MSO in concert with Randy Newman

There’s no question that the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra understands the benefit of collaborating with pop and rock music, the first memorable occasion being the 1986 Live in Australia tour with Elton John. It was not only a financial but a musical success – unlike some famous mismatches of more recent times, perhaps. Early in the evening guest artist Randy Newman urged the MSO to “do their best” but more than once praised them as a great ensemble. He had every reason to: conductor Guy Noble elicited warmly sympathetic performances from the orchestra and a number of soloists (whom Newman praised by name throughout the night). Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in concert with Randy Newman inevitably brought back happy memories of the Elton John experience. Both artists are pianists and legendary song-writers with songs that have a broad appeal; many – John’s ‘Your Song’ and Newman’s ‘Birmingham’, for example – lending themselves to rich orchestration. But an obvious difference is in the stage presentation of the two performers. Where Elton John dominates the stage from the piano, often with his trademark specs and over-the-top costumes, Randy Newman is self-effacing. Yet he took centre stage as conductor of his impressive film music – for Avalon, Maverick and, of course, Toy Story. (Later, of course, he sang ‘You’ve Got a Friend in Me’, from the piano, apologising first to kids in the audience for singing it so late in the evening). Randy Newman has been described as the greatest songwriter of the 20th century and, in my view, has to be among the handful who deserve that accolade. His achievement is in connecting with our deepest emotions in deceptively simple, lyrical songs – ‘I Miss You’, ‘Louisiana’, ‘Marie’, to name just a few on the program. Newman’s best-known older songs are probably ‘You Can Leave Your Hat On’ (“Hey, the guy’s not asking for much”, he quipped), and ‘Short People’ which gained some infamy in the late 1970s when people missed the point: it was, of course, an attack on prejudice itself. The MSO concert featured several examples of Newman’s biting political comment, songs in which he appears to identify with the attitudes or groups he’s satirising: we had ‘Kingfish’ and ‘Political Science’ but he declined to perform the savagely ironic ‘Rednecks’. The encore, ‘I Think it’s Going to Rain Today’, perfectly married social comment with the sweet poignancy of so many Newman songs. The audience response left no doubt that it wished the MSO could be in concert with Randy Newman for much longer, or more often. Rating: Five stars Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in concert with Randy Newman State Theatre, the Arts Centre, Melbourne Friday July 29