Joe Hisaishi Tribute Concert in Barcelona [Concert Summary]

On December 3rd, the Forum CCIB Auditorium in Barcelona, Spain hosted a special concert in tribute to Joe Hisaishi, produced by Overlook Events and performed by the Universal Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Adrian Ronda Sampayo.

 

Our friend and colleague Coque Cano, tireless collaborator of SoundTrackFest, leaves us this detailed summary of the concert for our enjoyment.

 

THE MAGIC OF JOE HISAISHI IN BARCELONA

A short time ago a concert like the one we are about to discuss would have been a chimera, but we are in a sweet moment as far as live film music is concerned. It is curious that, despite the current creative slump with few soundtracks likely to be of interest in their isolated listening, concerts dedicated to film scores have multiplied, and with it we are lucky enough to experience events like this incredible monograph on the Japanese maestro Joe Hisaishi.

 

It is true that the composer himself has scheduled some concerts in Europe after a time without coming since the one he gave in Prague in May 2019 (read more), as is the case of the most recent one he gave on March 30, 2023 at the Musikverein in Vienna in front of the Wiener Symphoniker (read more), or the one on May 6, 7, and 8 of 2022 at the Grande salle Pierre Boulez – Philharmonie, performed by the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg (read more), but both were not exclusively cinematographic concerts, since the first part was occupied by his Symphony No. 2, and beyond a suite from Princess Mononoke, there was little room for other soundtracks of his long career.

 

Therefore, and apart from the fact that it obviously loses in the comparison because the composer himself was not at the front, the concert on December 3 at the Auditori Forum CCIB in Barcelona, was something really unique and special, because we are talking about an event in which no less than 20 pieces were performed (most of them extensive suites), and except for the themes “Oriental wind” and “Nostalgia“, the rest are film scores with the common denominator of being from his most symphonic repertoire. Almost 3 and a half hours of glorious melodies, ranging from the most delicate or overwhelming lyricism to unleashed epic.

 

Joe Hisaishi in his pure state. Or at least the Joe Hisaishi that has become so popular and eternal among the fans, since let’s remember that he started his career with minimalist compositions and even with pop style in his second album.

 

Therefore, just a proposal like this one is a reason to rejoice, and even more so if the finishing touches and quality of the production are up to par, as was the case. With the title “Concert Homage to JOE HISAISHI, Ghibli & Symphonic Works“, it was performed more than correctly by the growing Universal Symphony Orchestra (USO), conducted by maestro Adrián Ronda Sampayo, whose sober and elegant style helps greatly in concerts as demanding as this one.

 

In addition, as required by a program like this one, there was piano soloist, in charge of the prestigious German instrumentalist (incidentally, also composer of soundtracks for video games) Benyamin Nuss, with ample experience in this type of concerts, as he did the same in such renowned events as Symphonic Fantasies and Distant Worlds: Music from Final Fantasy in Tokyo, Chicago, Cologne, and Stockholm. To substitute for Hisaishi, who usually plays the instrument in his concerts, has a plus of responsibility, and Nuss more than fulfilled it, interpreting in a heartfelt and virtuosic way every note written by the Japanese genius.

 

There were also small interventions of less usual instruments, such as the accordion or the mandolin (both present in the suite of “Kiki’s Delivery Service“), by the interpreters Jordi Pastor Monferrer and Spyros Kaniaris respectively, as well as brief but precious vocal notes by soprano Laura Cruz (in the suites of “Nausicaa” and “Welcome to Dongmakgol“), all of this in order to do justice to the soundscape created by Hisaishi and to that style of his that serves as a bridge between Western and Eastern music, always using melody -with a special fondness for the piano- as a guiding thread.

 

The ambitious program was divided into two very similar and balanced parts, both started with non-cinematic pieces that are part of his famous albums “Piano Stories” but imbued with the spirit of his works for the seventh art (especially the second one that retakes passages of his soundtracks), such as “Oriental Wind” in the first half, and “Cinema Nostalgia” that served as an overture after the necessary break.

 

Of course, the works for the famous Studio Ghibli took up most of the attention and the program, equally distributed in the two parts (5 + 5, including here the anime video game Ni No Kuni, whose animation was handled by Hayao Miyazaki’s studio), just as the collaborations with director Takeshi Kitano were well represented (2 + 2). But there were also surprises, such as the delicate “Haruka, Nostalgia“, with its slow tango that corresponded to the version included in the album “Works I”, a suite of his work for the French production “Le Petit Poucet“, based on Perrault’s tale “Little Thumb”, and another delicatessen as his score for the South Korean dramatic comedy “Welcome to Dongmakgol” that benefits from a vocal solo of ethereal beauty, here as we have said in charge of the excellent soprano Laura Cruz.

 

All of them works that are rare to hear in concert and that we were fortunate that they were included in a program perhaps even too exhaustive. Let me explain, because obviously the followers of film music and especially the of the composer, live on the premise that the more music the better, but it is true that for a less experienced audience it may be somewhat excessive, especially if we consider that they are pieces that, in general, move within the same style.

 

Personally for me, it was a gift, and if I could ask for more, given that the premiere of this event was in Barcelona and given the ambition of the proposal, it would have been a detail to program here the piece dedicated to Gaudí entitled “Silencio de Parc Güell“, contained in the album “The essential Joe Hisaishi: Songs of hope, vol.2“.

 

The concert program was as follows:

 

After the aforementioned “Oriental wind“, which was a perfect letter of introduction to the concert, the piano starting the melody quickly wrapped by an orchestra that dialogued delightfully with the instruments or solo voices throughout the afternoon/evening, we had the first major title of the maestro’s filmography, being also the first collaboration with Hayao Miyazaki: “Nausicaä of the valley of the wind“. The impeccable thematic development of the suite, with outstanding interventions of the strings and wind, as well as the solo voice almost like a lullaby, made it clear that it would be a wonderful concert, as it turned out to be.

 

Then came the first Kitano: “Hana Bi“, a sensitive and moving creation with the piano playing the leading role, with a precise interpretation by Benyamin Nuss. How Hisaishi is able to create a melody and sublimate it with variations is part of the charm of his music and it was one of the characteristics that the concert showed to the enchanted audience.

 

This first part of the program, almost a concert in itself, left us from the masterful “The castle in the sky” with its beautiful main theme and the prominence of the brass at the end of the suite, to the aforementioned “Le petit poucet“, which is not too far from his Japanese works, here with a good note for the string section and especially the solo violin. In between, many other marvels such as “Haruka, Nostagia” and “Ni no Kuni” (a radiant symphonic epic suite in which the orchestra shone at its best), or the romantic “A Scene at the Sea“, which was the second piece of his collaboration with Kitano before the break.

 

Special mention to two works that gave great dynamism and were among the best of the first block of the event, both composed for Studio Ghibli and that are among the most popular of his career. First of all, “My Neighbor Totoro“, a fresh and fun creation by Hisaishi that offered the most effervescent moment of the concert, without leaving aside obviously the melodic touch with the punctual soloist contributions of the piano.

 

The second that deserves its own particular comment is “Howl’s Moving Castle“, one of the great masterpieces of animated film music, which stands out for its splendorous waltz that here had a successful start with a slower tempo than usual by the celesta and then with the pizzicato of the violins, which managed to create a really intimate moment before exploding the melody in a memorable suite. With Mononoke’s permission, it was perhaps the piece of the evening.

 

The tenth round of well-deserved applause gave way to an intermission of almost half an hour, a necessary toll to start with strength a second part that would be as good as the first, with several of Hisaishi’s landmark titles still pending review. Although it has nothing to do with the music or obviously with the interpretation, since we are here to evaluate the concert as a whole, I think it was a mistake to close the restaurant area during the intermission (it was open before starting at 18:30), since it was already after eight in the evening and with a long duration estimated, it seemed a good option to maintain the possibility of refreshments during that profitable break.

 

Returning to the theater and after the opening with the piece “Cinema Nostalgia“, we find the highlight of the evening, at least for me. It is known that “Princess Mononoke” was the biggest project in many aspects of Hayao Miyazaki’s career, an epic story set in medieval Japan that deals with fantasy and mystical/religious tone the theme of environmentalism and the relationship between man and nature. Hisaishi gave free rein to his most exacerbated symphonism, with what is undoubtedly his most spectacular and complete work, as close to the grandeur of the American genre scores as to the Japanese spirituality with a tribal touch.

 

That left us with the great piece of the concert, an outstanding, balanced and grandiose suite (we take this opportunity to highlight the work of adaptation and orchestration of the whole program by the team formed by Philippe Perrin, Yamm Stoffel, Simon Nebout, and Thibault Lepri), qualifiers proper of (another) Joe Hisaishi’s masterpiece.

 

The tone of the following piece is completely opposite, since for “Sonatine“, the third score of the collaboration with Takeshi Kitano to be performed, the composer moved away from the symphonic splendors to weave a dramatic and tense sound universe, with repetitive phrases (here we can notice Hisaishi’s minimalist beginnings) that generate a sense of overwhelm, something that the orchestra and the conductor took care to show with solvency. One of the least complacent themes of the concert.

 

There were four more “Ghibli moments” scattered throughout this second part of the concert. The first one after “Sonatine” was “Kiki’s Delivery Service “, one of his most jovial and childish scores, with another of those main themes to remember in which piano and violin soloist, or the same piano with the harp, all of them magnificent, and with the valuable contribution of the accordion and mandolin that gave the whole an unparalleled sonorous depth. The second was a composition that I have always believed deserves much more attention, such as “Ponyo (on the cliff)“, with another of those trademark songs of the house, here with its symphonic variant. A small delight.

 

After Ponyo came the most awarded title of Miyazaki’s and by extension Hisaishi’s career. Winner of the Hollywood Oscar for best animated film, “Spirited Away” also contains some of the best musical pages written by the maestro born in Nagano as Mamoru Fujisawa and who acquired his stage name in homage to one of his personal idols, Quincy Jones. Chihiro requires both subtlety and expressive force, something the USO guaranteed despite the normal fatigue at that point in the concert.

 

The fifth and last jewel of the repertoire dedicated to Studio Ghibli was the no less famous “Porco Rosso“, another demonstration of the sensitivity of an author with capital letters and another occasion for Benyamin Nuss to shine, floating with his piano like the plane and the pilot created by Miyazaki.

 

The three last mentioned were a real tour de forcé that was also programmed in the second part of the concert, being that just before them the themes of “Welcome to Dongmakgol” were played, as well as another Kitano for whom Hisaishi has created less classical scores in the narrative sense, but more risky. “Kids return” offered a more modern part of his repertoire, with staccato in the strings, well carried by the orchestra.

 

The piece chosen to end the program was again for his duo with Kitano, and as we said about Chihiro in Miyazaki’s filmography, “Kikujiro” was the director’s most awarded and recognized film worldwide, so it is also a turning point in the career and work of the composer, who composed one of his most appreciated piano pieces, with that counterpoint so much his own based on pizzicatos of the violins. Needless to say, Nuss was the absolute protagonist, displaying the sensitivity required for a theme to remember.

 

And with this simple but beautiful piece ended the set of selected works in this tribute to the most symphonic Hisaishi, although there was still a final encore gift in the form of piano adaptation of “Princess Mononoke“, which could not leave a better taste in the mouth of the audience, who gave a well-deserved ovation.

 

After this year’s release by the prestigious Deutsche Grammophon of a best-selling album (read more) demonstrating the popularity of today’s most universal Japanese composer (“A Symphonic Celebration – Music From The Studio Ghibli Films Of Hayao Miyazaki” recorded by Joe Hisaishi in London with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra), this concert is the confirmation that an author of his fame deserves a monographic treatment made with the care and resources deployed by the company Overlook Events, with Romain Dasnoy at the helm, thanks to whom we could already enjoy last May 13 of the project “Assassin’s Creed Symphonic Adventure” (read more), for which the producer also counted on this excellent formation that is the Universal Symphony Orchestra, a native orchestra of the Marina Alta in Alicante, Spain and created by Javier Gil Pérez, who, in the absence of the initially planned Esther Syra, was in charge of the opening presentations of the event that concerns us.

 

We cannot finish this article without mentioning two points that at a technical level had their positive and negative sides. Let’s start with the second one to end with the good aftertaste that the proposal deserves: the lack of synchronization between the music and the images of the concert that were projected on a giant screen behind the orchestra. It was really a problem for much of the event, as some of the cameras were not synchronized with the video in real time and therefore with the interpretation of the orchestra, and that diverted the attention of the public, something very evident when the cameras focused their gaze on the hands of the pianist.

 

On the positive side, precisely when images of the orchestra were not offered, but some more or less static pictures with very well selected stills of the films whose soundtracks were played, or even at the very beginning of each piece in which the name appeared referenced with western and oriental typography, the technique applied with watery and sinuous spots that made the link between images was so beautiful that it seemed to dialogue with the music.

 

In summary, a concert that we can only recommend when it is repeated in other cities after the Barcelona premiere, as it is undoubtedly the best tribute that can be paid to one of the greatest contemporary musical geniuses, and especially to his symphonic side, with that style between intimate and epic, in which the melody is an inalienable step to the Olympus.

 

 

Article by Coque Cano

Pictures by Coque Cano & Javier Gil