“Robin Fountain, music director of the Southwest Michigan Symphony Orchestra, was born in England, and has insights about the appeal of someone who can fire a pistol without spilling his cocktail,” writes Jack Walton in Wednesday’s (8/7) South Bend Tribune (IN). After World War II, “ ‘The fantasy of this very well-dressed, well-educated, suave British person solving things all over the world was quite attractive,’ ” Fountain says. “Ian Fleming’s 1953 novel Casino Royale introduced the James Bond character, and the figure has endured ever since…. On Saturday at Shadowland Pavilion in St. Joseph, Fountain directs the SMSO in a survey of Bond-related pieces in a show called ‘Shaken Not Stirred: The Music of James Bond,’ in collaboration with Canadian rock band Jeans n’ Classics…. ‘The James Bond Theme’ is … ‘one of those themes that captures everything about a character in just a few measures,’ Fountain says…. A sure-fire highlight will be Paul McCartney’s theme for ‘Live and Let Die,’ which features heart-pounding orchestration [and] delicate songs such as Carly Simon’s hit ‘Nobody Does It Better.’ … The show requires versatility from the symphony, the rock group and especially its lead singers.” Fountain says the arrangements allow “moments for the orchestra to soar.”
Posted August 9, 2019
