Internationally acclaimed composer Jung Jae-il wowed a captive audience on Friday night in the live score performance of the film Parasite (2019).

Winner of four Oscars, this dark comedy-thriller by Bong Joon-ho follows the schemes of the underprivileged Kim family to find steady employment in the household of the affluent Mr Park. 

Parasite: Live in Concert with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Photo © Jay Patel

Concert Lab presented an impressive orchestra of 41 musicians, who performed live with occasional pre-recorded synthesiser support. Although louder than the dialogue, the precision and unity of the instruments was impressive with great cohesion between the woodwinds, strings and percussion. The element of live music heightened the tension and drama of the plot in a way that cannot be emulated in a conventional movie theatre. 

The (in)famous ‘Peach Scene‘ was accompanied by Jung’s Belt of Trust. Fluctuating between F# minor and A major tonality, the evocative theme of this Baroque pastiche stretched across seven minutes in a brilliant underscore to the sequence of events leading to Mrs Kim successfully usurping the role of the Park family’s ultra-loyal housekeeper.  

Other musically memorable moments include the composer himself playing the musical saw, the concerto-grosso like interaction between the string section leaders, and the percussive Bartók pizzicato and col legno battuto (striking the wood of the bow on the strings) passages, which successfully created a chilling and eerie atmosphere. 

The flute solos in what sounded like classic American football game music provided a quirky sense of foreboding just before the disaster of the ‘Birthday Party‘ scene, when the Belt of Trust was ironically performed again. 

Jung Jae-il with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Photo © Jay Patel

Principal Double Bass Richard Lynn, Julia Magri and colleagues were instrumental in providing a very solid bass line beneath the composer’s simple but cleverly crafted sound cues. This was particularly evident in the extremely tense ‘Jjapaguri (Korean noodle) Scene’.  

What made this sold-out performance so successful was the simplistic yet emotively layered musical cues that so cleverly addressed the many symbols of Bong’s intricately crafted plot.  

‘Opening’ began with a gently rocking G B ostinato, which over the first 40 seconds introduced us to the struggling Kim family. This deeply ingrained sorrow was realised and amplified in ‘Glass of Soju’ at the very end of the film, after which the composer, while the credits rolled, unexpectedly accompanied himself in a highly virtuosic way on the electric guitar – a very rare treat for Parasite fans. 

Overall, the live musical underscore, which periodically faded into the background, helped create a certain realism to the narrative by establishing a deep sonic familiarity with the metaphor-packed scenes.

Jung, conducting from the piano, was very accomplished in his minimalistic response to this brief.