Marcus

Thank you so much! Manuel Hofstätter, the main marimbist of the BPO, is such a sublime musician, so I had lots of fun devising the 2nd movement around those marimba cadenzas, as well as the triple cadenza with harp and solo timpani. Some really outstanding players in that orchestra...

I love Henrik Skram's work. I do think, however, that both his method and language are a bit more conducive to the current state of affairs than mine (the pen&paper thing really is an obstacle...). Again, I'd be thrilled to do more film work, and I harbor more than a little regret for having had to pass on a couple of opportunities that arose due to the success of "Upperdog", but my main gig is concert music. To me, film music has been the main refuge & laboratory for tonal music since WWII, and I'm only too happy to try to bring some of the fruit of its labors back to the concert hall, or to venues for music drama. I'm certainly not alone in this endeavor; whereas the great Classical-Romantic tradition once fathered what was to become the Hollywood tradition, that tradition now parents much of the neo-tonal music of the 21st Century (for better and for worse, certainly).

Thank you, Thor! The two Norwegian films I have scored, "Upperdog" and "Umeå4ever", were enjoyable tasks, and provided me with an opportunity to search for colors and textures that would match the tone of the films. With "Umeå", I was given complete freedom, and had lots of fun scoring it for saxophone, accordion and double bass (the virtuoso contemporary music trio Poing). "Upperdog" was a slightly different experience, there was more money and risk involved, and I felt like I was on a constant audition (I had indeed gotten the assignment after the first composer was let go, and I was part of a group of 12 composers asked to submit works for consideration). As I work only in manuscript (pen&paper), the only sketches I can offer, are piano sketches. This created a certain tension, and I felt that I didn't really have the producers' trust until we got to the scoring stage. I would like to do more film work, but I wouldn't take on an assignment now, unless the director specifically wanted my music. In other words, I love collaborative efforts, but I want to be able to contribute to the full extent of my craft and abilities. Given that very few people in the film industry have much of an interest in contemporary classical music, I am simply not a "go to" guy...

Thank you so much, Alexander, Miguel and Blume! Your kind and generous comments mean a great deal to me.

Oh, they're a wonderful group. And thank you so much! I hung out with the orchestra following the second concert, and the trombone section outlasted all of us. When I finally capitulated ca. 6 a.m.,they were still drinking with undiminished enthusiasm ...

And thank you, Ins & Incanus! Very much appreciated!

Thank you! I'm cursed. Anything beyond pen & paper rarely works for me...

Greetings everyone! A couple of you have already heard it, but for those who haven't, a live recording of my Concerto for Timpani & Orchestra is now up on my website (www.marcuspaus.com). The piece was commissioned for the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra's 250th anniversary (one of the world's oldest orchestras), and the live recording features solo timpanist Håkon Kartveit and the BPO, conducted by maestro Andrew Litton. Concerto for Timpani & Orchestra A CD featuring the work will be out on LAWO records in October, but for those who wish to check out the live recording, it's really quite a wonderful and virtuosic performance. Of all my more recent works, this is by far the most "cinematographic", certainly due to the very outdoorsy, celebratory temperment of both solo instrument and occasion. The work is in three movements, "Overture", "Nocturne" and "Finale", the final two movements are played attacca. Hope you'll enjoy! Cheers, Marcus

In this particular case of musical adaptation, I think a fair analogy is tailoring: Customizing a piece of pre-existing cloth to fit a slightly differently shaped figure, adding no new elements, but utilizing only what were parts of the original fabric.

The manuscript score, (as orchestrated by Pope and Karam), as well as Williams' sketches.There's not a single cue that credits Ross as composer, but there are plenty of instances where sections from HP1 are reused verbatim, and my guess is Ross was involved in adapting these to fit new scenes where intended. Hence the "Music Adapted and Conducted by" credit (rather than "Additional Music by"). Still, that's only an assumption. We can't just assume Ross adapted music from the first installment of the series when the manuscript scores don't at all mention his involvement. If the album states Ross adapted music (i.e. Ross either followed Williams's guidelines in synchronizing music from the first installment with the second, or performed the synchronization himself) and if that's a fact, why wouldn't that be mentioned on the manuscript scores in the form of a Music Adapted by credit? In that particular case, there's no reason at all not to mention his contributions. Adapting isn't a job to underestimate. The fact that we have the manuscript sketch of the Prologue, adapted from HP1, clearly penciled by Williams himself makes one frown alone. We know there have been instances where Williams didn't work chronologically, so whether Ross was brought in late in the game or not is irrelevant. By adaptation, I mean to simply reuse, and only stretch the timings a little bit to synchronize with the on screen action. This is a matter of music performance, not music composition.

The Errol motif is simply Williams having a bit of fun creating a variation of Hedwig's theme. Again, all the music in HP2 is by Williams, regardless of whether you like it or not.

The manuscript score, (as orchestrated by Pope and Karam), as well as Williams' sketches. There's not a single cue that credits Ross as composer, but there are plenty of instances where sections from HP1 are reused verbatim, and my guess is Ross was involved in adapting these to fit new scenes where intended. Hence the "Music Adapted and Conducted by" credit (rather than "Additional Music by").

Ross adapted existing music (HP1) to fit certain new scenes. Everything else is Williams (including whatever bits and pieces certain members here have less affection for).

What this is, is actually much simpler than it sounds: You have two pairs of sixths traveling in contrary motion, and that's all (no tritones etc, and it's all just four part writing). The violin harmonics' high shimmer and the slides between them obfuscate the result, and make it sound more elusive. The motored vibraphone doubling the harp also makes the lower pair of sixths project a little less "obviously"...

I'm going to indulge in a little bit of utterly uncollegial unprofessionalism: What little I've heard sounds incredibly schizophrenic, as if skilled people were to orchestrate the musings and meanderings of a mere amateur; it ranges from fantastically shoddy to surprisingly middling-but-seasoned..

Yes, there is absolutely a C# in the second chord (one may elect to hear it as a Dmin/F#min polychord), and there's also a passing E natural blending in with the third chord.

First chord is Dm/G#, second chord moves the bass note to F#, third chord is essentially an Eb9#11.

There is another, simpler, less mathematic approach to this procedure, which is simply to multiply a chord by itself, that is to say expand upon it using the structures of the original sonority. Let's say you have a chord consisting of the notes C, Ab and B, giving us an intervallic make-up of a minor sixth, a minor third and a major seventh. Using each of these intervals, one could create expansions derived from the original chord. Starting from the top B,the original structure could be repeated, giving us G and Bb, and again, continuing up, F# and A. Or one could start from the Ab, giving us E and G. And so on. A much simpler process, but one that can generate interesting results that will also sound sonically related to the original construct.

Glad to see so much appreciation for -and interest in- Anna Clyne's work! We were classmates at MSM 10-12 years ago, and she was always very strikingly gifted, with a very unusual, very singular artistic voice, even in those early days. Anna was in Julia Wolfe's studio, while I was in Richard Danielpour's. Among our fellow students, but some years younger than us, were Joe Trapanese (now a successful Hollywood composer) and Chris Cerrone, a fantastically talented young composer (his "Invisible Cities" is one of the most remarkable operas I've heard written by a composer still in his twenties). Looking forward to Anna Clyne's Emily Dickinson opera!

As with the first teaser, I just love how Williams completely re-contextualizes these snippets of earlier music. Very elegantly done!

But he obviously did (Ken Wannberg must be mistaken)! And that's sort of the whole point; it's musically speaking very literally a "phantom menace", and that kind of reasoning, already present in the construction of Anakin's theme, is completely consistent with how Williams works. I simply cannot fathom that "Augie's Great Municipal Band" would or could have been written as an exact pentatonization of the Emperor's theme, with an identical melodic contour, any other way.

OK, this begs for some clarification, and I hope I'll be able to provide some measure of it: The LSO is one of the world's great orchestras, and certainly one of the most versatile. The Hollywood Studio Symphony is an industry orchestra, and a rather different type of beast. It isn't primarily a concertizing orchestra, but a recording orchestra. To compare the two in terms of versatility is challenging, simply because they serve largely different purposes. Still, if you're looking for chops, sight-reading abilities and a sense of stylistic variety, the Hollywood Studio Symphony specializes in exactly that, and offers an unparalleled expertise. On a player-by-player basis, you're discussing some of the best performers in the world either way. Both orchestras have a sense of identity, btw, and, as has been pointed out, the HSS is no mere pick-up orchestra, but consists of players who know each other, and are used to working as a team. The main artistic difference might be more a question of each orchestra's "goal". The HSS doesn't have an artistic director, no chief conductor working ambitiously over time. Rather, they are perhaps the most technically proficient, stylistically fluent orchestra in the world. It is important to remember that orchestral "identity" can change; members are replaced, artistic directors/chief conductors come and go. Some orchestras (Vienna and Berlin spring to mind) will have a certain sound, and might strive to cultivate and protect such a sound spanning several generations of members. But in general, an orchestra is not a static entity, like, say, a rock group. Finally, let me offer this: Were I to record an album of my music,and had maybe 4 days in which to do it, and all of it would have to be rehearsed (sight-read), then recorded, I would go with the HSS. If I, on the other hand, would be given the privilege of putting on a concert of my works with either one of them, I'd probably opt for the LSO.

Thomas Newman is a fine composer, and a very good choice, barring Williams. I have to admit feeling a bit stunned by the reality of this, though. Grateful Williams still has his health, and the energy to take on a project of such magnitude as TFA, but the announced absence of a Williams 'Bridge of Spies' score does leave me a little wistful... I imagine Spielberg must be feeling similarly.

Feeling the urge to chime in: I found "Conversations" to be easily the strongest piece on the album, and the most profound, both structurally and musically. It's just really, really gorgeous, poetic piano writing, with a great sense of color. Loving the harmonic writing, and the subtle inflections of the "jazz history by twilight" the piece seems to offer.

It actually sounds like a combination of stopped and open (half/half), possibly doubled (at least towards the end of the passage) by bassoons? What's also unusual, is the low range of the stopped writing (again, towards the end of the passage in question); you can really hear it becoming unstable, and it sounds a bit uncomfortable for the players. A great sound nevertheless!