NOTABLOG
MONTHLY ARCHIVES: 2002 - 2020
| MARCH 2007 | MAY 2007 |
Song
of the Day: I
Should Care, music by Axel
Stordahl and Paul Weston, lyrics by Sammy Cahn, made its debut in the 1945 Esther Williams-Van Johnson film, "Thrill of a Romance." It has been recorded
by Frank
Sinatra, Martha
Tilton, June
Christy, Nat
King Cole, Mel
Torme, Boz
Scaggs, pianists
Bill Evans, Oscar
Peterson, and Thelonious
Monk, and birthday
boy Duke Ellington, among many other artists (audio clips at those
links). My brother, guitarist Carl Barry, who also celebrates
his birthday today, has performed this tune brilliantly, both as a solo artist
and with vocalist Jack
Michaels. Happy Birthday, Bro!
| Permalink | Comments
(2) | Posted to Music
What a great song! Axel Stordahl is an outstanding arranger.
Posted by: bassplayer | May
4, 2007 04:08 AM
Glad you liked it, bassplayer; it is truly wonderful. Lots of
great changes for jazz musicians especially...
Posted by: Chris
Matthew Sciabarra | August
3, 2007 08:32 PM
On April 18, 1907, composer Miklos Rozsa was born in Budapest, Hungary. Today,
April 18, 2007, I celebrate the Centennial of the maestro's birth.
As readers may know, I have often featured Rozsa's music in my "Song
of the Day" entries. But I officially kicked off the Centennial
Celebration back in April 2006 with this
entry. I concluded my tribute over the past week, beginning here and
ending here (though,
for sure, there will be many more Rozsa entries to come in my music diary).
Rozsa was not only the composer of nearly 100 film scores; he was also the
composer of truly wonderful concert works. For those who have not explored the
maestro's corpus, let me recommend a few links and books. First, readers should
acquaint themselves with the work of the Miklos
Rozsa Society, whose founder and director John
Fitzpatrick has done a great job throughout the years, exploring and
extending our appreciation of Rozsa's life and music.
Second, let me recommend two books and an article: The first book is Rozsa's
own Double
Life (New
York, Wynwood Press, 1982; 1989), which is truly "a Spellbinding Autobiography
of Success and Survival in the Golden Age of Hollywood." The book includes a
foreword by Antal Dorati, and a preface by Andre Previn. It is out of print now,
but can be found in many used book venues.
The second book is Jeffrey Dane's new one: A
Composer's Notes: Remembering Miklos Rozsa, which includes a foreword
by Leonard Pennario. It is published by iUniverse (Lincoln, Nebraska: 2006).
There is also my introductory article, first published in The
Free Radical.
It is available
online, and also as a PDF.
And, of course, let me recommend that readers listen to
Rozsa's soundtracks and concert works, which are available on CD.
Finally, let me remind readers that Turner Classic Movies begins a wonderful
centennial tribute to the composer tonight, at 8 pm, Eastern time. The "special
event" showcases four films that Rozsa scored. It starts with a
showing of "The
Killers" (1946), and continues with "Brute
Force" (1947), "Ben-Hur"
(1959), and "The
Lost Weekend" (1945).
Rozsa was nominated 17 times for Oscars, and was a three-time winner. From his
film noir scoring contributions to his scores for grand epics to his wonderful
concert works, he remains, in my view, one of the finest composers of the
twentieth century.
Cited at Liberty and Power Group Blog and at The
Rozsa Forum.
| Permalink | Comments
(2) | Posted to Music | Remembrance
Chris; It is worth noting that other great composers of the
20th centurey were associated with the movies. Max Steiner and Erich Wolfgang
Korngold. Max Steiner did the score for The Fountainhead.
Posted by: Chris Grieb | April
30, 2007 10:24 AM
Good point, Chris (and I'm a fan
of both Steiner and Korngold too!). BTW, I actually wrote an appreciation of
Steiner's "Fountainhead" score, when it was re-released in 2004. Take a look here.
Posted by: Chris
Matthew Sciabarra | May
17, 2007 07:33 AM
Song
of the Day: Ben-Hur
("The Battle") (audio clip at that link) is one of the most rousing
cinematic achievements in the Miklos
Rozsa film score canon. No tribute would be complete without a nod
to my
all-time favorite film score. Rozsa's
music for the naval
battle, an action-packed highlight of the 1959 William Wyler-directed "Ben-Hur", remains one of his
great Academy-Award
winning cinematic moments. And so we conclude our Centennial
Celebration of the music of Miklos
Rozsa on the occasion, today, of his 100th
birthday. Tune
in to Turner Classic Movies to see a tribute to Rozsa-scored films throughout
the day.
| Permalink |
Posted to Music | Remembrance
Song
of the Day: The
Killers ("Main Title") is from the 1946 movie, which boasted one of Miklos
Rozsa's classic
film noir scores. It actually introduced the "dum-de-dum-dum" theme, which (along
with Rozsa's
score for "The Naked City") inspired the opening notes for the
television series, "Dragnet"
(audio clip at that link). Listen to an audio clip of the "Main Title" here.
| Permalink | Comments
(4) | Posted to Music | Remembrance
Comments
Chris, that theme from Dragnet has an actual title, IIRC. You recall what it is?
Posted by: Aeon J. Skoble | April
17, 2007 09:13 PM
Hey, Aeon, I checked this out online here,
where we are told the following about the theme music:
It's also known as "Dragnet March" and "Danger Ahead." There were two
Dragnet-related hit records in 1953: the theme music, recorded by Ray Anthony
and His Orchestra; and a Dragnet takeoff by Stan Freberg, called "St. George and
the Dragonet" (it sold over a million copies).
I also checked my copy of "Television's Greatest Hits," and let me quote from
the liner notes:
The "Dragnet" theme is actually made up of two different parts. The first notes
(dum-de-dum-dum) were used by composer Miklos Rozsa as incidental music in the
1947 film "The Killers." Walter Schumann composed the march that makes up the
rest of the theme. Performed by the Ray Anthony Orchestra in 1953, the "Dragnet"
theme went to #3 on the pop chart.
Hope that helps!
Posted by: Chris
Matthew Sciabarra | April
18, 2007 08:26 AM
It helps to know I can't stump you on trivia questions! :-)
Posted by: Aeon J. Skoble | April
18, 2007 08:55 AM
hehehe... well, there are plenty I'd miss.
But here's one (I'll be blogging about it soon):
What absolutely fantastic classic television series from the 1960s makes its DVD
debut in a couple of weeks? :)
Posted by: Chris
Matthew Sciabarra | August
3, 2007 08:30 PM
Song
of the Day: Sodom
and Gomorrah ("Intermezzo") (audio clip at that link) is a bold
cinematic theme written by Miklos
Rozsa. Check out the new
100th anniversary special 2-CD edition of this soundtrack!
| Permalink |
Posted to Music | Remembrance
Song
of the Day: Concerto
for Cello and Orchestra (Opus 32) was composed by Miklos Rozsa at the request of cellist Janos
Starker. Listen to audio clips from three renditions: one recorded
by cellist
Lynn Harrell with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra; another recorded
by cellist
Raphael Wallfisch with the BBC Concert Orchestra; and yet another
recorded by cellist
Brinton Smith with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.
| Permalink |
Posted to Music | Remembrance
Song
of the Day: Concerto
for Viola (Opus 37) (audio clips at that link, featuring viola
soloist Paul Silverthorne) is a richly textured four-movement
work that is one of composer Miklos
Rozsa's orchestral triumphs.
| Permalink |
Posted to Music | Remembrance
Song
of the Day: The
Vintner's Daughter (12 variations on a French folk song) (audio clips
at that link), composed by Miklos
Rozsa, is based on a poem by Juste
Olivier, which was set to a French folk-song. It has an element of
impressionism, which is captured as well by pianist Sara
Davis Buecher (audio clips at that link).
| Permalink |
Posted to Music | Remembrance
Song
of the Day: Hungarian
Nocturne (Opus 28, Notturno Ungherese] is composer Miklos
Rozsa's "attempt to recapture the rare beauty of the nights" he
remembered in rural Hungary. For me, it evokes the rare beauty of Rozsa's
melodic sensibility. Listen to an audio clip here,
performed by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, conducted
by James
Sedares. Today begins my one-week tribute to
the great Miklos
Rozsa, which will culminate on April 18th, to mark the centennial
of the maestro's birth (check out my other Rozsa
tributes as well). (Noted too at the Miklos
Rozsa Society's Rozsa Forum.)
| Permalink |
Posted to Music | Remembrance
Song
of the Day: These
Foolish Things (Remind Me of You), music by Jack
Strachey and Harry Link, lyrics by Holt
Marvell, has been recorded by Benny
Goodman (and here
with Charlie Christian too), Frank
Sinatra, Nat
King Cole, Etta
James, Ella
Fitzgerald, Rod
Stewart, and Bryan
Ferry, among many others. Happy
April Fool's Day!