The Cinematic Orchestra, Royal Festival Hall online, review: spellbinding and immersive ****
This online performance made up for the absence of crowd atmosphere with a production that shone a light on impressive musicianship
By Elisa Bray
iNews, February 2, 2021
“The group’s albums are ambitious creations, and this stream was a perfect match for the duo’s meticulously crafted cinematic music – an artistic feat of its own. Under Leander Ward’s direction (the band had scored his Disneynature documentary The Crimson Wing), songs flowed from one into the next and there was a timelessness in the slow-mo filming of the singers in black and white while other musicians remained at normal speed.
As the camera periodically panned over an eerily empty Hall, its plush seats and boxes barren, not only was a moment in time captured, but also the daily noise and anxiety transcended by this poised performance.”
CRIMSON WING - PRESS HIGHLIGHTS
"The Crimson Wing is this year’s Disneynature product. Rest assured: there is precious little anthropomorphism in this ravishingly beautiful depiction of flamingos in Tanzania. A patently devoted labour of love – are wildlife filmmakers capable of anything else? – it shows a painterly eye in frame after exquisitely judged frame, not afraid of economy and balance – one shot of a speck moving towards others, distantly clustered, on a blank blue background, evokes the spare mastery of a Chinese watercolour. British directors Leander Ward and Matthew Aeberhard are turning wildlife movies into a new art form.” (FT, 23/09/09)
“Disney always needed to up the ante if its new wildlife label, Disneynature, was to compete with big nature-doc players like the BBC, National Geographic and Animal Planet. That it’s pulled it off so well is testament to the skills of the production team because, in the pantheon of wildlife docs, this one’s a corker: the cinematography is exquisite; it’s admirably devoid of any overt anthropomorphism; the narration, while a little too mythical in context, is informative; the music is perfect; and, for a Disney-branded film, it’s surprisingly willing to face up to the more grisly side of life in the wild.” (**** Time Out, 24/9/2009.)
“A breathtakingly beautiful reflection on the fragile nature of life.” (**** Empire, Sept 2009.)
“A spellbinding documentary.” (**** The Week, 20/3/2010.)
“I’m in love with the film The Crimson Wing, which is the most fascinating and involving nature documentary I’ve seen in years.” (Hannah McGill, Artistic Director, Edinburgh International Film Festival