John Barry Memorial Concert

Quote :

John Barry: The Memorial Concert
Celebrating the Life and Music of John Barry (1933 – 2011)

Monday 20 June 2011

Royal Albert Hall



Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

Nicholas Dodd conductor



Special Guests include:

Dame Shirley Bassey

Sir Michael Caine

David Arnold

Sir George Martin



Tickets available from Friday 8 April



All profits benefit the John Barry Scholarship for Film Composition at the Royal College of Music

http://www.jamesbond007.se/events.asp?id=2751

Strangely, the page this originated from has been removed from the RCM site.

Interesting about the 'John Barry Scholarship for Film Composition at the Royal College of Music.' I think I may have a part in this unknowingly, with the letter I sent to Barry in November last year.

That's great. Wish I could attend.

Hopefully some video gets leaked.

Mr. Brown wrote:

That's great. Wish I could attend.

Hopefully some video gets leaked.

Same here.

Quote :

Interesting about the 'John Barry Scholarship for Film Composition at the Royal College of Music.' I think I may have a part in this unknowingly, with the letter I sent to Barry in November last year.

Any chance you could clarify that last bit Sharky? :)

Sounds like a great concert. If anyone on these forums has a chance to go, please let us know how it went.

Vesper wrote:

Quote :

Interesting about the 'John Barry Scholarship for Film Composition at the Royal College of Music.' I think I may have a part in this unknowingly, with the letter I sent to Barry in November last year.

Any chance you could clarify that last bit Sharky? :)

I mentioned that I was going to apply for the Royal College in the next year or two.

He could have been very impressed by the letter, which I admit was pretty heavy stuff. i.e. focusing on the deceptive simplicity of his method of composition. Maybe too academic in hindsight, though Barry was unwell.

Has anyone managed to find any more out about this? I'd definitely considering going - but as said earlier the original page has gone. RAH site lists it - but I couldn't get to book any tickets.

I phoned up the box office, and they said the show's been postponed. The early announcement was a mistake.

Feasibly, it could go official on Monday.

Cool beans - got my tickets. Anyone else going? Just a wild guess - but I guess you'll be in attendance Mr Shark? :bounce:

Saw John Barry in concert in 1998 or 1999 at the Albert Hall, but a concert without Sir John? I know that's the nature of memorial events, but I'm trying to get excited about this.

Still, good to see it's sponsored by the Broccoli Foundation. Is this the nearest Danjaq has got to an official tribute? Also interesting that eBay feel it necessary to take steps against touts for this event. They're obviously expecting heavy demand.

RCM site is here:

http://www.rcm.ac.uk/Support+Us/Fundraising+Events/John+Barry+Memorial+Concert

ambler wrote:

Saw John Barry in concert in 1998 or 1999 at the Albert Hall, but a concert without Sir John? I know that's the nature of memorial events, but I'm trying to get excited about this.

On the plus side it will have Sir George Martin, Sir Michael Caine, and Dame Shirley Bassey. On the downside it will have David Arnold.

Tickets opened today, and I went South Kensington to get them this morning.

Sharky wrote:

On the plus side it will have Sir George Martin, Sir Michael Caine, and Dame Shirley Bassey.

And Sir Timothy Dalton. I guess that means TLD is a certainty on the setlist.

Lord Ambler.

Though unfortunately, it's likely the arrangements will all be Nic Raine's. That guy's got a stranglehold on John Barry re-recordings and concert arrangements, that I hope to break when I'm a bit older, and can access the original manuscripts. I believe it took ten years after Herrmann death (so we're talking 75-85) for his collection to become accessible to the public. Now they're all at UCSB, while North, Goldsmith and Mancini's are at UCLA, and Rosenman's at the Fales Library (located in the Elmer Holmes Bobst Library), New York.

I hope Barry's family donates them to the University of York, or somewhere similar.

I feel the pain Ambler, I was at those too. This is likely to be as close to the real thing as we'll ever see again sadly, so I feel I must honour his legacy with my attendance - even if it won't be a fraction of those absolutely stunning and magical evenings. I recall going to the first one as a James Bond fan and emerged an even bigger John Barry fan - I've never seen such amazing standing ovations/encores ever - pure and simple. I also attended the more recent Ten tenors concert - which was considerably more subdued and low-key - but we did get to see Mr Barry in the bar with his wife, and he conducted a track or two.

If I recall correctly Sir Michael Caine and Sir George Martin introduced the 1998/1999 concerts - nice to see them back paying respects. I'm not too sure about Dodd conducting, as I've not seen him conduct Barry material before (I'm somewhat sceptical based on his work with Arnold) but lets hope they do a nice suite from TLD that isn't the Nic Raine arrangement.(including that lovely love theme and the wonderful Necros Attacks cue - which literally screams "Bond" at you). Ah well - you can but hope!

Quote :

lets hope they do a nice suite from TLD that isn't the Nic Raine arrangement.(including that lovely love theme and the wonderful Necros Attacks cue - which literally screams "Bond" at you).

The Nic Raine arrangement is exactly that.

True, but I was hoping for an alternate suite, perhaps incorporating a bit of the pre-title sequence music and a few other nick-nacks. I was never massively fond of the Raine TLD suite. Probably too much to ask for - I know...

Did you ever hear Raine's first attempt on Necro's theme (I forget which Album it's on - was it the original release of Essential Bond)? Anyway it was a complete travesty, completely off - even the timing was shocking! He did improve it with the later version (which is the one plastered all over Silva's stuff nowadays) - but it's still not even a patch on the original.

I have to say the Nic Raine arrangement I've studied (that I don't think has been recorded yet) is pretty good. It gets a lot things (like the trumpets with plunger mutes, which he doesn't usually include on his recordings) right. The only thing it lacks is the fluttertongue/growl instruction for the trumpets, and Paul O'Duffy's electronic rhythms, which gave the original an edge.

You could feasibly get something close by getting some of the orchestral players to do the hand claps, along with a bass guitar slapping, and an electric drum kit (i.e. a Simmons).

Not sure if I've heard this (would like to though) - seems a fair assessment from what you say.

The version I have, the trumpets completely lack that real wah-wah Bondian bite, the beats are too quick/soft, the synth lacks bass and therefore seems higher pitched with the increased speed (it's probably not). The whole thing sounds slight and light-weight compared to Barry's original. I'd love someone to do a contemporary mix of this track!

Seems this is standing room only now. That's if the hype is to be believed.

Yep, it's really picking up momentum now . Saw an ad in the Sunday paper with a current line up. It said 'more to be announced'.'

I'm sure Sir Rog will be there.

Really glad I got tickets when I did - fingers crossed for Sir Rog and a few others too! I'd love to know what the line-up of tracks/suites is for this but I guess this will be found out on the night itself. Fingers crossed for a decent TLD (or pipe-dream OHMSS) suite. I'm sure Capsule in Space will feature somewhere also - probably with Arnold introducing...

You know what I'd love to see performed at this concert? Flight Into Space.

I'm definitely with you on that one - but I suspect it won't happen. I recall Nic Raine did a reasonably good Moonraker suite at one concert I saw him do (it did have the whole first part of the Flight into space before the space station appears - also a reasonable renditions of Arrival at Drax's Chateau and Bond Lured To Pyramid - without choir. Not so sure about his "Freefall" - which was just off in a number of ways). It was a good 9-10mins long - but I can't see the tracks at this concert being any longer than 5-6mins (except for perhaps the standard Bond Medley from the Main theme up to Diamonds are forever). But who knows - good fun speculating.

Love to see a couple of more off-kilter things such as a suite from The Ipcress File (A Man alone might be likely on it's own however), Raise The Titanic or King Kong - but suspect it will just be the familiar stuff.

I was there that night at the Royal Albert Hall, almost two years ago. Took my girlfriend at the time to see it.