Review: SPECTRE IN CONCERT, Royal Albert Hall

"The dead are alive." Spectre hammers home this message early on, from the epigraph and the impressive Day of the Dead opening sequence, to the lyrics in Sam Smith's theme tune "Writing's On The Wall and the opening credits design ("A million shards of glass / That haunt me from my past"). Even the film's title is redolent of a haunting presence - although hardened Bond fans will know the true significance of this word.

This weekend, to round off the 60 Years of Bond celebrations, the Royal Albert Hall welcomed back the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (with Anthony Gabriele as conductor) to perform Thomas Newman's score to this 2015 film. It's not the most widely-loved film in the franchise, probably suffering as the follow-up to the phenomenally successful Skyfall, but there are many moments that make it a true big screen spectacle - and the 'films in concert' touch makes it more than worth revisiting.

The soundtrack has previously come in for a fair amount of criticism over the years, perhaps slightly unfairly. Whilst it's true that some themes are recycled from the previous film (such as the action theme, "Granborough Road"), this is hardly a new thing for the Bond franchise. John Barry's "007 Theme", for example, was made use of in several films of the 60s and 70s for the thrilling action sequences - and even David Arnold (prolific Bond composer of the 90s and early 00s) established his own 'suspense' motif that made appearances in most of his films. Though not exactly the same situation, it nonetheless ties into the franchise's history.

Newman was composing during filming rather than once it was in post-production, which could explain why there were some gaps that needed to be filled, but despite this his score incorporates classic Bondian sounds - as well as taking inspiration from some of the different locations used in the film, such as Mexico City, Morocco, and Rome.

It is a little disappointing that quite a lot of the music from the opening sequence ("Los Muertos Vivos Estan") appeared to come direct from the soundtrack rather than the live performance; presumably this was because it was too difficult to isolate everything for the purpose of this event, which is understandable, though a shame given that this composition is one of the highlights of the score.

Another high point of the score is Madeleine's theme, which is full of romantic strings as well as a hint of mystery; as the audience learns in No Time To Die, she has plenty of secrets of her own - the fact that her father was a lynchpin in an organised crime group is the least of her worries. The theme for henchman Hinx is suitably full of foreboding and menace - very fitting for the most Jaws-like antagonist of the more recent films (no, Goldie and his embellished mouth don't count!).

My own personal favourite parts of the soundtrack come from the film's climactic chase sequences along the Thames - the suspenseful "Detonation" and pulsating "Westminster Bridge" - and here the live performance experience really made all the difference. The arrangements for the orchestra slightly differed from the recorded soundtrack, giving it a new flavour and providing extra excitement in the process.

This was a fitting way to round off the Royal Albert Hall's 60th anniversary celebrations, although it was a bit of a shame that there weren't a few more events dotted across the month, as there is plenty of musical potential to mine from the long-running franchise. Whether it's possible, given the less developed technology of previous decades, it would be incredible to see some of the classic films in this style at some point in the future - or at least some non-Craig outings, just for variety. The action, humour, drama, and (most importantly) music of Bond is a match made in heaven for the films in concert series.

Spectre in Concert was at the Royal Albert Hall on 19 and 20 November

Photo credit: Danjaq, MGM, CPII

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