With the best movie sequence of all time: the chariot race, the movie also boasts one of the longest musical scores ever written, recorded in one of the most epic recording sessions ever scheduled. Miklos Rozsa's music.
(03/03/2012)
In college, Gregory Peck majored in English with an "interest" in theater. And for this southern California boy, success in his field of interest came quickly. With a majority of his Oscar nominations coming in the first five films he made, his career seemed made. Then, Harper Lee wrote a book. It was a story Peck wanted to take on immediately and until the day he died he professed Atticus Finch was his favorite role. Elmer Bernstein provided a breathtaking score for the tale of courage and character in a small southern town. "To Kill a Mockingbird" on Flicks in Five.
(02/25/2012)
So many Hollywood romances, so little time. But for sheer passion and a tale of (nearly) unrequited love, at least by movie's end, you can't beat Rick and Ilse in "Casablanca." Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman sizzled as the two star crossed lovers trying to survive in war-torn North Africa. Sam plays again on Flicks in Five.
(02/18/2012)
A unique score for a unique film that came out of nowhere at Cannes. Now it's won Golden Globes and received numerous nominations for "best everything" (almost) from BAFTA, the Brit's Oscars to the SAG and Directors' Guild awards to The Oscars. Ludovic Bource created a score that's both original and an homage to the great film composers of the early 20th century.
(02/10/2012)
Longtime music director at 20th Century Fox and father of the studio's famous fanfare, Alfred Newman holds the distinction of winning more Oscars (9) than anyone outside of Walt Disney, AND his record for nominations is tied at John Williams at 45. If Williams is nominated next week for "War Horse" the tie is broken in regard to that!
(02/04/2012)
One of Hollywood's first great movie composers was a Viennese wunderkind. Erich Wolfgang Korngold was Vienna's bright operatic hope in the 1920s and 1930s, but with the outbreak of war he had to leave home and find safer ground. He was one of the earliest Oscar winners and went on to influence generations of composers that followed. Korngold's "Robin Hood" on Flicks in Five.
(01/28/2012)
A self-effacing diminutive English gentlemen appeared in Hollywood in the 1930s, and by the late 1950s, his nine-stroke pencil caricature have become internationally famous. Alfred Hitchcock, the master of suspense, long associated with holding audiences on seat-edges, casting handsome leading men and beautiful (usually blonde) leading ladies, had a musical muse in Bernard Herrmann. We celebrate hitch with "North by Northwest." Mt. Rushmore never looked the same.
(01/14/2012)
World War Two had just ended. The GIs were coming home and America had been forever changed. Two veterans returning from service in Europe got together in Hollywood in 1946, and the result of the teaming of Jimmy Stewart and Frank Capra is a hopeful holiday favorite. A tale of love and hope restored, "It's a Wonderful Life."
(12/24/2011)
Margaret Mitchell's epic novel had taken America by storm. By 1938 it was a runaway best-seller, and by 1939 it premiered in Atlanta as a big-budget epic movie that went on to become as popular as the novel.
(12/17/2011)
Join Lynne Warfel in celebrating the life and music of Franz Liszt on his 200th Birthday. Since he was perhaps the leading composer in providing soundtracks for America's most memorable cartoons, your audience will hear a collection of his work, and the work of his close colleagues in "Cartoon Rhapsody."
(10/20/2011)
Discover how Spike Jones led the way for Peter Schickele's PDQ Bach, and how one of The Marx Brothers helped Allen Sherman on his way. Also appearances by Anna Russell, Flanders and Swann and, of course, The Clown Prince of Classical Music Comedy, Victor Borge.
(04/01/2011)
In 1984, I took a grad school student's holiday to London to stay the summer with a friend, trying to see all the West End plays I could from the cheap seats. Before returning home, I went to Normandy to see where my Dad, Norman "Bud" Warfel, served during WWII. It was then the 40th anniversary of D-Day.
(05/27/2010)
Twenty-something Michael Israelievitch has just been named Principal Timpani of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. It was a grueling (but thorough!) audition and he feels ready to take on his new role.
(11/02/2009)
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