Every summer in the Netherlands is different. Just look at our weather, for example. During some summers we have long heat waves, and during others, like this one, it rains almost every day. What stays the same during this time of the year are the Vriendenloterij concerts in Het Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. These concerts, of which there are around 80 this year, are held in July and August and are meant for a broad audience with a focus on an easy listening experience and entertainment. Since music for film and other media fits that category very well, several concerts focus on that specific genre.
One of the concerts is about game music with Eímear Noone conducting, for which I have bought tickets, and another event is about watching the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark with a live orchestra, which I will not be attending. That movie concert will be conducted by Dirk Brossé, who understands John Williams’ music brilliantly, but luckily for me, I was able to attend another film music concert from the Vriendenloterij with Brossé conducting the PhilZuid Orchestra a week before.
This concert, titled Flying Heroes, focused on the concept of flying, with music composed for or used in films that had ties with that theme. In between the pieces, Harry Piekema, who had a chair within the orchestra, stood up and talked about some of the pieces, but Brossé occasionally took the microphone as well to talk about his personal experiences.
With easy listening being essential for these summer concerts, it meant that the majority of the pieces on the program were well-known classics. The classical pieces that were used in the movies are easy to guess. The concert started as many of these concerts do with the iconic piece from “Also Sprach Zarathustra,” but we could also hear “Adagio for Strings” and “Ride of the Valkyries” from the two Vietnam movies Platoon and Apocalypse Now, respectively. Another familiar classical piece is Bach’s famous “Toccata en fuga,” which was apparently used in The Aviator.
The pieces from the original soundtracks were almost all of them familiar, with most composed by John Williams. These pieces were from Hook, Star Wars, Superman, Harry Potter, and E.T., as well as The Terminal, with a beautiful clarinet solo by Jules Baeten, a member of the orchestra. There was more familiar film music from other composers, like the amazing theme from Apollo 13 by James Horner, music from Michael Giacchino’s Star Trek, and the iconic music from Back to the Future by Alan Silvestri. There was one piece on the program I did not know, though, which was the theme from Amelia by Brossé’s friend Gabriel Yared, a gorgeous, emotional piece mainly performed on the piano.
The encore was different than I was expecting for concerts like these. Instead of another theme from John Williams that everyone knows, we could listen to “Tribute to the Film Composer,” containing all kinds of snippets from iconic themes by different composers, amazingly arranged by John Williams, and I know that piece well. I have even seen the handwritten score from the piece, but I could not even take on Brossé’s challenge to the audience to name all of them.
I have discussed Brossé and how he can elevate film music to the next level in many of my reports. He is one of the reasons why I wanted to attend this concert after all, with so many familiar pieces on the program. There was another reason for me to go to this concert, which was the PhilZuid Orchestra, since I had never heard them perform before. Maybe it was because they performed without any amplification in Het Concertgebouw, arguably the best concert venue we have in the Netherlands, but I was very impressed with this orchestra’s performance. Of course, the brass section stood out, which is logical since many pieces on the program had a big focus on that section, but if you listened carefully to the other musicians, they all played their parts perfectly as well. Together they made this concert one of the best performances I have heard in Het Concertgebouw for a very long time.
Concert information
Where: Het Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Netherlands
When: July 7, 2024
Orchestra: PhilZuid Orchestra conducted by Dirk Brossé
Host: Harry Piekema
Program
- Richard Strauss – “Also sprach Zarathustra”
- Johan Sebastian Bach – “Fugue” from Toccata and Fugue
- John Williams – “Flight to Neverland” from Hook
- Alan Silvestri – Back to the Future
- Samuel Barber – “Adagio for Strings”
- James Horner – Theme from Apollo 13
- John Williams – “Viktor’s Tale” from The Terminal
- John Williams – “March” from Superman
Intermission
- Richard Wagner – “Ride of the Valkyries”
- John Williams – “Adventures on Earth” from E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial
- Gabriel Yared – Amelia
- Michael Giacchino – Star Trek
- John Williams – “Hedwig’s Theme” from Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
- John Williams – Symphonic suite from Star Wars
- John Williams – “Tribute to the Film Composer” (encore)
