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Hi everyone!
At long last, I can finally make an announcement about the event that's been occupying my every waking moment for the last month and a half!
The Brattleboro Music Center (in Brattleboro, VT), is presenting an all-film music program for chamber orchestra, which I've put together and am conducting. The program will focus on the music of David Shire and Leonard Rosenman (with a few little surprises!), and will cover the breadth and diversity of both composer's voices and output. All of the music has been adapted for the ensemble from the original sketches and full scores, and it's shaping up to be a really special evening - with an orchestra of top-notch local students and professional musicians working together to tackle this wonderful, challenging, and incredibly fun material. I've been working closely with Mr. Shire on his portion of the concert, and Mrs. Rosenman and I have done the same with Leonard's section of the program. The various studios have also been incredibly generous in their donations of time and musical materials, as well.
So, if you're an East Coast or New England FSMer, and are able to make a trip up to Brattleboro, VT on Sunday, August 16th - the concert starts at 7pm, and is being held at the Centre Congregational Church, on Brattleboro's scenic Main Street. If you've ever wanted to hear brand new, freshly assembled suites from "East of Eden" and "Return to Oz", pieces from "Monkey Shines" and "2010"; themes from "Battle for the Planet of the Apes" and "RoboCop 2" (yes, you read that correctly), among much else - performed live - here's your chance!
We'll have a couple of very special guests joining us, including a surprise soloist for our performance of "The Conversation" - so it's going to be an incredibly memorable evening for audience and musicians alike. Admission to the concert is completely free (Free?! Why that's my favorite price!), though the Brattleboro Music Center does appreciate and accept donations. I'll probably be posting more information about the concert on this thread as it gets closer, but I've just been champing at the bit to announce this thing and to tell the board about it - and wanted to post the first announcement now. If you have any questions about the whole thing, just let me know!
I hope some of you will be able to join us - when you get there, just tell 'em that TheFamousEccles sent ya! Thank you all again!
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Thanks for announcing this one month beforehand, TheFamousEccles.
I'm sure this is a labor of love for you.
Will there be a recording made of this concert? (or could audience members record this concert on their devices?)
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ZardozSpeaks and MCurry29: Thank you very much for your incredibly kind words and support!
It is very much a labor of love for me, Zardoz - down to having the sketches and scores dug up, preparing all of the new orchestrations and material (which I'm finally wrapping up in the next few days), and assembling a pretty diverse group of local musicians. I figured I'd get a jump on posting about this one, as I think I didn't write about the last concert I was involved with until the night before... (collar tug)
Recording matters are still being worked out - but if one is made, it will be strictly archival.
Had a rehearsal this morning/afternoon with the student constituency of the orchestra - among much other material, we ran through the Main Title from "Battle for the Planet of the Apes" and a rather tricky movement from "Return to Oz" today for the first time - and even with work to be done, they sound terrific, and are handling the music with tremendous aplomb and ease, and they're only going to get better as the concert date approaches.
Anyway, I hope folks who live in New England/New York might be able to make it up - and I'll post about it every so often here. And did I mention a very special guest soloist for the theme from "The Conversation"?
By the way, (cheap ploy ahoy!) any musicians on the board who live in the New England area, if you're interested and able to join our orchestra, we'd be happy to welcome you. String players are particularly welcome! (End of cheap ploy).
Anyway, if anyone has any questions about any of this, just let me know. Thank you all again for taking the time to read over the post, and I'll hope to see some of you in August! Back to work I go...
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With a little less than two weeks until the concert, I thought I would post this press release that went out tonight (slightly modified by me for the FSM board), and say once again that I hope some of the New Englanders and upper-east-coasters on the board might be able to make it out for what's shaping up to be a very special evening.
I'm also incredibly proud and pleased to announce that none other than Mr. David Shire will be in attendance - so it's going to be a most memorable evening for a whole variety of reasons!
And also, an open invitation to any New England area musicians on the board - I won't say "no" to the prospect of a few additional string players, so if you're a musician, and interested in taking part, by all means, let me know!
Anyway, here's the release:
Fantastic Voyages: From Outer Space to Oz
Movie Music of David Shire and Leonard Rosenman
Date: Sunday August 16, 7 pm, Centre Congregational Church, Brattleboro
Who: The BMC Pops Orchestra, conducted by Deniz Cordell
The Brattleboro Music Center is delighted to present a chamber orchestra concert celebrating the work of several composers known for their work in film. The program, under the direction of conductor Deniz Cordell, features the music of Academy Award-winning composers David Shire and Leonard Rosenman, performed by the community based BMC Pops Orchestra. Donations from the concert will be given to the BMC Music School.
While this music is created in service of a film’s story, the best of it stands as an artistic achievement on its own. As conductor Cordell points out the film music genre teems with musical riches spanning a wide variety of idioms; as a part of our musical heritage, it stands alongside the Musical Comedy as an uniquely American musical art form.
Leonard Rosenman and David Shire are two of the most distinctive voices in the world of dramatic music. Rosenman threw Hollywood into the twentieth century with his daring scores for "East of Eden" and "The Cobweb," while Shire’s scores are wonders of musical architecture and approach: from his multi-thematic opus "Return to Oz," to the intimate blues-meets-impressionism of "The Conversation." Stephen Sondheim said “David Shire is a protean composer. He can do anything – film, theater, concert music – and usually better than anyone else of his generation. He makes me envious.” Of the diversity in this program, conductor Cordell says, “There's truly something for everyone in the program - from disco to Americana to serialism. Leonard and David are two of my musical heroes, so to be able to do this concert, and to have David here with us, it's simultaneously daunting and exhilarating.”
Notes David Shire: "[Cordell] has put so much care and enthusiasm into preparing a large and varied selection of pieces from my body of work, and I can't wait to hear the result and and minimally participate in the presentation. Successful film and theatre composers have to, of necessity, be able to write music that supports and enhances a great variety of emotions and dramatic situations, and the program Deniz has fashioned demonstrates that capacity very well. I hope you enjoy the concert as much as I know I will."
Much of the music in this program has never been performed in a concert setting and has been newly prepared and re-orchestrated for the chamber orchestra. As a colleague and friend of the two featured composers, Cordell has had access to the composer’s original sketches and scores for the purposes of restoration and orchestration.
Additional composers represented include three-time Tony Award-winner Charles Strouse (Annie, Bye Bye Birdie, Bonnie & Clyde), and Georges Delerue (A Little Romance, Agnes of God, and many Francois Truffaut films).
Cordell first began advocating for performance and preservation of film music in his undergraduate days at Brandeis University. In 2009 he assistant-conducted the NYU Symphony Orchestra in a concert of music by Leonard Rosenman.
The BMC Pops Orchestra features seasoned professionals and local music students alike. The goal has been to create an ensemble that reflects the wealth and diversity of musical talent in our community and region. Members of last year’s youth pit band for NEYT’s Sound of Music production are involved as are members of the Windham Orchestra, BMC Faculty, Keene Chamber Orchestra, Brattleboro Union High School Music Honors Program, local music teachers, and visiting guest artists.
The audience is invited to a reception after the concert to meet and chat with both performers and composers.
Tickets available at the door: Admission is free, but there is a suggested donation of $5. For information call the Brattleboro Music Center at 802-257-4523
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Anyway, that's enough from me - but if any of you have any questions about the concert, let me know. Many thanks for indulging me by reading all of this stuff - and I'm really hoping to see a couple of FSM faces there!
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Wow, a Shire and Rosenman concert - wonderful! Those guys are definitely not the "usual suspects" as film music concerts go. Kudos!
I'd love to be there, but unfortunately crossing the Atlantic for it won't be feasible. 
What he said!
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Thank you Nils & James for the very kind words of support!
And, of course, if any of you have any friends who live in the New Hampshire/Vermont/Northern Massachusetts area who might be interested in coming up for the concert, please feel free to let them know about it, as well!
With the concert about six days away now, I thought it might be neat to tease the program a little bit, sort of a la LaLaLand's gradual posting of the "Star Trek" box set track lists.
So, if you've ever wanted to hear music from:
The Cobweb
Edge of the City
2010
Monkey Shines
performed live - as well as premieres of brand new suites from "East of Eden" and "Return to Oz" (the latter includes some music that I don't believe has ever been heard before), here's your chance! And these titles still only just scratch the surface of the ground we're going to be covering (never fear, there's 70s Shire aplenty, as well as post-50s Rosenman).
I realize that there probably aren't a lot of folks on the board who live within a decent enough distance to come see this concert - but if you're able to, it'd be wonderful to have you there for it! And please be sure to say hello afterward!
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- with an orchestra of top-notch local students and professional musicians working together to tackle this wonderful, challenging, and incredibly fun material.
Might I ask, TheFamousEccles, if the students and musicians were familiar with the film music by Leonard Rosenman or David Shire before the first rehearsal?
Additional questions: As a conductor, do you feel that musicians need to be sympathetic towards the musical material prior to planning a concert performance?
Are the students/musicians individually selected for the programme based upon their receptiveness to the music and their particular talents in certain areas?
Have any of them become fans of Rosenman and/or Shire after the rehearsal(s)?
I apologize in advance if these questions are too probing or if Mr. Eccles (Mr. Cordell) is not at liberty to disclose sensitive information. Still, I think discussion of some of the topics I inject into this thread might create additional interest in the upcoming concert (we hope ).
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- with an orchestra of top-notch local students and professional musicians working together to tackle this wonderful, challenging, and incredibly fun material.
Might I ask, TheFamousEccles, if the students and musicians were familiar with the film music by Leonard Rosenman or David Shire before the first rehearsal?
Additional questions: As a conductor, do you feel that musicians need to be sympathetic towards the musical material prior to planning a concert performance?
Are the students/musicians individually selected for the programme based upon their receptiveness to the music and their particular talents in certain areas?
Have any of them become fans of Rosenman and/or Shire after the rehearsal(s)?
I apologize in advance if these questions are too probing or if Mr. Eccles (Mr. Cordell) is not at liberty to disclose sensitive information. Still, I think discussion of some of the topics I inject into this thread might create additional interest in the upcoming concert (we hope ).
Hi ZardozSpeaks!
Thanks for your post, and for your questions. No question is too probing! (Well, almost no question... anyway, none of these questions are) and I don't think there's much in the way of sensitive information regarding these, so answers lie ahead! Apologies in advance if they are meandering, boring, and totally neglect to answer your questions.
-Some of the students that I'd worked with previously knew little bits and pieces of David & Leonard's work through working with me, and others knew bits and pieces of the music on the program ("Star Trek IV" seemed to be fairly well known), or had at least heard of some of the movies. In addition to David & Leonard, we're also doing a short piece by my friend Charles Strouse, and many of them knew his theatre music, though not the piece we were playing. It's a similar situation with the adults in our orchestra, actually - though they do remember most of the movies we're playing from.
During rehearsals, they'd often ask me about certain movies, based on research they'd done between rehearsals, and they'd always want to know "what was happening" during a certain piece of music, which has actually been a huge help in shaping interpretation. Anyway, I think the music has definitely caught their ear - the students actually want to hold a marathon of all of the movies we're playing music from - which I'm not sure is totally advisable (I can stomach "Battle for the Planet of the Apes" only because of the incredibly fun score and the ultra-weird casting), but I love the fact that they've really embraced the music and the concept behind the concert.
I don't think an initial sympathy to material is always important when planning a concert - but in this case, I really was only able to push for this concert - and move forward on it - because I felt I had a core group of musicians that had (or would have) an affinity and sympathy for this sort of music, who would understand the internal workings of it, and not only play the notes very well, but bring something of themselves to it, too. With this concert, knowing that I had people who would be interested in this sort of thing - and whom I like working with very much - proved to be the thing that made it happen, so in this instance, having performers who would have a more immediate grasp of the material, and what it needed, was essential.
I've worked with the vast majority of the student musicians before on local theatrical productions (in my other life, I also music direct and conduct musical theatre), so I went in knowing their abilities, and knowing that even though this material would stretch and push them in all sorts of ways, that they'd be able to handle it - and so far they have (though there are still some passages we'll be going over in these last couple of days) risen to every challenge I've thrown at them. Having the adult players there also encourages them and inspires them to elevate their playing, too - and it sort of creates a wonderful positive feedback loop, and everyone keeps playing with more feeling, accuracy, and understanding each time we run something (and the actual practicing that they do helps a lot, too, of course). With the additional student musicians, many of them have come highly recommended either from music teachers, or from my "core student constituency", whom I've come to trust very highly - and with good cause, as every musician they've brought into the orchestra has proven to be a top-notch addition. With more soloistic material - I have tried to pick the program around what I think they can manage (and in a few instances, I've prepared a piece not knowing if they'd be able to really play it, but thinking "It'd be great, if..." and each time, the orchestra surprises and delights me in giving a first reading that's remarkably close to what the piece should sound like.), and in general, I did work to make sure that some things would generally play to the orchestra's (or individual players) strengths. Otherwise, for the rest of the orchestra, the music center and I reached out to instructors, teachers, local musicians, members of other community orchestras, and friends - I have a friend in Manhattan who's coming up to sing a few songs, and another friend from college who's living in the Boston area is playing with us - she's doing the viola solo in "Old Boyfriends" - and so it's sort of a fun, "old home week" kind of thing in it's own weird way. And, of course, there's also David, who'll not only be in attendance, but (and I still think this is pretty surreal) will also be playing a few pieces with the orchestra.
One sort of amusing thing is that the pieces that I thought would have stymied them actually came together much faster than anticipated. Things like the Main Title from "The Cobweb", or "Hook Fight" from "Edge of the City" (Called "Violence in the City" on the album) that are pretty complicated, and rhythmically challenging, were quite good after a few read downs, whereas a piece I thought would be more straightforward, such as David's utterly delightful End Title from "Max Dugan Returns" took a little more time to get into basic shape. Go figure.
Everyone leaves our rehearsals humming or singing one of the pieces - whether it's Leonard's "RoboCop" or "Star Trek" themes (there's an anecdote I heard recently about a recent road trip some of my musicians went on, where the phrase: "Hey, everyone, let's sing 'The Cobweb!'" was exclaimed), "Max Dugan Returns" and the vamp from "The Taking of Pelham One-Two-Three" are real favorites, too. They really love "Pelham" and "Manhattan Skyline" from "Saturday Night Fever," and they always ask to end rehearsal with the "Rag-March" from "Return to Oz." So, the short answer to your last question is: Yes, everyone's coming away from the work as fans of both David & Leonard's music - we recently ran "Rebel Without a Cause," and after the cut-off, one of my flautists said: "That's such a pretty theme."
Of course, working with the chamber orchestra has necessitated some reorchestration and adaptation of the material - but the sketches for things like "Return to Oz" and "The Cobweb" are so complete (down to listing the number of players on passages) that it's very difficult to screw them up - but I have had to rethink or make minor adjustments in order to make things work with the orchestral forces I have - but the integrity of the written scores always stays at the forefront of how I'm treating everything - even though it'll occasionally be different, by virtue of it being a live performance, and a new reading of this music. Both David and Judie Rosenman have been very supportive in allowing me to interpret the music as a conductor and orchestrator/reconstructor, but I'm really limiting that more to certain tempi & dynamic things (and whatever little things had to happen to make the material effective in the smaller ensemble), things that I think make sense in a concert setting - but no actual notes have been changed or harmed in the making of this motion picture concert.
Anyway, I hope these are at least fairly satisfactory answers! If you - or anyone else - have any other questions, don't hesitate to let me know - and again, I hope a few folks in the area might be able to make it up for this - I think it's going to be a very special evening for everyone, and film music needs audience support!
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This is happening tomorrow night! If you're in the area, come if you can!
Had a marathon rehearsal with the orchestra today, and now prepping a few last minute things.
But, we had David Shire there tonight, and he played his three numbers with the orchestra (beautifully, of course), and it's going to be a really special evening, so if there are any New England board members who stumble across this thread - I hope you might be able to make it!
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