Sean Wilson reviews the tribute concert in memory of the late Titanic composer…
It takes a special composer to stamp a singular and enduring personality over the films they score, but James Horner was that person. Tragically killed in a plane crash in 2015 Horner’s death was massive blow for the soundtrack industry, the loss of a musical titan who, although controversial, injected extraordinary amounts of heart, beauty and sincerity into his soundtracks.
Horner’s richly melodic approach was on fine display in the Royal Albert Hall tribute concert, A Life In Music, his extraordinary and multifaceted career more than done justice by London’s Cinematic Sinfonia orchestra and Crouch End Festival Chorus, all under the baton of reliable conductor Ludwig Wicki. The nuances of Horner’s music, from the galloping intricacy of the brass writing to the yearning, searching strings and poignant woodwinds, demanded a robust and vibrant live performance, and the concert delivered in spades.
Horner’s career spanned over 30 years, beginning with Roger Corman B-movie exploitation fare like Battle Beyond to the Stars and coming through to the modern-day with blockbusters like The Amazing Spider-Man. The performance did excellent justice to the spread of his works, from the rousingly bombastic The Wrath of Khan, The Rocketeer and The Mask of Zorro to the hauntingly powerful Glory, Legends of the Fall, Apollo 13, Braveheart and Titanic.
For a composer whose music was so often written off as overwrought and lachrymose, Wicki’s conducting did an excellent job at drawing out its complex intricacies from Avatar’s Na’Vi chanting to the noble solo trumpet of Apollo 13 and the relentless, seat-clenching metal percussion of Aliens, quite possibly the standout of the evening. Interspersed with the music were talking head interviews with Cameron collaborators James Cameron, Mel Gibson, Ron Howard, Jon Landau and Richard Eyre, all of whom waxed lyrical about the heartfelt composer who tapped a richly spiritual vein with his music.
That same level of spirituality and warmth coursed through the entire evening, from the orchestral ensemble to the memorable solo vocalists including Clara Sanabras’ deeply felt interpretation of Titanic (plus a performance of ‘My Heart Will Go On’) and Alice Zawadzki’s beautiful take on ‘Somewhere Out There’ from An American Tail, a clear audience favourite. Inevitably some classics fell by the wayside, Battle Beyond The Stars and The Land Before Time getting short shrift although Horner’s career was so sprawling it was perhaps inevitable some would be left behind.
Even amidst the concert programme Horner’s infamous tendency to cannibalise both his own music (including the infamous four note horn theme) and that of other composers (Gayane’s Adagio from Aram Khachaturian’s Gayane ballet suite as heard at the start of Aliens) was very much evident. Yet also evident was the abundance of heart and sincerity that earmarked all of Horner’s best work: bold, fulsome and extraordinary music that puts many of today’s film scoring practices to shame.
For my part Horner defined the sound of my childhood, and was as responsible as anyone for inspiring a love of soundtrack music. As the concert closed to the hypnotic strains of ‘A Kaleidoscope of Mathematics’ from A Beautiful Mind, it was clear the concert had woven a shimmering tapestry of poignancy and utter magic, a fitting tribute to a composer whose tragic loss marked the end of an era in film music.
Sean Wilson
Originally published October 26, 2017. Updated April 18, 2018.
