I blame whoever let me watch Titanic when I was 12 for the association I make between classical music and impending doom. A memory of the cheerful quartet who provide a soundtrack to the sinking comes to mind at The Barbican as David Attenborough’s voice gently booms an explanation of why Earth is known as The Lucky Planet thanks to the precious tilt that keeps us the perfect distance from the sun. It’s not so much the ominous, stunning images of our planet from space but the Overture performed by the BBC Concert Orchestra that conjures goosepimply trepidation as Planet Earth Live begins.

For the next two hours the musicians hold us in this emotional grip, gently releasing us now and again into the care of conductor George Fenton who comments on the footage, the music and the blizzards that held Attenborough captive in a tent. He talks us through gyroscopic camera mounts that allow steady filming of birds in flight and the difference between the funny anecdotes we see unfolding before us, and the epic stories that the animals tell.

The personality of the sociable Dolphins he soberly calls “well-adjusted” are case in point, as are the adorable images of polar bear cubs sliding down snowy slopes as they see sun for the first time. During these moments the footage conveys the short stories the crew were fortunate enough to bear witness to and the lighthearted music provides a soundtrack to the simultaneous “aaahhh” of hundreds of viewers.

But when the images depict the epic journeys undertaken by elephants and birds across harsh terrain, it feels like more than an observation. Here, the music provides our interpretation of their great feats. As birds ascend Everest, music that feels like a war song welcomes them to their landing spots, exhausted after battle. Elephants cross the desert with the calm, majestic vocal accompaniment of soprano Haley Glennie-Smith whose voice is as rich as the colours of the land they trample through.

But such heavy material is balanced with a performance of Gershwin’s Nice Work If You Can Get It, which bounces along to behind the scenes footage of locals laughing at fearless cameramen and curious, gargantuan animals exploring piddly human huts. The only criticism you could make of the evening is perhaps the screen which is slightly on the small side. But the music more than makes up for it by veering away from the trepidation it greets us with and rightly glorifying our “lucky planet” earth.

The next series, Human Planet Live, will come to London’s O2 Arena on 29th March 2012 with a score by Nitin Sawhney