Film Symphony Orchestra – TARAB – Bilbao – April 2025 – Concert Summary

The Film Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of its conductor Constantino Martínez Orts, brought its show TARAB to the Palacio Euskalduna – Euskalduna Jauregia in Bilbao, Spain, on Sunday, April 27, 2025 (read more).

 

Our colleague and collaborator Carmen Ruiz was present at the concert and brings us a special article as an exclusive for SoundTrackFest.

 

TARAB in BILBAO

As every year, the appointment with the FSO arrives, that appointment to which we, the lovers of cinema and good music never miss, because the Film Symphony Orchestra is a guarantee of quality, good work, and excellence. And as every year they have prepared a journey full of surprises and promise excitement. It’s not a coincidence that the tour called Tarab. The Tarab, that overwhelming feeling that invades us with the music and everyone in the auditorium is ready for the experience, to enjoy what is to come.

 

The journey begins in the arid desert dunes with an intro of Dune full of strength and with a delicious vocal part. And this is just the beginning.

 

The first part opens with the main titles of The Sea Hawk, a 1940’s movie that sets the classic and adventurous note of the evening. An “old-fashioned” movie, with one of those themes that you always like to hear, composed by Erich Wolfgang Korngold.

 

We leave the sea adventures (although we will return to the sea) to be delighted with a piece by James Horner for Legends of the Fall: The Ludlows, a bucolic and romantic theme, always pleasant and with a nice Celtic air by a beautiful sound of violin.

 

The moment of rescue arrives. Matt Damon must be brought back to Earth and Fly like Iron Man, from The Martian, is played. The music by Harry Gregson Williams moves us from one side to the other with the protagonist of the film in a piece that -although it is incidental music to accompany the scene- leaves no one indifferent.

 

And from Mars to Troy because Achilles leads the Myrmidons arrives, again by James Horner. Epic, sonorous and powerful, the attack is coming and almost seems to be coming at you.

 

Then we hear the graceful flight of Hedwig giving way to a beautiful suite from Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, where James Newton Howard puts his particular touch to the world of Harry Potter and the orchestra fills the auditorium with magic. Of his particular magic.

 

Then the snow queen does her thing with… Frozen! Let it go is performed with a voice that leaves us all dazzled, a voice that accompanies and surrounds the orchestra to take us all to Arendel. But the cold never bothered us.

 

After the break, the orchestra returns and with it also returns the mummy. The second part of the concert begins with Alan Silvestri’s Return of the Mummy. It is a new adventurous moment.

 

It is the turn of the saddest theme of the repertoire: the main theme of John Williams’ Schindler’s List. Little can be added to what this piece represents. The sound of a violin that carries the pain of the Holocaust in every note and moves completely together with an orchestral background that seems to cry. Shocking.

 

But we’re not going to stay that way, are we? John Williams is back, but this time it’s with Star Wars Ep IX: The Rise of Skywalker. It has its detractors among fans, but Star Wars music is always welcome in a concert, and even more so if it’s film music. It has a little surprise at the end that everyone really likes, but to discover it you’ll have to go see them.

 

What comes next constitutes a rarity, something very peculiar and quite risky given its composition: an Oppenheimer suite by Ludwig Göransson. Strange, sinister, and shocking. For me, it was the great surprise of the evening. Impressive.

 

Back to space, this time with Steven Price’s Gravity. Simply sensational. It takes you to that moment of anguish and uncertainty at the end of the film. If Oppenheimer is shocking, Gravity is not far behind.

 

Hans Zimmer returns with a suite of Inception that catches you and subjugates you. An ambitious film with music that matches.

 

We started at sea and ended at sea, this time with a suite from The Little Mermaid, by Alan Menken. Very beautiful and splendidly performed. You can even see the tentacles of the evil Ursula, the sea witch. But they have a little mermaid who sings… like a mermaid, with that captivating voice.

 

And it ends here, but you know that we always want more. The encores are the funniest moments. Suddenly the Film Symphony Orchestra becomes a crazy Police Academy and, of course, The cantina Band, with which we say goodbye until the next tour. It is not enough! It always tastes like we want more, but it has to end. Year after year they thrill and surprise. You know the level they have, how splendidly well they play and their commitment. You know when you go to see them that they are going to give their all for their audience to enjoy, and that is something you feel and appreciate. They’re not just great. They don’t just play music. They make you feel part of that music. It is worth mentioning how instructive are the comments of their always magnificent director: Constantino Martínez-Orts, who as usual tells us anecdotes and curiosities and explains things related to music. And we love it.

 

With this concert in Bilbao, it makes the number five hundred no less. And more will come. Congratulations, FSO, for these five hundred concerts and because you never disappoint. Tarab accomplished.

 

Article by Carmen Ruíz

Pictures by FSO