Composer | Author | Producer
Checking out the documentary of the original cast recording of Stephen Sondheim’s ‘Company’ today, when my wife came into the room to ask what I was watching.
When the words “Broadway musical” hit her ears there was a beat or two of pause before her eyes glazed over.
“Oh. Musical.”
I spent Halloween this year watching Kuroneko, a supernatural tale of revenge and honor from 1964 directed by Kaneto Shindo. It was time well spent, as I discovered the musical genius of composer Hikaru Hiyashi who scored this memorable film.
In this nutty, overcrowded world, do you ever have an urge for real solitude? Somewhere so remote the world will leave you in peace?
I have found such a place. It’s right here in my studio. Listening to The Bell Tower, the 1957 one-act opera by Austrian composer Ernst Krenek. While experiencing it I was overcome with the realization that I was the only person on earth listening to it.
Think of it. THE… ONLY… PERSON… ON… EARTH!
If you know anything about the work of Dmitri Shostakovich there are some adjectives that will come to mind to describe his canon, and probably none of them are these:
Ebullient.
Sparkling.
Lighthearted.
Fun.
This is why I am fascinated by his foray into scoring for musical theater called Cheryomushki (“Cherry Town”).
