Live Review: Waso: Pixar In Concert

Cinema has never really been silent – even during the era of silent movies. Generally a pianist sat to the side of the stage performing alongside the imagery, providing vital emotional cues for audience members. Cinema is undeniably a multisensory experience – one of epic proportions when the West Australian Symphony Orchestra becomes involved. Renowned for innovative, contemporary performances, Pixar In Concert was no exception as Nicholas Buc – the animated and obviously passionate conductor – led his team through the exceptional scores of Pixar's 13 full-length feature films.

The films were compressed to just a few minutes long but were constructed to showcase the emotional diversity of each score. Video clips were sliced and spliced to provide a visual accompaniment to the works of Randy Newman, Michael Giacchino, Thomas Newman and Patrick Doyle. Opening with Toy Story – the crowning glory of Pixar's animated films – audiences were taken on a musical journey through Finding Nemo, Ratatouille, A Bug's Life, WALL-E, Cars, Up, The Incredibles, Monsters, Brave and a selection of sequels.

The program was carefully curated to showcase the diversity of these four world class composers, ranging from the Celtic style of Brave, the James Bond homages of Cars 2 and the iconic French-style accordion of Ratatouille. The award-winning score of Up was undoubtedly a highlight, with much of the audience fighting back tears as the tremulous cycles of love and life were depicted through video and sound. To unleash a slew of adjectives, the performance was nostalgic, empathetic, powerful, bittersweet and saudade – you know, that melancholic Portuguese word with no direct English translation – to say the least.

It was a spectacular showing by WASO, which beckoned audiences to develop an emotional connection to the most obscure of characters ranging from talking bugs, robots and superheroes to a spaceman and his friend the cowboy. Pixar In Concert came full circle, concluding with the score of Toy Story 3 and the image of those cute little clouds with which the original 1995 movie opened.

The acoustics within the Crown Theatre are among the best in Perth to demonstrate the magnitude of WASO's skill, providing a balanced and levelled sound, though like any great film – be it short or long – the entire event happened too fast, despite being almost two hours long. Thankfully there were many young audience members so hopefully the innovative and contemporary style of WASO will open up this old world musical skill to a new generation.