ALEXANDRE DESPLAT: DE PARIS A HOLLYWOOD
Music composed and conducted by Alexandre Desplat
Performed by the Orchestre de Paris
Artistic direction by Solrey
January 30, 2025
Grande Salle Pierre Boulez, Philharmonie
Paris, France
PART 1: FROM PARIS WITH LOVE
Thursday night saw Alexandre Desplat and the Orchestre de Paris treat us to an evening of music from his prolific body of film music.
Conducting without baton, Desplat focussed on his scores written for Hollywood films starting from SYRIANA (2005) all the way to THE LOST KING, the 2022 Stephen Frears film.
Desplat did not explain each piece nor did he talk during the concert – instead, he let his grand and emotional music do all the talking.
PART 2: THE FIRST HALF
The evening got off to an interesting start with the mysterious opening music from THE TREE OF LIFE. Written to evoke a particular mood, short solo violin fragments made appearances throughout the piece as it gradually grew and took shape. As the piece reached its conclusion, the violin solo had become confident and was now playing full melodies as if the mystery of the beginning had been resolved.
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON received a fantastic suite of music containing all of the score’s major themes including the lovely “Postcards” and “Mr. Gateau.” It was a brisk performance that featured alto sax and a fabulous but short timpani flourish at the end.
To be honest, I would have loved to have heard “Love in Murmansk” in its entirety – perhaps someday if the score is ever performed live-to-picture.
Next up came the “Suite Royale” which contained music from THE QUEEN, THE KING’S SPEECH and THE LOST KING.
THE QUEEN received a suitably noble performance, effectively evoking images of pomp and royalty.
The mini suite from THE KING’S SPEECH started with “Lionel and Bertie,” a piece expertly capturing the feeling of impending destiny. This was followed by “The King’s Speech,” a lovely piano-led piece highlighting the kind and gentle nature of Colin Firth’s take on the film’s main character.
The ghoulish opening track from THE LOST KING came next with its frantic strings and organ driving the piece forward. Muted (?) trumpets and French horns also came in to provide added menace to the piece. It is very much in the mold of Desplat’s main title for THE GHOST WRITER, so those that enjoy that score would most definitely like this one too.
It was now time for the tremendous “Wes Anderson Suite,” which highlighted Desplat’s wildly infectious and tongue-in-cheek music for FANTASTIC MR. FOX, THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL, and THE FRENCH DISPATCH.
The suite from FANTASTIC MR. FOX had us in raptures with its fun and exciting music that included “Kristofferson’s Theme” and the crowd-pleasing “Boggis, Bunce and Bean.” The latter piece saw Desplat bobbing up and down on the podium as the orchestra members could be seen swaying their bodies to the music. I’m pretty sure I wasn’t the only one in the audience tapping my foot along to the music!
THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL was represented with the fabulously catchy cymbalom and mandolin-based piece, “Mr. Moustafa.” It’s impossible not to immediately fall in love with this piece.
THE FRENCH DISPATCH concluded the Wes Anderson suite with “The Obituary,” a piece featuring harpsichord and a ridiculously cool part for tuba. The piece ended with an extra long note from the trumpet player that had Desplat loudly exclaim in approval.
The stage lights turned blue as the sounds of the iconic harp opening from THE SHAPE OF WATER filled the auditorium. It felt like a spell had been cast, and the magic only grew deeper as the accordion part made its entrance. I only wish Desplat had taken on the whistling part, which is something he had performed in concert before:
PART 3: INTERMISSION
As I was walking back to the auditorium after a quick visit to the restroom, I was shocked to run into Myriam Lafargue, the accordion player on THE SHAPE OF WATER!
After thanking her for her stunning performance, she sat with the rest of the audience to enjoy the second half of the show – as you would 🙂
PART 4: THE SECOND HALF
Of the ninety or so scores I have by Desplat on CD, LITTLE WOMEN is by far my favourite, so I had to hear it live and conducted by the great man himself.
The suite opened with “Dance on the Porch,” a strong and dominating piece for string orchestra. This was followed by the exquisite opening track from the commercially released soundtrack titled “Little Women,” which is a combination of the pieces “Ouverture” and “Friedrich” from the For Your Consideration (FYC) promo disc – something I also proudly own and treasure.
Needless to say, it was pure ecstasy hearing these pieces live and I only wish I could hear the whole score live… it’s another obvious candidate for a live-to-picture performance!
(As a side note, I wish “It’s Romance” had been played as the concert’s encore – it would have brought the house down!)
It was now time for HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS to shine, and shine it did with a suite of music that had tremendous size, power and emotion.
It opened with the stunning “Obliviate” followed by ten or so minutes of ferocious action music. The percussion section in particular was in overdrive.
A brief statement of the gorgeous “Farewell to Dobby” was also included as a welcome respite.
SYRIANA was represented with “Fathers and Sons,” a beautiful and reflective piece featuring a Persian ney performance by Kudsi Erguner. This piece also had Desplat’s trademark throbbing synth sound that he often used early in his Hollywood career.
“Cleared Iranian Airspace” was the piece played from ARGO, and it did not disappoint with its triumphant tone and feeling of relief – the Americans had made it out of dodge and were on their way home.
THE IMITATION GAME received the longest suite for the night. The music was precisely structured and sounded like a machine for obvious reasons. It featured “Alan Turing’s Legacy,” a piece that really gets under the skin with repeated listens.
The main program ended with “Godzilla!” from GODZILLA. The orchestra’s first violin, Eiichi Chijiiwa, showed superlative skill by creating the sound of a distorted guitar on his violin during the opening of the piece. The rest of the piece featured aggressive and thunderous music for brass and strings building up to a killer climax – it was hard to not be impressed by the grandness of it all.
PART 5: ENCORE(S)
There had to be an encore, and Desplat gave the audience the one that they were all waiting for: the opening titles from THE GHOST WRITER.
This piece had so many things going on: deliciously dark flutes, the timpani pounding away with doom, and the percussionist playing tambourine like his life truly depended on it. You just had to be there!
Throughout the concert I had this niggling thought in the back of my mind: where are the waltzes? See, when I first got into Desplat’s music in the mid-noughties, I noticed that he had a particular penchant for waltzes. Practically every score he wrote back then featured a killer waltz, so I had hoped to hear one at this concert.
Well, dreams do come true and Desplat pulled out a ripper: “Birth Waltz” from BIRTH, one of his early Hollywood film scores that put him on the map for American audiences and soundtrack fans.
Starting slightly off-kilter, I just LOVE that moment when solo harp takes the reins with the flutes lightly interjecting. The cellos then enter and slowly build before the full sweep of strings takes us off our feet. It’s glorious to hear and deeply romantic – it would melt even the coldest heart.
But the night was not over yet.
In the wings of the stage I could see Solrey, artistic director and wife of Desplat, holding up sheet music to Desplat and saying something to him. And with that he came back out for one final repeat performance of THE LOST KING.
As the audience roared with applause when the piece came to an end, Desplat gave one last cheeky kiss to the audience to end the night. And what a night it was!
PART 6: CONCERT MERCH
Desplat seems much too shy and busy to join the merch train, so all that was available on the night were complimentary concert programs. The program featured detailed notes as well as notes about instrumentation for each piece – tres cool!
There was a small CD vendor in the lobby that sold a handful of Desplat CDs. Unfortunately, no post-concert signing session happened…
PART 7: OVER TO YOU
Did you also go to this concert? How did you like it?
And what did you think of my report? Feel free to comment below or reach out to me directly in the “Contact Me” section.
