Raiders of the Live Performance

  My favorite film of all time, showing at the Hollywood Bowl, with the film score being performed LIVE by the LA Philharmonic? YES PLEASE.
  This awesome performance was an anniversary gift from my lovely wife, and last night was finally the night of the show. The venue was packed, as usual, and it was amazing to be surrounded by so many thousands of people who have such love for this film. Anyone who knows me knows the significance this film played in my life and my artistic and adventuring pursuits.
  Hearing a symphony play ANYTHING live is always a treat, and this didn't disappoint. That being said, I'm going to nitpick a little, here. As a devout John Williams fan, anyone who attempts to conduct/perform his music has some BIG shoes to fill. I'm a purist, by nature, and I know every note, measure, movement, rise, and fall of this score. If I was to be perfectly honest, I'd say this performance was uneven. Sometimes, it was so perfectly spot on, I forgot the music was being played live, and had to shake myself out of the film and look at the performers every once in a while. At other times, I found myself thinking "Oh, that really wasn't good," or "Huh, why does that sound so thin."
  Now, I'm sure that when Williams conducted the London Symphony Orchestra, and laid the original tracks down for all time, he had bigger and better resources. His orchestra was probably bigger, and they also had multiple takes and a LOT more rehearsing to get it just the way we heard it. My biggest complaint here, though, has to be the lack of a choir. The pieces in this film that feature choir, most notably the "The Map Room: Dawn" track, sounded REALLY weak here. It just didn't soar the way it needed to, and that's a shame. Here's the scene (with the original score):



  The other odd thing I noticed was that some of the dialogue had been redubbed. For instance, when Indy jumps in Jock's seaplane near the beginning of the film, and starts to freak out about the "big snake in the plane," all of Jock's dialogue has been revoiced. Later, when Sallah and Indy are discussing the markings on the Staff of Ra headpiece, Sallah's "Perhaps a man I know can help us," line has been revoiced. Additionally, some of the background elements in certain scenes are missing. The entire Cairo marketplace section sounds oddly quiet, and the song the crew is singing as they dig for the Well of the Souls has been entirely removed. All you heard was picks and shovels hitting dirt. The only explanation I can come up with for all these dub-overs and missing elements is that they were sharing a track with the musical score, and were removed when the score was stripped out for this presentation.
  But please don't mistake my nitpicking for disappointment. This was a fantastic performance, and a really fun and unique way to see the film presented. If you get the opportunity and you're a fan of this film, I would highly recommend it.
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