Danny Elfman’s Music from the Films of Tim Burton (2016)

DANNY ELFMAN’S MUSIC FROM THE FILMS OF TIM BURTON: HALLOWEEN CONCERT
Music by Danny Elfman
Conducted by John Mauceri
Vocal performances by Danny Elfman
Special violin performance by Sandy Cameron
October 22, 2016
Tokyo International Forum
Tokyo, Japan

PART 1: CONCERT REPORT

It would be perfectly fair to say that many films in the early Burton/Elfman era informed a very large part of my youth.

From BATMAN (1989) to EDWARD SCISSORHANDS, BEETLEJUICE to THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS, these films are burnt into the back of my mind because of their gothic visuals, fantastical stories, and iconic Danny Elfman scores.

I had no idea there was going to be a Burton/Elfman concert until I stumbled on a massive advertising poster while walking through Shinjuku station one day after work.

Needless to say, I got my wife’s permission to go and forced persuaded her to come along.

My memories of the whole concert itself are a bit hazy now, but a few things still stick out.

From the moment Danny Elfman came out on stage to perform “What’s this?” from THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS – marching around the stage and gesturing like Jack Skellington himself – to the long and sustained standing ovation at the end, it was obvious that Danny Elfman is idolized by Japanese audiences.

Equally adored by the audience was the conductor for the night, John Mauceri. It’s quite rare for a conductor who is not the featured artist to be applauded with such passion. Mauceri is such an accomplished conductor and he comes across as such a nice and friendly person on the stage. In fact, I remember Mauceri gently patting the head of the timid Japanese boy soloist for ALICE IN WONDERLAND after he absolutely nailed the performance of Elfman’s theme. It was a sweet moment and one that I hope gave the boy a shot of confidence.

In terms of the music performed that night, I remember being absolutely floored by the gorgeous suite from EDWARD SCISSORHANDS. Hearing “The Grand Finale” live for the first time was incredible. In my early soundtrack collecting days, I had listened to this piece endlessly – it put me in what I can only describe as a perfect state of melancholy.

“Descent into mystery” from BATMAN was another piece that sounded utterly gobsmacking live. The build up to that piece had me on the edge of my seat, and when the iconic BATMAN theme finally made its heroic entrance, I was in soundtrack heaven! It made me instantly recall my childhood and heroically running around the house with that theme playing non-stop in my head.

The evening ended with a very special solo performance from famed violin virtuoso, Sandy Cameron. She played a crazily cohesive suite of Elfman themes that received wild applause from the audience.

It was a fun way to end the evening, leaving us all hungry for the next Elfman/Burton Halloween concert.

PART 2: CONCERT MERCH

Quite a lot of merch was available at the concert, but I only purchased a huge poster. It’s the same design as the A4-sized concert flyer below, but only much bigger:

During the interval, I remember remarking to my wife how great the concert was, and when I came back from a toilet break, she surprised me with the souvenir program of the concert which she had bought while I was in the loo. Cool 😊

PART 3: CONCERT FLYER

Here are scans of the original concert flyer.

PART 4: 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.