Step aside, John Williams. There’s a new type of soundtrack in the orchestra pit.
Along with the Oscar-winning animated superhero film “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” arrived Daniel Pemberton’s soundtrack lush with the sounds of hip-hop, featuring Jaden Smith, Nicki Minaj, Lil Wayne, Post Malone, Ty Dolla Sign, Juice Wrld and others.
“Metro Boomin is its executive producer, doing for the Spider-Verse what Kendrick Lamar did for ‘Black Panther’ and ‘Wakanda’ back in 2018. Fresh off the success of his recently platinum-certified 2022 comeback album ‘Heroes & Villains,’ Metro takes a serviceable stab at crafting music to swing to,” wrote Dylan Green this year for Pitchfork, an online music publication.
And now comes “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse Live in Concert,” a screening of the 2018 film that plays in HD on a large screen above and behind a live orchestra performing the score. It’s Tuesday at Pikes Peak Center.
“You can see strings, horns, percussion, timpani,” said the show’s producer, Ollie Rosenblatt. “It’s a rhythmical score. There’s also a live scratch DJ on stage performing the hip-hop. It’s a mix of classical Western music meets hip-hop, drumming and percussion with break beats and electronics.”
If that sounds like quite a mash-up of musical genres, you’re right, it is. Doing this particular movie with its hip-hop soundtrack in this format isn’t an obvious choice due to the complexity of the music.
“There’s a huge amount of different styles of music,” Rosenblatt said. “It’s not a classical sound like John Williams’ straight orchestral. But there’s an incredible dynamism and energy in the film and we wanted to bring that to life. The music reflects that. It amplifies the film.”
In the animated film, Brooklyn Afro-Latinx teen Miles Morales is bitten by a radioactive spider in the subway and gains mysterious powers. Other spider heroes from parallel universes descend to help the teen master his new powers and save the city from a villain bent on destroying it.
The film is notable as the first animated addition to the Spider-Man movie franchise, while the national touring concert tour is notable for its female conductor, Emily Marshall, and female orchestra, The Broadway Sinfonietta, a group made up primarily of women of color.
“You engage in the film in a different way when you hear the music live,” Rosenblatt said. “The emotional power and pull of the film is even greater.”
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