July 9, 2007

• Multiple B-days

  There are several composers born on this date, 2 from the film realm and 2 from the classical realm, that I want to briefly highlight today.

  First, the classical composers...American composer David Diamond (1915-2003) is one of the great mid-20th century composers noted for his post-romantic styled symphonies.  His music was featured as part of Gerard Schwarz's series on the old Delos label.  Some of these are resurfacing on CD on Naxos.  I'd start with his 4th Symphony personally.

  Ottorino Resphigi (1879-1936) is proof that Italians can write symphonic music when they have such an amazing gift at orchestration as he did.  Resphigi's fame rests on a series of three "Rome" tone poems in a unique hybrid of Impressionism and Late Romanticism.  He also dabled a bit in resurrecting the past with arrangements of Baroque and Late Renaissance music for orchestra.  The Minnesota Orchestra under Neville Marriner had one of the best concert performances of Pines of Rome  I ever heard.  They unfortunately never recorded it commercially.  I standout budget recording of these pieces with the great Enrique Batiz is available on Naxos and worth adding to your collection.

  Resphigi's Gli Ucceli and Ancient Airs and Dances suites are delightful pieces and the former is included on a wonderful release made with Marriner and the Academy-of-St. Martin's-in-the-Fields.

  The film music side of things is a little less impressive on the surface.  We start off with Paul Chihara (b. 1938).  Chihara has worked less in film and television over the past decade or so, instead focusing on teaching and occasional forays in to musical theater.  His last highest profile work was for China Beach (1988-1991).  His film career has been a mix of mid-budget comedies and romantic dramas.  More recently his music for Crossing Delancey (1988)-- a favorite film of many, received a special release from Varese Sarabande.  My personal favorite is a melancholy theme he wrote for the bizarre Robin Williams and Walter Matthau film, The Survivors (1983) which I managed to find sheet music for years ago.  It would be great to hear someone include some of his themes in a film compilation some day.  It would make for great listening.

  For all intents and purposes, Harald Kloser (b. 1956) should have had a great year in 2004.  It should have been a breakout opportunity for him with 2 big summer blockbuster films to composer for that year.  His closest Hollywood blockbuster before then was 1999's The Thirteenth Floor a relatively uneven sci-fi flick that still grows on those it does connect with sometimes.  That was another of those Memorial Day hopefuls.  Roland Emmerich's The Day After Tomorrow had the earmarks of a big-budget blockbuster.  The special effects were impressive but the story was often too basic to be engaging once all the weather events happened.  There are some impressive sequences though that still make the film fun to watch.  Kloser took a more restrained approach to this film, hitting a few emotionally powerful moments with far greater restraint than Arnold did for his other Emmerich projects.  Kloser received a BMI award for the score and the one he provided that same year for the hilariously bizarre Alien v. Predator.   He is scheduled to score Emmerich's next film, 10,000 BC which is set to release next March.

   

  Tomorrow, a little fun before vacation.....

   

  • 12:48 pm
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