The Empire strikes back in cine-concert: the force was with us

Who could invade Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier at Place des Arts for three sold-out performances? Nostalgic, finished admirers of the Star Wars saga or small families of all generations? All three, we can say.

Since then, the Orchestra FILMharmonique de Montréal and the Montreal company GFN Productions have plunged into this concept, namely the film without cuts accompanied by an orchestra of musicians entirely from Montreal, the success has not been denied.

Over the years, we have been able to see The Lord of the Rings, Fantasia, Titanic, The Passion of Augustine , and each time, it is the same astonishment. People as far as the eye can see, who in our humble opinion do not frequent concert halls, made up of spectators of all ages. What is this success due to?

Flawless professionalism with hand-picked musicians who know the soundtrack perfectly, a cheerful, dynamic and precise conductor and, of course, the choice of films that have gone through the ages.

Under the direction of conductor Erik Ochsner , who has made film music a specialty, we attended the presentation of The Empire Strikes Back (1980), whose music was signed by the essential John Williams.

From this second part of the original trilogy, a sentence has remained famous: “I am your father”. Repeated many times for various advertisements or other parodies, it gave the key to the mystery when the sinister Darth Vader announced to Luke that he was his father.

For two hours with a fifteen minute intermission, everything fit together perfectly. The brass (4 trumpets, 5 trombones) did not fail for the theme of The Imperial March , spearheaded at the time by the late trumpeter Maurice Murphy, 1st chair of the London Symphony Orchestra.

Contrary to certain received ideas, neither the film nor the music have aged badly. John Williams, who was inspired by classic themes, including The Planets of Holst, has created a universe that suits this cosmic saga very well, which I rediscovered with unspeakable happiness. From C3 P0, to the nice corsair Hans Solo, and from Princess Léia, without forgetting Yoda, the Jedi master Yoda as well as the damned soul Darth Vader, we understand that this music still makes the link between the youngest and “the nostalgic “.

Hats off to the musicians who respected the original work in all respects as well as to the conductor who, in impeccable French, brilliantly led us to this other galaxy.