Saturday night, the FILMharmonic Orchestra paid tribute to composer Joe Hisaishi, a loyal partner of director Hayao Miyazaki, the genius of Japanese animated film for the last 50 years. As a result, the entire magical and benevolent universe of Miyazaki’s characters came to life in the minds and hearts of the audience filling the Wilfrid-Pelletier Hall at Place des Arts in Montreal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hisaishi’s music is of impeccable romantic classicism. The silky melodies carried by the strings are accompanied by the pleasant chirping of colours from the woodwinds and percussion, as well as the sometimes heroic bursts from the brass. It is music filled with caressing tones, bathed in safe harmonies, but which, thanks to the composer’s talent, prevents the music as a whole from falling into the banality of uninspired writing. Hisaishi takes us with him into this world of simple sweetness and beauty, inhabited by an extra touch of youthful wonder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That said, as conductor Francis Choini\u00e8re mentioned during one of his interventions (short and effective, let us emphasise), Miyazaki’s world (and by extension Hisaishi’s music) carries within it, equally, the naivety of childhood through its fairy-tale worlds and a heartfelt dose of more advanced reflection on the environmental crisis, the transition to adulthood, and freedom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kiki’s Delivery Service<\/em> kicked off the evening with its delicate theme. Then, the excerpt Requiem <\/em>from Nausica\u00e4 of the Valley of the Wind<\/em> reminded us of Hisaishi’s classical roots with this melody derived from Handel’s Passacaglia<\/em>, cleverly adapted for the needs of this soundtrack. An excerpt from the music of Princess Mononoke<\/em>, a masterful score curiously underlined in this concert, followed before diving into a substantial suite of themes from one of Miyazaki’s most iconic films: My Neighbour Totoro<\/em>. Hisaishi’s pen for this film, with its exquisite sweetness and simplicity, blossoms with captivating melodies for the strings and fine, graceful touches for the woodwinds, with Gershwin-esque tones that stand out strongly in certain places. No big, evil villains in this film and its score, no tearful drama, no full-blown battle, just the friendly and fascinated tenderness of discovering a parallel world filled with gentle creatures. A music that feels so good, you cannot not love it deeply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n