Music by Hans Zimmer with the CBSO – Symphony Hall, Birmingham

Conductor: Nicolae Buc

Hans Zimmer’s musical legacy reaches even further than that sword dropped by Maximus in the wake of “Has aren’t you having fun? nagging directed at the pampered provincials.

Well, they certainly weren’t, but with the olives wiped and the wine glasses trashed, but by tonight’s reckoning the Symphony Hall was sure to be gloriously entertained.

Spanning over five decades, Zimmer’s body of work ticks more disparate boxes than you can shake a baton at. If it’s good enough for Ridley Scott, Thelma and Louiseabove mentioned Gladiatoror Tony’s late brother, Days of Thunder,/Crimson Tidedoes not need to submit a resume for any future work soon

From revolutionary My beautiful laundry room (1985) at Muppet Treasure Island (1996) six scores in total that year, (Wikipedia) is no slouch at all.

The buzz in the pre-performance bars is what will be on tonight’s agenda. Surely someone will go home disappointed that their all-time favorite Zimmer didn’t make the final score sheet. Sure, there will be enough to keep them happy though. The evening shows are listed in the program. Look away now, spoiler alert. The penultimate ending opens with Gladiator: The Suite culminating in “Now we are Free,” the rousing, ethereal splendor collaboration with neoclassical darkwave pioneer (Dead Can Dance) Lisa Gerard.

Shaun Ley interview BBC iPlayer,(HARDtalk, 2016) has Zimmer as the most amiable of gentlemen – as far as can be. He likes anecdotes: Christopher Nolan sends an untitled one-page summary of an idea. HZ would like to throw some ideas around. HZ invites CN to listen to what he has. CN looks on wistfully. “Well, I guess I have to make the movie now!” Exit the CN to start the scenario Interstellar. Of his work, he tells Shaun Ley, “…it’s a struggle, but a glorious struggle.” And what Lion King? “A requiem for my father…” He died when HZ was six years old. And of The dark knight? ‘100% Punk Score!’ Indeed, we are entertained – to the max. “We Germans have no sense of humor.” Just kidding.

Symphony Hall, it shows as always the ridiculous brilliance of everything almost perfect for a performance venue. Part kitsch Art Deco strips of chrome and red with the lighting canopy from the Gods, an homage to the USS Enterprise and Close Encounters Mother.

It’s a set of thirteen selections interspersed with a background biography of Zimmer and a bit of banter between the host, Andrew Poisson, and the esthete conductor, Nicholas Buc, the latter quoted as “… the only person in the world who conducted on all three originals. The Star Wars movies in concert…in one day!’ Dan Golding’s program notes are a delight in themselves. Of Zimmer’s opus, he writes of “…simple musical ideas covered in extremity.”

It’s a no-nonsense, committed band, almost to the brim tonight: earnest strings, unironic heavy metal from the brass section and nuclear-grade fission percussion. Given the primal speed of the beats, it wouldn’t be surprising if velociraptors could ever burst through the big bass drum skin – possibly borrowed from a local circus parade.

The kick-ass brass section is excellent during the set’s opening climax Sherlock Holmes: Unravel (look for it, I’m looking for it!). Empathetic echoes of English romanticism come to the fore during I’m driving Miss Daisy Theme. Shades of rural American folk roots and Aaron Copeland cannot be dismissed. Kathrine Lacy’s haunting lead clarinet choruses are duly applauded. And so it goes – hare and tortoise in step.

Conductor Nicholas Buc teases tricks of the trade as Zimmerman experiments with major/minor key changes and tempos reduced to two-note austerity. Hence the hypnotic dynamics of Beginning. Tectonic plates collide where infected dreams are manipulated into a perpetual Escher-like Mobius strip. Who would have thought that Edith Piaf’s we regret nothing would they get a name check? There is a consistent homage to audience participation in 60s television Batman the series – “Dinner, dinner, dinner – BATMAN! Too bad Nelson Riddle didn’t get name verification.Cue Batman Trilogy: The Dark Knight Suite.

Now it’s time to get serious, as the powerful Symphony Hall organ manuals – delivered directly, apparently, from the bellows in the belly of Hades – are presented to master keyboardist Rupert Jeffcoat. All say hello Interstellar: Symphonic Suiteoverdrive pumped to the max and more.

But it’s the one they were really waiting for: the Gladiator suite. The Holst Mars-inspired opening fight sequence gets a serious dusting. Isn’t it strange that the dog that saves Maximus’s life from the axe-wielding Teutonic savage is a German shepherd!

Mezzo-soprano Lotte Betts-Dean sends shivers of ecstatic delight through the audience’s collective spine as she belts out the chorus of “Now We Are Free” from Gladiator scene where Maximus is called upon by Lucilla (Connie Nelson) to finally say, “Go to them.” Stern stuff to those tonight who didn’t hold back a tear. “From Victorian London to the edge of the galaxy – Hans Zimmer’s music sets the heart racing and the imagination soaring.” writes program contributor Dan Golding. Indeed so. And he’s only had a few piano lessons: it’s just not right! Anol Shalom.

Revised June 21, 2024