Symphonic Spectacular 2015 Review (Part 1)
Guest contributor Sam Glover reviews this year’s Doctor Who concert held in Cardiff.
I’d looked forward to going to Cardiff for ages to see the Spectacular. It’s over two hours from me so I sorted out a couple of “Big Finish” audio books for my journeys – the first I’d ever heard – and went early to take in the Doctor Who Experience and eat in Eddie’s Diner; recognisable to Doctor Who fans from “The Impossible Astronaut” and use of the fizzy straw. In other words, I planned ahead. But, as brilliant as they were (and they all were) the best part of the day, by a landslide, was the Symphonic Spectacular.
Mr Murray Gold has been described as the unsung hero of Doctor Who so many times it almost like he’s no longer unsung, but he merits every piece of acclaim that we are capable of articulating. Every step of the two hours plus concert showed why he has remained as composer for Doctor Who for a decade. There’s joy. There’s power. There are shivers down the spine. And, if it weren’t for trying to remain manly next to my friends, there would definitely have been (more) tears. I think I managed to pass them off as dust. So, let’s go through the roller coaster and see how you all fare when you set up the playlist later on…
ACT 1:
“A Good Man”
We’re eased in with that eerie silence, slowly built up with gentle chimes punctuating the whispering strings. Conductor Ben Foster guides the orchestra for a couple of minutes of exquisitely tortuous quietness, the big screens showing only a flickering time vortex before in come the brass and drums. The strings quicken the pace and the visuals change to moments of the Twelfth Doctor operating the TARDIS before ending with his epic speech from Flatline: “the man that stops the monsters”… It’s the first of many, many tingling moments, and the first time we hear lead vocalist Elin Manahan Thomas (another I’ll come back to). It’s wonderful.
And out comes our host, the Fifth Doctor, Mr Peter Davison. He began with some brilliant text messages “from” other Doctors. The jokes are a bit reused from “The Five(ish) Doctor’s Reboot” – Sylvester’s still plugging “The Hobbit” and David Tennant wants to know how Peter got his number – but they’re delightful nonetheless. Davison knows how to work his audience, and his comic timing is as marvellous as ever.
“Wherever, Whenever” – Series 8 Medley
No, it’s not Shakira. This piece, the only of the night that feels a smidge (and I really mean a smidge) disjointed, this is a medley from several episodes of Series 8. We hear the backing to Listen’s bed-dwelling monster, the Doctor showing up in the Caretaker (a delightful jingle), an eerie theme from Time Heist, a pleasant moment from “In The Forest of the Night” and the Twelfth Doctor’s duel with Robin Hood but then we reach Listen’s barn scene. Once again we get dialogue and it’s even more beautiful and poetic than in the episode. I adored this scene on TV and love it more now. The slow strings are just gorgeous and Jenna’s whispered speech to the young, vulnerable Doctor made me quiver. It was one of the first moments that made me teary, and I doubt I was the only one.
It was also the first point of the evening when we get to see a monster, as the Teller from “Time Heist” trudges onto the stage, dreadful and menacing whilst shackled to a pair of guards. The gasps were audible and seeing the monster in the flesh was even more impressive than in the episodes. One of series 8’s most unique monsters (and there were a fair few), the Teller is a mastery of beautiful design, and managed to look very real. It was restricted to the stage but was very impressive nonetheless.
“The Doctor’s Theme”/”Song of Freedom”
Very much a vocal led piece, we began to get visuals of pre-Capaldi Doctors for the first time. The montage starts with Eccleston’s wide, cheery grin and the arena burst into applause. Throughout the performance I was reminded of how wonderful our fandom is. For all its divisions, we’re always united in our love for the show. Eccleston’s not my favourite Doctor (now, now Matt, don’t gloat) but I was one of those clapping. We get to see (though, sadly, not hear) his “Everybody Lives” moment and a fair bit of his time at Downing Street amid the choir, before the notes pick up with Tennant’s arrival on screen. Cue even louder applause. The brass gets to join in with the ensemble build up as the Tenth Doctor turns from funny man to tragic hero and back again with ease, before the song merges effortlessly into the “Song of Freedom” and visuals from “Journey’s End” and the companions operating the TARDIS. Ben Foster gets more animated with the choristers and a pair of Ood wander onto the stage and raise their hands. It’s every bit as ridiculous as it sounds and I was beaming.
“Companions Medley”
We now turn our attention to four of the most recent and celebrated companions, and appreciate just how well Murray Gold has managed to capture their personalities. Rose’s theme is a mixture of the tragic heartbreak she suffers in “Doomsday” and a resilient backbone. Martha’s theme finds the vocalists cooing softly; it’s woozy and heartfelt, rich and triumphant and completely different from the music that preceded it, but even more alien than that is the music that follows. Donna’s theme is bonkers. Brilliantly bonkers. A jaunty drum beat gives every single section of the orchestra from woodwind to chimes to brass to strings a moment of playfulness. And finally we segue to twinkling, child-like Amy. It begins with a young girl’s dreams of starlight and evolves into string-led melodies of wonder and discovery. Every theme matches its subject, every visual treated once more with applause, every change of theme considered and effortless…
“First There Were Daleks”
… and then The Daleks invade, Ben Foster breaks out his sonic baton and we’re all “slaves”, because it’s a Doctor Who concert and it’s obligatory. Perhaps that’s the only complaint I can make of this concert – a repetition of the Doctor Who proms – but I’d have to be a real curmudgeon for it to dent in my enjoyment. An audience refusing to obey the Daleks being met with a shrill “Answer correctly!” is great. It’s even more hilarious when we’re asked to shout “Exterminate!” and being chided for not being loud enough, before Peter Davison emerges with a cup of tea asking them to hurry along. The Dalek’s theme is powerful, brutal and epic. It fills the arena even more so than what has come before. I’ve not the faintest idea what the lyrics are but, backed by the brass, it builds and builds from the earlier Dalek themes before reining in slightly to those from “Asylum of the Daleks” with fluttering woodwinds briefly surfacing among creepy violins. Murray Gold manages in moments what many horror movies fail to do at all; create a theme where malice is hidden amongst pretty melodies. It’s the scene where Amy is hallucinating in the ballroom and I’d never appreciated how perfect the soundtrack behind it is.
“Last Christmas Suite”
This was a surprise; a fantastic, twist-and-turn ten minutes of much underrated music. After the dramatic opening rooftop moments we’re briefly treated to a Jaws-resembling sequence of those horrible Face Huggers (who emerge for a stroll around the audience) before we’re in Clara’s dream and the surprise return of Danny Pink. A bittersweet clash of mourning strings and Clara’s own theme it eventually slows to dissonant and increasingly high pitched strings as Clara comes to realise the lie of “her” Christmas. Moments later Santa swashbuckles into view, his own theme backed with the jingling of bells and a ride on the sleigh itself. Once again we hear dialogue infused with the orchestra and it works beautifully. The Twelfth Doctor’s joy at piloting Santa’s sleigh is utterly infectious, and all the more cutting when each of the passengers disappears from view, awakening in their “real lives”. It gets worse as we meet Old Clara. I cannot have been the only one in the audience who briefly relived that Christmas horror, nor one who wept with joy as Saint Nick turns up and we’re back to our beloved Jenna with a reprise of the “Good Man” theme from earlier. The music tracks these emotions with perfection.
And so ends the first half of the show, and of this review. See you in a little more than twenty minutes.*
*Tomorrow
