Thursday January 21st 8p.m. – Orchestras, for as long as cinema has been around, have played a key role in bringing stories to life. Animation in particular has benefited immensely from orchestral compositions which have become fundamental in it’s production. Tonight at Strathmore the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra conducted by Constantine Kitsopoulos presented PIXAR in Concert. It’s best described as pure magic sprouting the seeds of imagination.
Score’s from feature films Toy Story (Randy Newman), Finding Nemo (Thomas Newman), Ratatouille (Micheal Giacchino), A Bug’s Life (Randy Newman), WALL-E (Thomas Newman), Toy Story 2 (Randy Newman,) Cars (Randy Newman), Up (Micheal Giacchino), The Incredibles (Micheal Giascchino), Monsters Inc. (Randy Newman), Cars 2 (Micheal Giacchino), Toy Story 3 (Randy Newman), Brave (Patrick Doyle) and Monsters University (Randy Newman) were all performed live and synchronized to the films.
There wasn’t any dialogue; the event instead focusing solely on the orchestrated scores. Popular songs such as Toy Story’s “You Got a Friend in Me” and Car’s “Our Town” by Randy Newman were not performed. The main focus was the art of synchronizing an orchestra to animation. Conductor Constantine Kitsopoulos pointed out that the orchestra had to play with metronome devices connected to their ears. He commended the BSO as this was an extremely difficult program and they were able to perform it after just two rehearsals. A very note worthy achievement!
The performance was absolutely beautiful. The touching tales of Finding Nemo, Ratatouille, Up and Toy Story 3 were so expressive it was hard to hold back the tears. Seeing PIXAR films in this manner is a completely new and unique experience. It was like the emotions and expressions of the film were magnified tenfold! It’s a form of entertainment incomparable to any other concert series out there. The BSO was truly outstanding!
It requires a large orchestra in order to make this performance possible. Instruments you don’t normally associate with orchestras such as keyboard, electric guitar, bass guitar, saxophone and xylophone comprised a rare ensemble that made the performance that more interesting. The rhythm section during Micheal Giacchino’s Ratatouille was especially entertaining. Really quick and intricate percussion resembling the scampering of hundreds of rats raced around the Music Center. The campy spy themed composition from Randy Newman’s The Incredibles reminded me of a Hoyt Curtin Johnny Quest theme. It was like orchestral jazz or big band music. All of this was phenomenally performed!
It’s hard to believe it’s been over twenty years since Toy Story was first released back in 1995. It was the first feature-length computer-animated film. It has since forever changed the way animated feature films are made. Regardless of the tools used to make Toy Story, it still follows the same principals Disney developed in the 1930’s with the production of Silly Symphonies and relies on the synchronization of orchestral compositions to the action on film. Disney feature films tend to be musicals more then any thing else. The main characters would often break out into song. PIXAR treated the music differently, closer to the original methods used in Silly Symphonies, Looney Tunes and Tom and Jerry. The orchestral compositions in those classic cartoons were almost like the script. They used the orchestra to express intense emotion, drive the story and compliment the action. Another great example would be Disney’s Fantasia.
This is a great example of how technology can change and the process still remains the same. Even though we are in the age of digital technology it’s still only a tool we use to enhance the results of human creativity. I would compare digital compositions for orchestra to how an architect uses AutoCAD to render a building. Without the skills of the artists, the tools would not be able to bring anything to life.
This was an astonishing presentation! Pure magic! If you have never seen PIXAR presented in this manner it is an absolute must! Especially if your a fan of the films you will not be disappointed.
About The Author
