Composer Michel Legrand performed a selection from his recent score for the Orson Welles film The Other Side of the Wind on Saturday night at the Philharmonie de Paris.
The two-hour program was unusual as it was dedicated solely to Legrand’s film scores, a first for a performance by him in Paris.
As Legrand and five other musicians played excerpts from some of his most well-known scores, scenes from the films were projected on a screen.
A multiple Oscar and Grammy Award winner, Legrand, 86, has composed music for more than 100 movies and television programs.
In addition to The Other Side of the Wind, Legrand performed a piece Saturday from Welles’ 1973 essay film F For Fake, as well as selections from The Thomas Crown Affair, Ice Station Zebra, Lady Sings the Blues and Yentl.
Legrand, who was on piano, was joined by pianist Erik Berchot and Claude Egea, trumpet; Denis Leloup, trombone; Pierre Boussaguet, double bass; and Francois Laizeau, drums.
Prior the evening concert, filmmakers Xavier Beauvois, Jean-Paul Rappeneau and Agnès Varda discussed their respective experiences working with Legrand in an afternoon talk entitled “Evoking Michel Legrand.”
The performance was part of the Philharmonie de Paris’ Music in Pictures Weekend.
The score for The Other Side of the Wind was recorded in March and there are plans for a soundtrack album.
In an interview with Variety, Legrand recalled working with Welles on F for Fake four decades ago and preparing to take on The Other Side of the Wind.
“I worked with him for almost a year on F for Fake, and then he told me he was starting another one. I didn’t hear about that movie for 40 years,” he said.
Of scoring The Other Side of the Wind, Legrand said, “I asked myself constantly, ‘How would Orson have reacted?’ The very subject of the film touched me: the idea of the passage of time, the renewal of inspiration. I am proud to be the link between these two Welles films. I take it as a gift from Orson, through the clouds.”
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