CARNEGIE HALL PRESENTS
The New York Pops

Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage
Friday, March 6th, 2009 at 8:00 PM

The New York Pops
Carl Davis, Conductor
Mary Carewe, Vocalist
Simon Bowman, Vocalist

MONTY NORMAN The James Bond Theme
BART "From Russia with Love"
JOHN BARRY / LESLIE BRICUSSE / ANTHONY NEWLEY "Goldfinger"
JOHN BARRY Dawn Raid at Fort Knox
JOHN BARRY / DON BLACK "Thunderball"
BURT BACHARACH / HAL DAVID "The Look of Love"
JOHN BARRY / LESLIE BRICUSSE "You Only Live Twice"
JOHN BARRY / HAL DAVID "We Have All the Time in the World"
JOHN BARRY / DON BLACK "Diamonds are Forever"
SIR PAUL MCCARTNEY / LINDA MCCARTNEY "Live and Let Die"
MARVIN HAMLISCH The Voyage to Atlantis
MARVIN HAMLISCH / CAROLE BAYER SAGER "Nobody Does It Better"
BILL CONTI / MICHAEL LEESON "For Your Eyes Only"
JOHN BARRY / HAL DAVID "Moonraker"
JOHN BARRY / DON BLACK "The Man with the Golden Gun"
DURAN DURAN / JOHN BARRY "A View to a Kill"
PAUL WAAKTAAR-SAVOY / JOHN BARRY "The Living Daylights"
NARADA MICHAEL WALDEN / JEFFREY COHEN / WALTER AFANASIEFF "License to Kill"
ERIC SERRA A Pleasant Ride in St. Petersburg (Tank Chase)
BONO / THE EDGE "GoldenEye"
DAVID ARNOLD / DON BLACK "The World is Not Enough"
DAVID ARNOLD / CHRIS CORNELL "You Know My Name"

Encores:
DAVID ARNOLD / DON BLACK "Surrender"
JACK WHITE "Another Way to Die"

Sponsored by KPMG LLP

Program Notes:

Little did I know, sitting in a near-empty cinema in London’s West End one windswept afternoon in 1962, that I was about to witness a film that would become part of my personal history. Dr. No had style, a first-rate hero, and an attractive, self-mocking tone. Above all, it had a score by Monty Norman that could only be described as a knockout.

Fast forward 30 years to another windswept location: the King’s Dock in Liverpool, where, for eight years (1992 to 2000), I conducted a series of Boston Pops–inspired concerts. We premiered an entire evening of music composed for James Bond movies, played by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, with new arrangements by Nic Raine, local singers, and narration by Honor Blackman, who portrayed Pussy Galore in Goldfinger. At that time, the current film in the Bond series was GoldenEye, with Pierce Brosnan in the role. Fifteen years further down the line, the superb vocalists Mary Carewe, Simon Bowman, and I have settled as a team. Tonight, we work our way together through a repertoire of varied and stunning songs together with action pieces, composed by some of the world’s most successful songwriters.

The Bond films—which now feature a sixth Bond actor, Daniel Craig—are England’s answer to Superman. The films have followed the musical styles of the day: the jazz-inspired scores of the early 1960s, with Norman’s Dr. No theme rapidly becoming the James Bond theme that has appeared in every Bond film to this day; dissolving into John Barry’s rock–’n’-roll ballads but with his own unexpected melodic leaps and exotic harmonic changes.

The shift of Bond leading men from Sean Connery to Roger Moore challenged John Barry’s supremacy with the likes of Paul McCartney, Bill Conti, and Marvin Hamlisch througout the 1970s. Rhythm and blues dominate the music in Licence to Kill and GoldenEye. Barry eventually returned to the series, collaborating with Duran Duran and A-Ha; however, the scores of recent films have been composed by Britain’s David Arnold.

It’s a heady mix, with the iconic songs usually linked to leading vocalists of the day, supporting inventive, award-winning graphics, sometimes smart, sometimes lurid. But as a collection, they achieve what all good film music should: they set the tone of each film as committed, sexy, and attractively ruthless.

—Carl Davis