Movie Music Magic

  This weekend's program may well seem like a retrospective of some of the greatest film and television of the last forty years. Indeed, the familiar themes of TVs The Waltons and Barnaby Jones, the scores to films and such asPatton and LA. Confidential, as well as the TV and film legacy of Star Trek, cover the wide gamut of Hollywood history. But the one common thread runnhg throudh this great parade of soundtratks is the legendary hand of one compose:Jerry Goldsmith.
  An heir to the Hollywood music scene through his studies at USC with famed Hunguian-born composer Miklos RozSa(among Rozsa's chief film sores are El Cid and Ben-Hur), Goldsmigh began his carly career in radio and television. From his formative years on TV with Dr. Kildare,to his latest blockbuster, The Mummy,tonight will take us on a musical journey through one man's reign as one of Hollywood's most prolific composers.
  After a short-lived, but popular,run on television, Star Trek found new life in feature films and new generations of casts and fans. Having composed the soundtracks for the first, fifth, and eighth installments of the Star Trek film dynasty,tonight we hear Goldsmith's music for the most recent and ninth film, Star Trck:Insurrection (1998). In the film, the latest crew of the Enterprise (from TVs Star Tre:the Next Generation) befriend the eternally youthful residents of a Shangri-la-like planet whose existence is threatened by the vengeful Ru'sfo (F. Murray Abraham).
  It would take many evenings of concerts to adequately present Goldsmith's musical treasures, but tonight will feature many highlights in the form of medleys. The first combines themes from several fiims, covering Goldsmith's early successes and latest hits. In fact, all but one (Air Force One) received Academy Award nominations for their scores. The Sand Pebbles (1966) was his first epic, starring Steve McQueen and set in 1926 China. Chinatown (1974), from director Roman Polanski, pairs the unforgettable Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway. Air Force One (1997) casts everyone's favorite president,Hardson Ford, as a Medal of Honor winner who surprises a group of terrorists aboard the President's plane. In his score for A Patch of Blue (1965), Goldsmith burst onto the popular scene with this touchng fiim of the friendship between characters played by Sidney Poitier and Elizabeth Hartman. Poltergeist (1982) gave Goldsmith a chance to show off his talents in the horror film genre in this wildly popular movie (Goldsmith had won his Academy Award for The Omen in 1976). Papillon (1973) brought Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman together in the story of a wrongfully convicted prisoner (Mcqueen) who sports a tattoo of a butterfly, called papillon in French. Basic Instinct (1992), the thriller that brought Sharon Stone to fame, is followed by music from The Wind and the Lion (1975), an old-fashioned adventureromance with Sean Connery and Candice Bergen, set in turn-of-century Morocco.
  One of the most dramatic films to capture the essence of Los Angeles in the 1950s is L.A. Confidential (1997,Amdemy Award nominee). A sleek homage to the film-noir genre, the tale involves police orruption and Hollywood sleaze. L.A. Confidential also netted co-star Kim Basinger an Osar for Best Supporting Actress.
  Goldsmith's current blockbuster is still in theatres this summer. The Mummy (1999), Universal's re-make of its 1932 original, casts Brendan Fraser as an Indiana Jones-type treasure hunter. As punishment for killing Pharaoh Seti and romancing his mistress, Egyptian priest Imhotep was mummified alive and cursed. But in 1923 Fraser inadvertentry resurrects him, and the priest must be stopped before he can wreak his final vengeance on the world.
  Scores from the 1970 classic Patton (Amdemy Award nominee) and the 1977 film MacArthur combine the stories of two military giants in The Generals. Patton stars the unforgettable George C. Scott as General George Patton, the battlefield genius of World War II. Another legendary actor, Gregory Peck, takes up the role of General Douglas MacArthur in his exploits during World War II and the Korean War.
  The second half of tonight's program opens with Fanfare for Oscar, the musical theme for the annual Academy Awards show. It was premirered on Oscar's 70th birthday in March 1998. "My inspiration for writing Fanfare for Oscar comes first and foremost from my own passion for film," says Goldsmith. "The end result of the composidon is a melding of the Hollywood of the past, the Hollywood of the present and the Hollywood of the future. My goal was to create a piece that explores the power and the grandeur of movies, not just for today, but for many years to come."
  The Russia House (l990), from the authur John le Carre (adapted by Tom Stoppard) contends that the business of spying is alive and well - in spite of glasnost- . Sean Connery plays a British publisher drawn into espionage by a Soviet woman (Michelle Pfiffer), who acts as emissary for a volatile friend.
  Not to be pigeonholed in one genre or another, Goldsmith has put his mark on films with a wide range of style and appeal. Two films with non-human stars come together in Tiny Creatures, with music from the reccent Small Soldiers (1998), and the unforgettable Gremlins (1984). While Small Soldiers features the animated battles of toys animated by their computer chips, Gremrins took a cute little pet called a Magwai, added a little water and feeding after midnignt, and turned a quiet suburb into a playground for malevolently mischievous monsters.
  Our next medley of hits covers Goldsmith's extensive output from television.Having composed some of the more memorable themes and episodes over the last forty years has kept Goldsmith on the cutting edge of the genre. The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964) casts Robert Vaughn as Napoleon Solo battling enemies of peace. Dr. Kildare (l961) starred Richard Chamberlain as Dr. Jame Kildare, the young and dedicated interm with Blair General Hospital. In Room 222 (l969) Lloyd Haynes takes the role of black teacher Pete Dixon who teachs the students at Walt Whitman High to be tolerant. Star Trek Voyager (1995) keeps Goldsmith's music attached to the popular franchise, this time with its main theme, which received an Emmy Award. The Waltons (1972) was one of the most popular and long-running TV series in history, with its clan of Woltons chiming "good night" at the end of every episode, and Goldsmith's memorable theme at the beginning. The medley ends with Barnaby Jones (l973), the story the exploits of milk-swilling, geriatric private eye Barnaby Jones played by Buddy Ebson, with anodler memorable theme by Goldsmith.
  The spectrum of Disney's animated musicals had another big hit in last year'a Mulan (1998). Goldsmith's score brings to life the re-telling of an ancient Chinese legend about a headstrong daughter who disguises as a boy in order to take her father's place in the Imperial Army to fight the invading Huns, thereby bringing honor to her family.
  We close tonight with a world premiere of a work composed for another visual entertainment: Fireworks : A Celebration of Los Angeles (1999). Commitioned especially for the Los Angeles Philharmonic and tonight's concert, Goldsmith has taken a new genre and put his legendary composer's pen to work.
  After a century of American film and over half a century of American television, there are few composers whose talents have created some of the most memorable soundtracks to our favorite movies and TV series. For new and old generations of moviegores, Jerry Goldsmith has made his legendary mark on Hollywood, while continuing to score films at an astounding rate, adding new classics to our everexpanding list of beloved soundtracks.

    - Tony Spano, Jr.

  Tony Spano, Jr. is entering his second year as Music Director at Culver City High School's Academy of Visual and Performing Arts after earning an MFA and DMA in conducting at UCLA. This is his sixth season at tht Hollywood Bowl,having worked with the Artist Department and cueing the fireworks for numerous concerts, including these concerts.


About the Artist

  Composer and conductor JERRY GOLDSMITH has produced a body of work that has earned him an Academy Award and two Emmy Awards. His work spans four decades and includes over 175 film scores, from music for such early television programs as The Twilight Zone to recent films such as L.A. Confidential (which eaned him both, an Academy Award nomination and a Golden Globe nomination) and Mulan. Goldsmith has also created works for the concert hall, including his Music for Orchestra, performed in the l997/98 subscription season by the Los Angeles Philhamonic with Esa-Pckka Salonen conducing. As a conductor, Jerry Goldsmith has appeared with orchestras throughout the U.S., as well as with the London Symphony, the Royal Phihamonic, the Phihamonic Orchestra of London, and the Madrid Symphony Orchestra. He last conducted at the Bowl in 1995.