Star Wars symphony

Well, Dad got a night out tonight while Mom was in Dallas and went to the symphony.  Well, don't get too excited that I am becoming all classy.  It was the symphony pops performance: Star Wars and more.  It is amazing to think about how much music John Williams did.  It started out with the theme from the Olympics (who knew that was him?), and then a song from a western movie (Cowboys), and then Jaws (it is only two notes).  The theme from ET, and then a clarinet-focused song from the movie "The Terminal".  Then they did something else and ended the pre-intermission with the Superman theme (one of my favorites).  Post intermission was from the movie 1941 and then "Mission" (NBC news theme).  Then, it was on to Harry Potter and Hedwig's theme.  He told a great back story on this that his inspiration for this music in a movie about magic was to follow "The Nutcracker".  The instrument they use in that music is the celesta, and that is the main music in that, appropriate music for a children's magic tale.

Then, it was onto Star Wars.  I am glad to know that I was just in the audience (that is nerdy enough); throughout the music, some people (from the production) came dressed up as the various characters and came out on stage.  It was really funny that when they did "Imperial March" a couple of storm troopers and Darth Vader came out on stage.  Then, he used his force grip to cause the conductor (who happen to look like Larry David) fall off the conductor platform, and then Darth took over conducting.  After hearing the music all night, it was kinda amazing to compare how similar the Star Wars music sounds to some of John Williams other stuff yet is quite unique.  For example, in Yoda's theme, the strings part towards the end sounds almost exactly identical to ET's theme (where they are riding through sky with the moon behind them).  And the conductor told the story of how when composing this music, John Williams wanted to have it help to tell the story and actually be part of the plot (e.g. Anakin's theme has part of Darth Vader's theme in it for a bit of foreshadowing).  I heard that tonight for the first time in the "Across the Stars" (Episode II love theme).  The only thing that was missing was in the intro Star Wars number, they needed to have a Star Destroyer come across the screen for about 45 seconds, just like in the movie.  Plus, the whole evening would have been incredible had they put movie clips playing (even, silently) on the screen behind them; it was set up perfectly for it.  One thing I will remember as I compare the Star Wars music to rest of the music is that throughout most of the night, you didn't see all the instruments playing at the same time (e.g. horns were silent while violins were playing; clarinet was playing and the cello was silent).  But, during Star Wars, everyone was playing, and it sounded exactly like it does in the movie.  In a concert, there is always that effect that it doesn't sound exactly like the recording (and some people like it that way), but this sounded just like the films and it speaks to the quality of this symphony.  Another point he brought out that I will enjoy is talking about how each character has their own unique theme, and it helps to link all the movies together; without music, that wouldn't have been there.

3 big things stood out to me:
(1) The characters they had come out were a nice touch.  But some guy came out with a red lightsaber and a tank top.  Not sure who this was supposed to be.  Steven Maul?
(2) The conductor introduced the Star Wars set by saying that if you were at the theater in 1977 when these movies were first released, this is what you would have heard.  And then they proceeded to play the Fox Films studio soundtrack (before moving onto the Star Wars theme).
(3) While I would have enjoyed hearing the music where Luke is watching the Binary Sunset on Tatooine, the fact that they ended the Star Wars set with the Episode IV throne room music saved the night.

Although they ended the night with the Star Wars set, I was glad to see that their encore was the Indiana Jones theme.  Thankfully, the Han Solo-dressed guy didn't come out as Indy; that would have ruined that series for me forever.

Very fun evening, just another milestone to add to my Star Wars memories.