A Certain Point of View: Writing, Film and Stuff

"Steven and I began, as we always did. by screening his finished cut of the film. And, at the end, the lights came up, and it was time for us to begin talking about the role of music in the film. But I was so overwhelmed by what I'd just seen, I really couldn't speak. So I excused myself and walked around the building for a few minutes to gather myself, and then came back to resume the meeting. And I said to him quite seriously, 'Steven, you really need a better composer than I am for this film.' And he said, very sweetly, 'I know. But they're all dead.'" - John Williams On December 3, 2018, almost a quarter century after MCA Records released the original 14-track soundtrack from director Steven Spielberg's Academy Award-winning film Schindler's List, Burbank-based La-La Land Records began to ship a limited edition 2-CD reissue titled Schindler's List: 25th Anniversary Soundtrack. Produced, edited, and remastered by Michael "M...

© 1993, 2018 La-La Land Records, Universal Music Special Markets, Amblin Entertainment, and Geffen  On December 3, 2018, La-La Land Records of Burbank, CA released Schindler's List - 25th Anniversary Soundtrack, a 2-CD set that presents John Williams' Academy Award-winning score in a limited edition (only 4000 units were made) reissue. Made in cooperation with Universal Music, Amblin Entertainment, and Geffen, this double album was remastered by soundtrack expert Mike Matessino and was approved by director Steven Spielberg and Maestro John Williams, who produced the original 1993 soundtrack. Per La-La Land's announcement, this limited edition consists of the original soundtrack album, which was reconstructed from material "sourced from the original 1993 release’s 24-karat gold Ultimate Masterdisc digital master." on Disc 1. Disc 2 presents six tracks that were not included in the 64:39 original soundtrack, including two cues (" Schindler's Workforce...

(C) 1962, 1990 RCA Records/RCA Victrola One of my fondest memories from my college days (now almost two decades ago) centers upon the first time I heard Hector Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique:  Épisode de la vie d'un artiste ... en cinq parties .  It was a cool (by South Florida standards) afternoon and I was in my Humanities class. Our professor -- Jay Brown, who aside from being an instructor at Miami-Dade Community College was, and still is, a talented musician who can play various instruments, including the glass harmonica -- touched upon many different topics ranging from epistemology to ethics. But on that day we were discussing music: the transition from the Classical period of Mozart to the Romantic era of Beethoven, Schubert, and Berlioz. More to the point, the topic of the afternoon was the advent of the big orchestra, and the prof played a selection or two from Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique:  Épisode de la vie d'un artiste ... en cinq parties ...

(C) 1994 BMG Classics, a division of Bertelsmann Music Group My father did not invent the Boston Pops, although he was always delighted when people thought he had. “Many think that way because I’ve been in it so long and there’s almost no separation between Pops and Fiedler,” he said with uncharacteristic pride. “It’s sort of a household term, and when you’ve done it so long, the two are just as closely knit.” – Johanna Fiedler writing about her father, Arthur, in the liner notes for 100 Fiedler Favorites. I don’t remember exactly when I discovered Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops Orchestra. Certainly not before I was 11 or 12; my widowed mom’s record and tape collection was small and didn’t include any light classical music albums. And in the mid-1970s, I didn’t own a lot of records, either. In fact, my one-and-only vinyl long-play (LP) album was a 33-rpm compilation of waltz music by Josef and Johann Strauss, Jr.  I do know, though, that I started watching Evening ...