The Star Wars Saga, Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham

Music from Episodes One to Six, by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

If you’re gearing up for Star Wars – Episode 7 at the multi-screen this Christmas, there can be few better ways to warm up than with a real audio treat to reel in the diehard fans ready for the next movie instalment.

This was auditory perfection in a wall of sound from the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra covering the full range from haunting melody to strident marches.

When you’re at the cinema – or even at home with surround sound – it’s hard to appreciate just how good these score are. No wonder composer John Williams has so many Oscars to his name.

A warm, if slightly worrying, welcome from Imperial Storm Troopers in the foyer set the scene for what turned into a magical evening.

Conducted by Michael Seal, the 80-piece orchestra supported by the 100-strong Nottingham Trent University Choir wiped the floor with any version you’ve ever heard from the silver screen. The impressive percussion section was kept busiest, especially through the livelier sections. And with presenter Marc Silk bringing it all to live with his voice characterisation, it was a complete performance.

Running first through the themes of the newer films – that’s episodes one, two and three – after the interval they moved onto the more familiar tunes (for some of us, at least) of the earlier films from our youth, those of Episodes four, five and six – Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and The Return of the Jedi. 

The repertoire included the spine-tingling main theme, to set the scene from the off, the memorable Cantina Band number and the epic Ewok forest battle.

The sounds of the whole saga are down to the genius of Williams, from Leia’s theme to the Imperial March, better known as Darth Vader’s theme.

He brings the emotions out as we hear the soundtrack to Anakin and Amidala’s doomed love, and gets our adrenaline running with a spin through the asteroid field in the Millennium Falcon.