Ravinia 2019, Issue 5, Week 9

Today, a massive digital self-projecting screen DboYe is set XS IDcinJ the 1orth /DZn to ensXre thDt the ODrJe DXGiences thDt fiOm Zith OiYe orchestrD programs draw, often including families with young chiOGren OeIt , cDn enMo\ both the enrDStXrinJ soXnG of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra or a guest ensemble and the stunning visuals of a Hollywood feature. At many of these presentations, Ravinia hosts pre-concert discussions and Q&As about that niJhtȅs fiOm Zith sXch JXests Ds :*1 entertDinment critic DeDn 5ichDrGs DboYe, bottom riJht , Zho returned earlier this year for West Side Story and Ghostbusters $Xthor, fiOmmDNer, DnG broDGcDster Jamie Bernstein will introduce On the Waterfront , the onO\ fiOm her IDther, /eonDrG, scoreG be tting a concert orchestra and replacing the three original synthesizers and ondes Martenot, an early electronic instrument, with updated technolog- ical equivalents. At the same time, he returned certain bits of the original music that were not on the recorded soundtrack but make sense in a concert setting. “It’s very, very close to the lm, but it’s enhanced, shall we say,” Bern- stein says. e symphonic world’s whole-heart- ed embrace of lm music re ects both changing perceptions of the form and also a practical acknowledgement that such screenings provide vital new rev- enue when orchestras are facing aging audiences and shrinking ticket sales. ese presentations attract attendees who in many cases have never been to an orchestra concert before, because they involve familiar titles and include an ap- pealing visual dimension. “It’s certainly not stodgy,” says Bernstein. “It de es the image of orchestras, which are constantly having to overcome this idea that they don’t do anything that is less than years old, whether it’s true or not.” According to Bernstein, the lms that work best for concert screenings are ones with scores that have something to say, that go beyond just supplying the requisite mood-inducing strains when there is action on the screen. “It’s the music that can stand alone,” he says, “because in a concert setting it’s up front. You can’t ignore it.” An ideal ex- ample is On the Waterfront , Elia Kazan’s Academy Award–winning lm, which features the only score penned by Leonard Bernstein. Some lms don’t work because they run beyond the ½-hour time limit prescribed in most orchestral labor agreements and would require paying expensive overtime. In other cases, there are breaks in the lm score that leave the orchestra with noth- ing to do for long stretches. Ghostbusters might not seem like a likely choice for such treatment, as Peter M. Bernstein readily admits, because most people remember the lm’s catchy theme song but not its score. “It was there to support the action,” he says, “but, of course, the person who wrote the score was a consummate lm com- poser, and when you hear it live, you will go, ‘Oh, wow. I had no idea,’ ” he said. e composer to which he refers is Bernstein’s celebrated father, Elmer, who wrote more than scores, perhaps his most famous for the Western e Magni cent Seven . Bernstein describes the Ghostbusters score as “big and pow- erful,” pointing out that it manages to walk the “di cult tightrope” of convey- ing the comedic, romantic, and super- natural aspects of the movie. While these presentations are un- doubtedly a big success now, the ques- tion is whether they are merely a fad or something that will remain a permanent part of orchestral and summer festival lineups. “I don’t think it is a trendy thing,” says Laura Karpman, an adjunct instructor in screen scoring at the Uni- versity of Southern California. “I think it is a celebration of an art form that has been part of the psyche of lmgoers since talkies started going. I think this will continue.” But others in the eld ar- en’t so sure. ey see a scene that is still evolving, with orchestras and audiences still trying to gure out which lms are worthy of this treatment. “None of us know what is going to happen,” New- man says. “ ere is a lot more product on the market than there used to be, but there’s lot more desire for it.” Kyle MacMillan served as classical music critic for the Denver Post Irom 2000 throXJh 2011 +e cXr- rently freelances in Chicago, writing for such pub- lications and websites as the Chicago Sun-Times , Wall Street Journal , Opera News , and Classical Voice of North America . PATRICK GIPSON/RAVINIA (BOTH PHOTOS) JULY 29 – AUGUST 11, 2019 | RAVINIA MAGAZINE 33