The Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra conducted by David Newman

Royal Albert Hall, October 5, 2019

Daniel Craig’s third mission for Her Majesty’s Secret Service…

For a lot of people, Skyfall is one of the best James Bond movies of the 21st century, if not of all time – Sam Mendes brings an energy as director and works well with Daniel Craig’s Bond, with the script bringing back stalwarts in new guises – Naomie Harris’ Eve Moneypenny, Ben Whishaw’s Q – as well as seeing a changing of the guard in other ways. After five films, David Arnold handed the composer’s pen over to Mendes’ regular collaborator, Thomas Newman, and the combination of all these talents – as well as a very distinctive performance from Javier Bardem as the villain of the piece – made for an energetic 007 movie.

We can set aside, for now, the rather salient observation that was made in the wake of the film’s release that it’s actually Bond’s worst mission ever – he fails at everything he sets out to do. He doesn’t retrieve the hard drive at the start, he fails to prevent the assassin from taking out his target, he plays completely into Silva’s hands in capturing him and putting him where he needs to be to effect his plan, and then, finally, M dies on his watch. Even Johnny English has had better days! But the hell with all that – it’s still one of my personal favourites.

It’s a rollercoaster of a movie, starting with a frenetic chase through Istanbul, and out into the Turkish countryside, and watching this at the Royal Albert Hall with the RPCO playing live, I did wonder if conductor David Newman was going to collapse with exhaustion long before the film ended, such was the energy he put into this twelve minute sequence. As with Casino Royale a couple of years ago, the orchestra played a live accompaniment to the pre-recorded soloist (in this instance, Adele), and were there throughout the movie, precisely handling the many intricate rhythms that Newman (both Thomas, the composer and David the conductor) asked for. It’s a lush score (that Newman perhaps overly borrowed from for the next film, Spectre), with some good action cues as well as more sensitive music. The six members of the percussion team were, to put it mildly, put through their paces!

The presentation at the Royal Albert Hall was once again excellently done – and special credit to Paul Stannering, who was mixing the movie live (as he did for the similarly well done presentation of The Empire Strikes Back recently). The dialogue was clear, and the effects track mixed in brilliantly with the orchestral playing; in particular, the sequence at Skyfall itself at the end shone. A smart decision was also taken to play out the film on the Bond theme (I think David Arnold’s arrangement, as was used in the movie itself), rather than going into the end credits music (which did come along with the roller once the orchestra had taken their bows).

Verdict: An excellent production of an excellent Bond – and a brilliant way to spend “James Bond Day”. What’s next? Goldfinger? 10/10

Paul Simpson