Usher Hall 24/8/26 and 25/8/26
Sinfonia of London, John Wilson conductor
Louise Dearman vocals, Matthew Ford vocals
‘Glorious Technicolour, breathtaking Cinemascope and stereophonic sound’. Cole Porter’s 1932 song celebrates the era of the huge Hollywood studios, who had their own orchestras, composers and arrangers on the pay-roll. Their legacy survives in musical films from the 30s, 40s and 50s, but many orchestral scores have been lost, carelessly discarded or destroyed in fires. John Wilson has spent the last thirty years reassembling this music, and in 2018 formed Sinfonia of London, hand-picked from principals and other star players of UK orchestras to replicate the specific sound – a combination of symphony orchestra and jazz big-band. – that the music requires.
The film music from Metro Golden Meyer and their musical arranger Conrad Salinger, is the subject of this concert: John Wilson,a genial host, is a brilliant, demanding conductor, encouraging the orchestra in the finest detail with his hands, while constantly moving rhythmically. Brown and Freed’s 1952 ‘Main Title from Singin in the Rain’ – “ the greatest of all musicals without question” – exploits this sound’s drama – the strings in front, woodwinds (alternating with saxophones), horns, brass, timpani and four-strong percussion behind. Schwartz’s 1953 ‘Dancing in the Dark’, for Cyd Charisse and Fred Astaire in Central Park, has subtler effects, upper strings and woodwind accompanied by muted trumpet and brushes on drums.
Singers Louise Dearman and Matthew Ford are, like the instrumentalists, relaxed but meticulous performers and wonderful interpreters of the repertoire. Louise Dearman’s ‘Over the Rainbow’ with harp and celeste in the delicate accompaniment, is simple and effective. In contrast her Lena Horne tribute in Rodger’s and Hart’s ‘The Lady is a Tramp’ reveals the vulnerability beneath brassy independence. These musicals weren’t shy of a bit of Schmaltz as the swooping violins in Matthew Ford’s well-judged ‘The Heather on the Hill’ from Loewe and Lerner’s 1947 ‘Brigadoon’ shows, while in ‘I love You Samantha’, he and a solo trumpeter honour Louis Armstrong’s cameo in Cole Porter’s 1956 ‘High Society’.
In a concert of constant discovery, my highlights are the duets from the 20th century’s best composer/lyricists. Porter’s witty and rhythmic ‘Who wants to be a Millionaire’ (with pinpoint diction, who needs surtitles?) is only surpassed by Irving Berlin’s showstopper ‘A Couple of Swells’. It was written, allegedly in an hour, for Fred Astaire and Judy Garland, dressed up as hobos in the 1948 ‘Easter Parade’, and Louise Dearman and Matthew Ford revel in the jaunty satire of the penniless couple planning to go ‘up the Avenue’ to visit the wealthy Vanderbilts. Behind them John Wilson conjures up a mock-dramatic trombone rallentando before the chorus, and tops the line “We would ride up the Avenue but the horse we had was shot” with the crack of the woodblock a second later.
The magic touch of arranger Conrad Salinger or pure John Wilson? The tooting horns of Gershwin’s 1951 ‘An American in Paris’ end this fascinating and thoroughly entertaining two hours, the packed Usher Hall containing many Sinfonia of London fans who have travelled a fair distance as well as delighted EIF regulars.
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