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Saturday, June 07, 2003

By Andrew Druckenbrod, Post-Gazette Classical Music Critic

I have never been a huge fan of John Williams, thinking most of his music to be too derivative. The giants of the field, from Beethoven to Brahms and even Holst and Orff, worked too hard to have Williams so easily graft their music onto his.

But you have to give him credit where it's deserved, as a Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra concert under his baton -- really a pops concert in disguise -- showed last night.

For one, Williams has used the material that he takes (subconsciously or consciously) so cleverly that one has to marvel at it. Whether it be making the "Mars" movement from Holst's "The Planets" the foundation for the main theme of "Star Wars," Strauss' "Death and Transfiguration" for the love theme to "Superman," or Dvorak's "New World" Symphony for that infamous shark motif in "Jaws," he captures a film's essence.

When he is truly original, these moments of essence stand out even more. Superman's main theme is heroism distilled, and Harry Potter's theme is wonderfully mysterious in an unthreatening way, as it should be.

All of which begs a question recently brought up by the fact that nearly 10 percent of the recently released American Film Institute's list of 50 top heroes and villains are from movies Williams scored. Could it be that his ability to extract the essence of a character, by whatever musical means, have helped them stick in our minds?

Based on hearing them conducted by Williams last night at Heinz Hall, the answered must be yes. You can't think of Indiana Jones without the rousing brass or "Jaws" without the fearful motif. Williams played to this with a medley called "Monsters, Beauties and Heroes," sort of a mini-AFI list accompanied by his and other Hollywood music.

More than this, was hearing his film music live and played by a much better orchestra than you get in the studio (albeit one that is typically sharper than this performance.) William's Suite from "JFK" exhibited atmospheric effects that might be missed seeing the film and George Vosburgh played a mellifluous trumpet solo.

His "Seven Years in Tibet" was enhanced by a passionate cello solo by Anne Martindale Williams. A collection of the progressive jazz-tinged music of "Catch Me If You Can" came alive, with soloists Mark Ortwein, saxophone; Jeffrey Turner, bass; and John Soroka, vibraphone.

A suite from "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" was led brightly by Patricia Prattis Jennings on celesta.

(By the way, I believe Nimbus 2000 to be the name of a broom, not a wand, as Williams described it, proving that not even he can keep track of all the films he has scored!)

Topping it off is that Williams is a pops master. He didn't conduct the Boston Pops for all those years without knowing how to do it right. His concerts here recently (two years ago being the last one) remind us of how great the classic model can be, in which the music, however light at times (Whiting and Mercer's "Hooray for Hollywood" being last night's example) drives the show. Subtle stage lighting and Williams' affable speaking from the podium helped the concert work, too.

The full house gave him a warm reception when he came out on stage. Especially touching was the applause after a "Star Wars" medley had begun, when members of the audience couldn't suppress their joy at hearing the famous strains. It was akin to a band finally playing its big hit, even if it does smack of earlier ones.