Harry here with a review of a live concert conducted by Jerry Goldsmith. I’m a soundtrack collector, with a small collection (at least when held next to Ford Thaxton’s, Lukas Kendall’s and them other guys), and Goldsmith has been impressive throughout his career, and an opportunity to see him conduct can only be described as a joy. For all of us that wish they could have been there, pretend...let the brother of the Wizard of Oz tell ya about it...
Hello from a long-time reader. I wanted to send the attached message which
I
thought might qualify as "cool" news. By the way, I hope you visit my own
site which contains many of my interviews and behind-the-scenes production
stories on film, "Wide Angle/Closeup." Its address is:
http://members.aol.com/morgands1/closeup
Regards,
Wizard of Oz
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I attended the Jerry Goldsmith concert today (October 4) at Carnegie Hall in New York, which was the composer's first concert appearance in New York City.
He was leading the New York Filmharmonic Orchestra (a group of 92 session players experienced in scoring films, television and commercials) in a good selection of the composer's works, including his "Fanfare for Oscar," "Star Trek: First Contact," "Rudy," "Hoosiers," "Gremlins," "Mulan," "Chinatown," "Papillon," "Patton," and some of his TV themes such as "Dr. Kildare," "The Waltons" and "Room 222." For an encore he led a tango from "Six Degrees of Separation" and then, having "run out of material" (and having fielded some shouted requests from the back rows), repeated "Star Trek." Most of the choices worked well on the concert stage, although some of the shorter pieces seemed a bit too stretched out -- the theme of "Barnaby Jones" is great at 30 seconds, but not at 2 minutes!
It was a very boisterous performance, with a welcoming crowd -- I was pleased to see many kids and students in attendance, although the screaming infant I could have done without! -- and the maestro gave amusing anecdotes before each selection. For example, he claims to have been the inspiration for Sean Connery's hair style in "Medicine Man." He also gave an example of musical ignorance in the film industry by telling of a producer who once discussed possible music for a story of the French Revolution, who said there should be "a lot of french horns in the orchestra."
The most intriguing part of the concert was his revelations about how he accomplished some of the weird sounds for "Planet of the Apes" -- an electronic-like swooshing sound was actually made by french horns whose mouthpieces had been put in reverse and then air blown through. The percussionists also had on hand some stainless steel mixing bowls (borrowed from Planet Hollywood nearby). They then performed three pieces from that score -- one of my favorites of his works -- which was fantastic.
But for me the coolest aspect of this event was a day earlier, when I attended the rehearsals for this concert at Riverside Church. I was to take pictures for a book project and brought my 4-year-old daughter along, who patiently sat in the back of the room about 20 feet from the orchestra as they went through their paces. Goldsmith was a jovial and efficient leader, and was clearly enjoying himself even when some copyist errors had cropped up in the score. And it was fascinating to hear, for example, only strings or only brass playing sections of "First Contact," the most stirring of his recent scores.
But as I was moving around with my camera, my daughter wandered away from her seat and I scooped her up in my arms just as the violinist and pianist engaged in a duet from "A Patch of Blue." We started waltzing, and I was tickled by the thought that we might be the only two people who have ever danced to music conducted live by Mr. Goldsmith himself! At least I know I shall never be able to watch "A Patch of Blue" without remembering that moment.
Brother of the Wizard of Oz
