Thursday in the Park

Last night, I went to the Colorado Symphony Orchestra for their performance of John Williams' score to Jurassic Park, synced live with the movie. I've written before about these movie/symphony shows, but I continue to go and continue to be impressed. It still feels like a thrilling high wire act, playing complicated music in perfect unison with an unyielding film.

I hadn't seen the original Jurassic Park in some time. I'd forgotten what a swift, spartan film it is. Though it's a touch over two hours, it doesn't feel like it. Dinosaur mayhem erupts from the very first scene, and continues steadily throughout. Character work is done simply and efficiently. And almost the instant our heroes are out of danger, the end credits roll. No summarizing or reflecting on what has happened; the ride is over.

John Williams' score for the film might also be characterized as swift and spartan, at least in comparison with many of the other films he's most famous for. This is not a knock on him, by any means. Jurassic Park may be his most popular, well-known score of the 90s. He knew exactly what the film needed, and delivered.

For one thing, there aren't as many themes established here as in earlier John Williams scores. Many of the cues are one-off compositions. Instead of developing a broad palette of themes, he returns again and again to the amazing one I'll bet you're humming in your head right now. Not that this is lazy. It's an incredibly smart, well-constructed theme, designed to change tone dramatically depending on the instrument that plays it and the key its set in. It's majestic when delivered by the trumpets, contemplative when played by the oboes, and almost sorrowful on piano. You hear it on all those instruments throughout the score, and on violin, french horn, and more. Every time, it feels different.

Jurassic Park may also be John Williams' (and director Steven Spielberg's) most daring experiment in not scoring part of a movie. The key scene in which the Tyrannosaurus attacks the children in the jeep plays entirely without music, relying on sound effects to create the tension. It somehow felt even more tense watching the scene unfold with an orchestra of nearly 100 performers sitting there silent. Come on! Play something! How can you just sit there?! But it's totally the right choice for the scene.

As with all John Williams scores, watching the performance was a lesson in how specific sounds are made -- the different effects achieved by trumpet vs. trombone vs. french horn, the dense use of percussion (and getting to see the instruments that make the noises), and more. Once again, a real treat.

My one reservation is that the original recording of the score makes key use of a choir, and the CSO did not have one for its performance. A couple of key scenes were covered with a recorded choir performing the part, but that's totally cheating around the spirit of this kind of performance. (Though if you didn't know the music as well as I do, I doubt you'd notice.)

If you're reading this on Friday and want to go, the CSO has one more performance of Jurassic Park tonight. (Then, in July, Jaws is up next.) At the risk of repeating myself, I highly recommend it.