Franz Waxman, of course, was one of the great film composers. His music can be heard in “The Bride of Frankenstein,” “Rebecca,” “The Philadelphia Story,” “Sunset Boulevard,” “A Place in the Sun,” “Rear Window,” “Peyton Place,” “The Spirit of St. Louis,” and dozens of others.
It was customary that Waxman and his family would get together with their neighbors, the Jascha Heifetzes, to welcome the new year with an evening of chamber music. Other guests on these occasions would include violist William Primrose and cellist Gregor Piatigorsky.
Mainstream classical fare would dominate the festivities until the countdown to midnight. With the turn of the year, the musical selections would become a bit more frivolous.
Waxman composed his “Auld Lang Syne Variations” in 1947, for one such gathering. This party piece sends up the traditional New Year’s anthem in the styles of several well-known composers.
Feel free to play along and test your musical knowledge. You’ll find further clues in the work’s subtitles, listed below the video on YouTube. One can only imagine Heifetz stepping out in “Chaconne à Son Gout.”
Happy New Year!
Tag: Franz Waxman
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Waxman and Heifetz Toast the New Year
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Hitchcock’s Other Composers Beyond Herrmann
Alfred Hitchcock’s most celebrated musical collaborator was Bernard Herrmann. Herrmann scored just about every one of Hitch’s films over the span of a decade, enhancing the impact and memorability of such classics as “Vertigo,” “North by Northwest,” and “Psycho.” But Hitchcock also worked with a number of other notable composers.
This week on “Picture Perfect,” we’ll cast some light into Herrmann’s shadow with selections from “Rebecca” (Franz Waxman), “Strangers on a Train” (Dimitri Tiomkin), “Spellbound” (Miklós Rózsa), and “Family Plot” (John Williams).
Herrmann goes on hiatus, and the suspense is killing us, on “Picture Perfect,” music for the movies, now in syndication on KWAX, the radio station of the University of Oregon!
Clip and save the start times for all three of my recorded shows:
PICTURE PERFECT, the movie music show – Friday at 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT
SWEETNESS AND LIGHT, the light music program – Saturday at 11:00 AM EDT/8:00 AM PDT
THE LOST CHORD, unusual and neglected rep – Saturday at 7:00 PM EDT/4:00 PM PDT
Stream them, wherever you are, at the link!
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Sweetness & Light Solo Instrument Showcase
This week on “Sweetness and Light,” musicians step out to strut their stuff in a collection of lighter works for solo instrument and orchestra.
Some of the pieces will be well-known, some perhaps not. We’ll enjoy a trumpet overture derived from a film score by Franz Waxman, a scherzo by the swashbuckling pianist and composer Henry Charles Litolff, a polka for bassoon and orchestra evocative of a grumpy old bear by Julius Fučík, and more.
A highlight will surely be a cello concerto by Arthur Sullivan, later of Gilbert & Sullivan fame, that was destroyed by fire but reconstructed decades later, largely from memory, by Sir Charles Mackerras.
One is the loneliest number, as the old song goes. So put your hands together for soloists stepping into the “light music” spotlight, on “Sweetness and Light,” this Saturday morning at 11:00 EST/8:00 PST, exclusively on KWAX, the radio station of the University of Oregon!
Stream it, wherever you are, at the link:
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King Arthur Movie Music on KWAX
This week on “Picture Perfect,” the Once and Future King of film music shows continues on KWAX, with selections from movies inspired by the legends of King Arthur.
The legends provide so much grist for “Prince Valiant” (1954), based on Hal Foster’s enduring comic strip, set in the days of Arthur, though Val himself is a Viking prince of the kingdom of Scandia. Janet Leigh plays Princess Aleta, James Mason the villainous Sir Brack, Victor McLaglen Val’s Viking pal Boltar, and Sterling Hayden a preposterous Gawain. For the title role, Robert Wagner dons the signature page-boy haircut. The score, by Franz Waxman, is every bit as vivid as the film’s Technicolor, and a clear prototype for the exuberant, leitmotif-driven music of John Williams.
“The Mists of Avalon” (2001), adapted from Marion Zimmer Bradley’s novel, takes the ingenious approach of retelling the Arthurian stories from the perspective of the oft-marginalized female characters. The revisionist approach breathes fresh life into the familiar tales, so that the book was greeted with critical and popular acclaim upon its release in 1983. A television miniseries, starring Julianna Margulies, Angelica Huston and Joan Allen, was produced for TNT, with music by Lee Holdridge.
“First Knight” (1995) features an unlikely cast of Sean Connery as Arthur, Richard Gere as Lancelot, and Julia Ormond as Guinevere. The film is unique, to my knowledge, in being based on the writings of medieval French poet Chrétien de Troyes, as opposed to the more frequently-employed source, Sir Thomas Malory.
The score is by Jerry Goldsmith. It was actually a bit of a rush job for Goldsmith, who stepped up at the very last minute to replace Maurice Jarre. Jarre had been approached to write music for what was originally a three-hour cut of the film. However, he only had four weeks in which to do so. Goldsmith, very well-known for his ability to write at white heat, was able to complete the score, and record the music in the allotted time.
“Knights of the Round Table” (1953) may lack the gravitas and grit of “Excalibur” – in my opinion, the most powerful of the Arthurian films – but it does sport some undeniably satisfying 1950s spectacle. The glossy and pat MGM production stars Robert Taylor as Lancelot, Ava Gardner as Guinevere, and Mel Ferrer as Arthur. The fine score is by Miklós Rózsa, from the height of his “historical epic” phase.
It’s more than just a knight at the movies. Polish up on music for the films of King Arthur, on “Picture Perfect,” now in syndication on KWAX, the radio station of the University of Oregon!
For streaming information, see below.
Keep in mind, KWAX is on the West Coast, so there’s a three-hour difference for the Trenton-Princeton area. Here are the respective air-times of my recorded shows (with East Coast conversions in parentheses):
PICTURE PERFECT, the movie music show – Friday on KWAX at 5:00 PACIFIC TIME (8:00 PM EDT)
THE LOST CHORD, unusual and neglected rep – Saturday on KWAX at 4:00 PACIFIC TIME (7:00 PM EDT)
Stream them here!
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Viking Movie Music Swords Fjords and Soundtracks
We’ve got the need for mead!
This week on “Picture Perfect,” it’s an hour of swords and fjords, as we travel north for music from movies about the Norsemen.
In “The Long Ships” (1963), two Viking brothers, played by the unlikely pair of Richard Widmark and Russ Tamblyn, make off with a king’s funeral ship – and the king’s daughter – as they set sail on a quest for the fabled “Mother of Voices,” an enormous solid gold bell – also coveted by a Moorish prince, played by the late Sidney Poitier. Needless to say, camp value is high. The music for this British-Yugoslavian production is by the Serbian composer Dusan Radic.
“Prince Valiant” (1954), based on the enduring comic strip by Hal Foster, is set in the days of King Arthur, though Val himself is a Viking prince of the kingdom of Scandia. And indeed Vikings play an important role in the film. Victor McLaglen is Val’s Viking pal Boltar, Janet Leigh is Princess Aleta, James Mason the villainous Sir Brack, and Sterling Hayden a ridiculous Gawain. Robert Wagner dons the signature page-boy haircut.
The score is every bit as vivid as the film’s Technicolor. We’ll hear selections from a very special recording, with the composer himself, Franz Waxman, conducting.
Michael Crichton’s 1976 novel, “Eaters of the Dead,” presents an unlikely, fish-out-of-water alliance, between historic Persian ambassador of the 10th century, Ahmad ibn Fadlan, and a band of Vikings. They overcome their cultural differences to face off against the Wendol, humanoid creatures who periodically emerge from the mist to feed on human flesh.
Crichton’s story was filmed in 1997 and ultimately released as “The 13th Warrior” (1999), with Antonio Banderas as Ibn Fadlan. The production was plagued by misfortune. The original director, John McTiernan, who found success with “Die Hard,” was fired for running over-budget, and Crichton himself was brought in to re-shoot a number of the scenes. Nevertheless, the film proved to be a box office failure. But any movie to feature a Jerry Goldsmith score – and Vikings! – can’t be all bad.
The legendary Jack Cardiff, who actually directed “The Long Ships,” provided the stunning cinematography for “The Vikings” (1958). The film stars Kirk Douglas, Tony Curtis, Janet Leigh, and Ernest Borgnine. Although unintentionally amusing on several levels, “The Vikings” is highly regarded for its attention to detail and stabs at historical accuracy – particularly in regard to its Viking dragon boats.
Also impressive is the haunting score by Mario Nascimbene, which we’ll hear in a digital re-recording, issued on the Prometheus Records label, featuring the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus, conducted by Nic Raine. The recording is like mead from Valhalla.
I hope you’ll join me for an hour of runes and tunes. It’s the definitive mix-tape for your dragonship, on “Picture Perfect, music for the movies, this Saturday evening at 6:00 EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.
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