reviewvancouver: VSO Pops Series: The Godfather

Vancouver Symphony Orchestra: The Godfather
Date and Venue Wednesday, March 30, 2016 at 7pm | Orpheum Theatre

Conductor Justin Freer

Reviewer Erin Jane

The Orpheum is a gorgeous venue and perfectly suited to host this ambitious undertaking by CineConcerts to screen The Godfather as the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra performed Nino Rota’s award-winning original musical score real-time. Conductor and Producer Justin Freer founded CineConcerts as an idea to mix film and carefully curated full-length musical score performances, and The Godfather certainly lends itself well in this context.

Nino Rota’s familiar and foreboding opening melody belonged to a single trumpet as the title credits appeared onscreen. This same haunting theme was reprised throughout the film to great effect – at once sad and dark, later suggesting tension and power.

During the opening wedding scene, Freer directed his orchestra flawlessly – requiring incredibly consistent tempo to match the guests’ singing and dancing. A laptop showing the film with strategic flashes of light (acting as a metronome) was mounted on his pedestal, aiding him in this challenging endeavour. In later scenes where characters are entering and exiting department stores playing Christmas music, Freer conducted seamlessly and the orchestra followed well, halting abruptly when scenes and music ended.

Throughout the performance, the musicians had the difficult task of holding back volume-wise so that the score did not overpower the dialogue, while maintaining enough vitality throughout. This was most clear when the score swelled with a strong crescendo just prior to the intermission, as this moment demonstrated the actual volume capacity of the VSO in this venue.

Post-intermission, Rota’s familiar melody returns with a beautifully thin reedy oboe, followed by accordion, mandolin and guitar to reflect an “Old World” musical feel, as Michael Corleone flees to Sicily. Closer to the end of the film, as Michael becomes Don Corleone, the trumpet reprises this melody once more: both musically and thematically, we have come full circle.

For the audience members who bothered to stick around once the film’s end credits began to roll (I could not believe I was seeing people filing out just as the orchestra was ramping up), we were treated to a beautiful and powerful final crescendo, with a rich sound that peaked during the final “behind the scenes” photo montage.

Performing the score live unquestionably offers extra insight and richness to the film that one may have missed otherwise. This unique experience adds greater texture and context, which for a huge admirer of this wonderful film, is not to be missed.