (no spoilers). A standing ovation with applause concluded this event of which will be a day long remembered!
I l@@k forward to more of these experiences in the future!
*Attended The Empire Strikes Back @ RAH the very next day!*
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) 
