Someone said in a film music book (can't recall who or which one) that Steiner had an great talent for orchestrating in such a way that a handful of musicians could sound like an entire orchestra, or words to that effect. I think that's absolutely correct. Just listen to Who Mourns For Adonis from Trek. The ear is fooled into thinking that it's listening to the entire LA Phil. Yet he probably didn't have more than 25 players. Amazing work. And that's one gorgeous score.
Admirers and supporters of film music owe much to Steiner's academic work. It went some way toward establishing the idea that film music, at its best, could be a legitimate and enduring artform.
We have talked plenty over the years about that certain T-Zone episode. You may not recall but I said something like if Mr. Steiner passed off the scene, something needed to be done about the score. It is the greatest television score, at least in the category of a half-hour show, ever composed. The something that needed to be done...well, we must talk.
Universities today are encouraged to share the fruits academic research, presumably because much of it is publicly funded. In the old days, if you didn't have academic library access, you had to buy an unwieldy microfilm or a very expensive printout. I'm looking forward to reading this one at last.
Universities today are encouraged to share the fruits academic research, presumably because much of it is publicly funded. In the old days, if you didn't have academic library access, you had to buy an unwieldy microfilm or a very expensive printout. I'm looking forward to reading this one at last.
Though they were 88 and lived long lives I've always been a little remorseful that Fred Steiner and Alexander Courage, the two men most responsible for Star Trek's musical sound, didn't live just a little longer to see La-La Land's 2012 box set. I'm sure they both would have been very happy.