Goldsmith Hosts Night of Memorable Movie Themes

Even those who aren’t die-hard cinephiles know the visage and signature white ponytail of Jerry Goldsmith, for years one of the busiest, and worthiest, film composers in town. Friday at the Hollywood Bowl 10,000 people got to see him in action, making his Bowl debut as a conductor and running through a long set of his music with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

It amounted to an evening chock full of familiar tunes--two dozen themes from film and television work over the past 30-plus years--smartly played but, as a whole, shy of musical depth. Kitsch was allowed onstage as well with walk-ons by a Klingon before one of Goldsmith’s “Star Trek” fanfares, and later by that perky rodent, Mickey Mouse, mutely leading the crowd in a “Happy Birthday” to honor Goldsmith’s 70th.

Heard in bite-size chunks, vacuum-packed into medleys and mini-suites, Goldsmith’s library includes some great, hypnotic pieces, such as the sensuously urbane theme to “Chinatown” (whose score was written in 10 days, as he pointed out in his witty between-pieces chatter). L.A.-noir suits this Southland native well, considering his similarly evocative, insinuating score for “L.A. Confidential.”

When it came time, at the end, for his non-film-oriented world premiere, “Fireworks: A Celebration of Los Angeles,” where we might have expected the composer to stretch out into purer music territory--finally freed from the tyranny of directors and producers--the movie music vocabulary simply continued. It was a cozy Hollywood admix, sounding like Aaron Copland combined with the “Gremlins” score, leaning toward the latter. Rhythmically synchronized fireworks supplied another type of visual element.

Film music programs such as this are important and regionally relevant, this being Hollywood. But the challenge, not quite met this time around, remains one of how to create a vibrant program less like a piecemeal, this-is-your-life affair.