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

------------------------

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