BBC Sounds: ‘Friday Night Is Music Night’ James Bond Special

astansill

Just listened to ‘Friday Night Is Music Night - James Bond Special’ which was originally broadcast on BBC Radio 3 last Friday and is available on BBC Sounds for only the next 24 days.

It was a really great listen, some fantastic renditions of the theme songs along with some interesting arrangements and a couple of suites including a Dr. No suite I haven’t heard before.

Here’s the official blurb:

Martin Yates conducts the BBC Concert Orchestra in music spanning six decades from the iconic film franchise. With singers Alice Fearn and Oliver Tompsett, recorded in Chichester Festival Theatre in March.
Presented by Petroc Trelawny.

Norman Monty: James Bond Theme
David Arnold: The World is Not Enough
John Barry: Diamonds Are Forever
Paul McCartney: Live and Let Die
Bono. The Edge: Goldeneye
Chris Cornell: You Know My Name
Narada Michael Walden: Licence to Kill
Various: James Bond Suite
John Barry, Duran Duran: A View to a Kill
Marvin Hamlisch: Nobody Does It Better
John Barry, Paul Waaktaar: The Living Daylights
---INTERVAL----
John Barry: Dr. No Suite
John Barry: Goldfinger
Lionel Bart: From Russia with Love
John Barry: All the Time in the World
John Barry: All Time High Bill Conti: For Your Eyes Only Burt Bacharach: The Look of Love
John Barry: You Only Live Twice Suite
Adele: Skyfall
John Barry: Moonraker
John Barry: The Man with the Golden Gun
John Barry: Thunderball
Sheryl Crow: Encore: Tomorrow Never Dies
Singers Alice Fearn and Oliver Tompsett
BBC Concert Orchestra
Conductor Martin Yates
Friday Night is Music Night



Also, the James Bond theme they played at the beginning seemed to develop through from the original version through to a nod to Moby and Oakenfold’s remixes too.

Definitely worth a listen in my opinion, see what you think!

Programme link:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001yhns

mattjoes

Thanks for sharing, I briefly listened to it and will check it out in its entirety very soon! I noticed a couple of interesting changes in the orchestration of OHMSS; I look forward to discovering more.

Incidentally, this is one of my favorite Bond suites from the BBC Proms:

mattjoes

I listened to the whole concert.

That arrangement of the Bond Theme is just superb, very lively and exciting. And it's great that, as you mentioned, it seems to "travel in time" from the quintessential arrangement of the theme toward the Moby and Oakenfold versions. Those versions are not something I ever thought someone would quote in an orchestral arrangement. Definitely a keeper.

I enjoyed the songs with their brand-new arrangements, and the singers were up to par. I especially enjoyed Alice Fearn's vocals.

I tend to gravitate toward the orchestral pieces, though. Apart from the Bond Theme, we got a Dr. No suite, something immediately notable because it's the most neglected Bond score, for sure. I like how they play the more sinister, march-like version of the Bond Theme heard in the film, but adding the missing chromatic vamp in the background. That sounds great!

I also enjoyed very much the You Only Live Twice suite, especially the very first cue (the one that plays in the film when they retrieve Bond's "corpse") and The Wedding. On a more technical note, I also love how they changed certain notes for triplets in Bond Averts World War Three.

And in the medley played thirty minutes into the concert, I like how they added the Goldfinger brass chords to OHMSS.

On a general note, it's a bit frustrating to see there's so little Bond music discussion on these forums. It's all about Bond 26 and who's replacing Craig. Of all the elements that comprise a film, music is probably the one that stands by itself the most.

astansill

mattjoes wrote: »

I listened to the whole concert.

That arrangement of the Bond Theme is just superb, very lively and exciting. And it's great that, as you mentioned, it seems to "travel in time" from the quintessential arrangement of the theme toward the Moby and Oakenfold versions. Those versions are not something I ever thought someone would quote in an orchestral arrangement. Definitely a keeper.

I enjoyed the songs with their brand-new arrangements, and the singers were up to par. I especially enjoyed Alice Fearn's vocals.

I tend to gravitate toward the orchestral pieces, though. Apart from the Bond Theme, we got a Dr. No suite, something immediately notable because it's the most neglected Bond score, for sure. I like how they play the more sinister, march-like version of the Bond Theme heard in the film, but adding the missing chromatic vamp in the background. That sounds great!

I also enjoyed very much the You Only Live Twice suite, especially the very first cue (the one that plays in the film when they retrieve Bond's "corpse") and The Wedding. On a more technical note, I also love how they changed certain notes for triplets in Bond Averts World War Three.

And in the medley played thirty minutes into the concert, I like how they added the Goldfinger brass chords to OHMSS.

On a general note, it's a bit frustrating to see there's so little Bond music discussion on these forums. It's all about Bond 26 and who's replacing Craig. Of all the elements that comprise a film, music is probably the one that stands by itself the most.

Absolutely, there definitely isn’t enough Bond music discussion in general. I’m hoping that we might hopefully get more La La Land expansions over the next few years where we might be treated to some long lost cues.

Like yourself, I too gravitate towards the instrumental pieces, especially in concerts like this where more often then not, it’s the main themes which are prioritised and often some of the wonderful pieces of music within the film are overlooked.

I was lucky enough to attend the ‘Sound of 007’ concert at the Albert Hall in London and even though on the night they played some amazing renditions of instrumental cues, very little made the Final Cut when reaching Amazon Prime Video with only the main theme songs making the cut. It was such a shame and a lost opportunity to stand out from other similar previous concerts.

What really drew me in to listen to this was the Dr. No suite as I’ve not heard this performed before and I was intrigued to see how it would be performed and it really didn’t disappoint.

I thought the rendition of ‘All Time High’ was also very interesting and a unique style that I haven’t heard it played that way before.

Glad you enjoyed it and in the meantime I hope we get to hear more from yourself @mattjoes - your mock renditions for missing cues have been a huge inspiration for us Bond soundies!

mattjoes

astansill wrote: »

Absolutely, there definitely isn’t enough Bond music discussion in general. I’m hoping that we might hopefully get more La La Land expansions over the next few years where we might be treated to some long lost cues.

I bet we get more albums.

astansill wrote: »

I was lucky enough to attend the ‘Sound of 007’ concert at the Albert Hall in London and even though on the night they played some amazing renditions of instrumental cues, very little made the Final Cut when reaching Amazon Prime Video with only the main theme songs making the cut. It was such a shame and a lost opportunity to stand out from other similar previous concerts.

It was. And obviously, they recorded the whole thing, so they could have thrown those instrumental pieces in there. At least, the people who attended the concert have shared videos.

astansill wrote: »

What really drew me in to listen to this was the Dr. No suite as I’ve not heard this performed before and I was intrigued to see how it would be performed and it really didn’t disappoint.

It's nice to see this score get more attention. Much of the instrumental music of the concert, including the Dr. No suite, is based on the City of Prague recordings from the 2000s, but there are some subtle changes that are interesting.

astansill wrote: »

Glad you enjoyed it and in the meantime I hope we get to hear more from yourself @mattjoes - your mock renditions for missing cues have been a huge inspiration for us Bond soundies!

Thank you. I'm working on Another Wealthy Owner from AVTAK. It's coming soon, but there are some details to iron out and so many things to attend to.

bcalou

What a great concert.

mattjoes wrote: »

That arrangement of the Bond Theme is just superb, very lively and exciting. And it's great that, as you mentioned, it seems to "travel in time" from the quintessential arrangement of the theme toward the Moby and Oakenfold versions. Those versions are not something I ever thought someone would quote in an orchestral arrangement. Definitely a keeper.

Absolutely. My brain "recognized" the Oakenfold part instantly, but it mistook it for being a nod to Mission: Impossible. Similar rhythm, and as you said it was so unlikely to make such a citation that I thought I was hearing something else! So thanks for noticing that ;)

Great version of the Bond Theme indeed. I find most performances quite boring when they follow the classic structure and orchestration of the piece. We heard it a thousand time and it's unlikely you're going to make it sound more exciting... Unless you take some liberty with it and have fun, which seems to be the case here, with a great work from the arranger who clearly loves Bond. That's how you keep the music alive, in my opinion!

A lot of great musical choices troughout the concert. I think Dr. No's score has never sounded better. OHMSS and its Bond Theme / Goldfinger references is awesome. I think these kind of references highlight the cohesiveness of Barry's work. It feels so natural.

Great content!

bcalou

And i have to mention this awesome medley:

peter

bcalou wrote: »

And i have to mention this awesome medley:

So great! Thanks for sharing!!!