Each summer London's South Bank hosts the Meltdown Festival. For each festival there is a different curator. This year was the
turn of David Byrne.
Byrne
A program for the Meltdown 2015 festival on display at the Royal Festival Hall.
is a musician and writer, known equally for his solo projects and for his work with the band Talking Heads.
For the 22nd Meltdown, Byrne continued
the mix of music, art, performance and film seen during previous events, although he added his own take through his eclectic selections. Invitees include Anna Calvi, Matthew Herbet, Petra Haden, Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, and Gaby Moreno.
The festival also included the screening of two classic movies accompanied by performing musicians. The movies were Paul Thomas Anderson's
There Will Be Blood, which featured the composer Jonny Greenwood' together with the London Contemporary Orchestra. The second movie was
Planet of the Apes.
Both film screenings took place at the Royal Festival Hall.
People begin to mingle at the Royal Festival Hall ahead of the movie screening.
Digital Journal attended the
Planet of the Apes event, where Franklin J Schaffner's iconic move was projected onto a screen with the original dialogue, but with the main musical scores and interlude pieces played to perfection by a live orchestra.
Program notes for the screening of Planet of the Apes.
The orchestra was the BBC Concert Orchestra, conducted by Robert Ziegler.
Ticket stub for the Planet of the Apes 'live version. Planet of the Apes is a 1968 American science fiction film directed by Franklin J. Schaffner.
The original score for
Planet of the Apes was written by Jerry Goldsmith. It is a varied score, thrilling and challenging for the main, but subtle and charming too when the movie's narrative calls for it.
Jerry Goldsmith also composed music for
Alien, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, and
Gremlins. in all, he scored over 200 films. He passed away in 2004.
Planet of the Apes
was made in 1968, featuring Charlton Heston. Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter, Maurice Evans, James Whitmore, and James Daly. The movie, although firmly post-apocalyptic science fiction, deals with big themes like racism, imperialism, gender relations and animals rights. It is also a well made picture, and a prime example of late-1960s film making, paving the way for the golden era of the 1970s (arguably Hollywood's most accomplished decade.)
The BBC Concert orchestra warms up prior to the performance.
Watching the old classic as enjoyable and the live music was good fun; it also added a poignancy to key aspects of the film and its various messages, not least how people treat each other.
The audience enjoyed the show.
