GO THE DISTANCE: FIELD OF DREAMS IN CONCERT

Friday July 19, 2024 marked the world premiere of James Horner’s classic 1989 score for FIELD OF DREAMS live in concert, under the baton of Julian Pellicano and performed by the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra (VSO). The two-night event was hosted by the historic Orpheum Theatre, located near Vancouver’s downtown core. At 97 years and counting, the venue has been host to countless live performances, film music concerts live to picture, all with a stunning opulence.

The music for FIELD OF DREAMS was famously improvised to picture by James Horner as he led a small ensemble of musicians including Tony Hinnigan, Mike Taylor, Tommy Tedesco, Ian Underwood and Ralph Grierson. The only written music came near the film’s final third, with the famous “People Will Come” speech by James Earl Jones ushering in an orchestral palette for the first time and continuing until the film’s end. This necessitated a full adaptation from synthesized ambience and panpipes to woodwinds, strings and trumpet. Orchestration for this live to picture concert was by Mark Graham, of Jo Ann Kane Music Services.

Conductor Pellicano introduced the film and the music of James Horner, remarking that his body of work included everything from “Commando with Arnold Schwartzenegger to How The Grinch Stole Christmas”, and seeing Horner’s name in the opening credits was met with applause.

The Performance

With the sole exception of the trumpets struggling with a high passage near the closing seconds of the end credits, the performance was quite wonderful and captured every emotional high with grace.

Opening the film, “The Cornfield” featured the signature French Horn and string introduction, accented by synthetic mark tree and panpipe effects which swept through the soundscape. These were new elements not taken from the film’s audio or original score recording.

As the haunting synth panpipes frequently echoed through the massive Orpheum theatre, it “called” for an unknown familiarity, the awakened pain within, waiting to be eased. It was then followed by a simple 5-note piano motif that felt to be all the response needed to this pain.

The solo piano was elegantly performed on a grand, with two smaller synthesizers adjacent to the harp.

Given the size and acoustics of the venue, the piano was heavily reverberating throughout the theater, quite different to the more intimate, drier sound of the original score and contributing a nice nostalgic feeling of a distant past. The echoplex brass effects throughout the original score were given a more literal translation, which featured the trumpets performing repeating patterns but without the precision of those effects.

For “Deciding to Build the Field”, rather than adapt the electric guitar and drum kit to an orchestral setting, the cue actually played intact within the film’s sound mix. The VSO string section performed over the audio with a soft wash of chords, giving the piece a comforting, warm tone.

“The Library” was given a more faithful adaptation, with the bass and synth effects recreated and performed alongside the full orchestra, while the acoustic guitar elements were adapted for woodwinds and piano. These and the many other synth moments which penetrated the hearts through VSO’s live performance were reminiscent of Elmer Bernstein’s words as he praised Horner’s Field of Dreams as an exemplary electronic score which uses the synths effectively:

"I often get asked why film scores all sound the same today. What people are referring to is electronic scores. If all you are using are electronic scores, it sounds the same. You should use electronic instruments when it is appropriate. James Horner’s score for Field of Dreams is brilliant because he uses electronic instruments to do things that other instruments cannot do. That is my feeling about it. Not as an end in itself. But as an appropriate tool." -

Elmer Bernstein, The Guardian, 2002

The big band material (“Old Ball Players”, “Dinner’s Ready”) was performed very close to the original score, just with the muted trumpets and saxophone played softer under the piano and percussion.

The VSO played soft, warm string chords over the song “Jessica” (Allman Brothers Band) and the intermission began just as in the film, Ray Kinsella (Kevin Costner) and Terrence Mann (James Earl Jones) venture out to find “Moonlight” Graham.

The intermission lasted around 20 minutes.

To bring the film back, a shortened arrangement of “The Place Where Dreams Come True” launched into a brief, but lively fully orchestral rendition of “China Grove” (The Doobie Brothers) as the film continued.

Seeing the impactful final moments of the film where the full orchestral cues are given a chance to shine, very clearly elicited tears from the audience. From “People Will Come” to “Hey Dad? You wanna have a catch?”, FIELD OF DREAMS held a firm grip on the heartstrings of the audience, and remained every bit the emotional powerhouse it was in 1989, some 35 years later. The VSO performed the moving climax in spectacular fashion, and was given a well deserved round of applause and standing ovation for conductor Julian Pellicano and the entire VSO who stood proud with warm smiles of gratitude.

FIELD OF DREAMS may not have been an obvious choice for a Film in concert, however given the reception from its audience who laughed at every humorous moment, and clearly shed tears at the finale, it was clearly a very welcome choice for James Horner’s first ever film music concert with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. This timeless film was welcomed by diverse audiences, from baseball fans to film music lovers. As the performance came to an end, many of the VSO musicians were in tears as the lights came up, searching for their own inner light among the Horner notes and the voices of their longed dreams.

Beyond an effective electronic score, Field of Dreams in Concert tells the magical tale of how pictures and music can elicit the deepest human emotions through one of the best composer-director collaborations of film music history. A collaboration that empowered the music to tell an abstract heartfelt story of how dreams come true.