Film Music

Bang on a Can, Composers, Contemporary Classical, Film Music, Interviews

David Lang on (UNTITLED)

(UNTITLED), an original film satire of New York’s avant-garde art scene, will appear in theaters across the nation this fall. By poking fun at the idiosyncrasies of 21st century Bohemia, (UNTITLED) introduces American audiences to some of the best that contemporary art has to offer, notably a score by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer David Lang, who merges the artistic expressions of the composer protagonist with his own musical voice.

(UNTITLED) revolves around melancholy composer Adrian (Adam Goldberg) and his whirlwind affair with a Chelsea gallerist (Marley Shelton), who unbeknownst to Adrian sells vacuous commercial works to high-paying corporate clients. The film explores the idea of true art and the question of integrity lost through commercialism – all with tongue in cheek. At the beginning, Adrian’s music comprises cliché contemporary classical music elements, such as crinkling paper and breaking glass. Once his perspective and emotions achieve depth and insight through his blossoming romance, his music becomes more profound.

John Clare had a chance to send questions to both David Lang and Adam Goldberg. In the first post, here are Lang’s answers about (UNTITLED):

1. Often with a joke, there is some seriousness or truth behind it. Is there some truth to this movie even though there is some fun being poked?

There is a lot of truth in this movie, mostly about how people in the arts become passionately committed to something they believe in that may look unbelievable from the outside. I think that creative commitment is captured very well, as is the distance between the committed people and the people watching the committed people.

2. How cool is it for the composer to “get the girl” in this movie? Did it influence your music for the film?

Getting the girl didn’t influence my thinking in the movie, although it didn’t hurt. The progression of the character musically is that he begins by making music only for himself, because that is how large his world view is; when he meets the girl his senses and optimism and maybe even his idea of audience expand, and his music changes accordingly. I definitely tried to make that shift happen in the music. (more…)

by John Clare
Composers, Contemporary Classical, Film Music, New York, TV

Some late-late news on (Untitled)

goldbergAhead of its Oct 23rd general release date Adam Golberg, the actor who portrays all-too-well a modern “avant-something” composer/performer in the new film (Untitled) (with score by David Lang), will be making an appearance on CBS’ Late-Late Show with Craig Ferguson tonight at 12:35 AM.  (Hey, if you can’t get actual new-musicians on the mainstream media, might as well settle for someone who plays one!) Here’s hoping Ferguson picks up on the quirky charm and knowing ribbing, rather than the more typical “I just don’t get these losers” read. Sure, hipster new-music meets hipster gallery is an exotic, pretentious, even meaningless place for most of us out of (and perhaps even in!) that scene, but every dog deserves its day.

by Steve Layton
Contemporary Classical, Film Music

(Untitled)

from the film (Untitled)

One of the totally unexpected perks that has come along with producing my podcast is all of the press releases that started showing up in my inbox, and even CDs in the mail once in a while.  Well, last night was another first for me: an invitation to screen a new film before its release.  I like films and like to follow what some of my favorite directors and screenwriters are up to, but I am far from an aficionado—so I won’t pretend to be one here.

If you hadn’t heard, there is a new film coming out this month about a hairy composer who writes “difficult” music (read: breaking glasses, ripping paper, dropping chains in buckets), and who is seduced by a tall, sexy, smart, blonde…wait for it…Chelsea art gallery owner.  What?!  Does that really happen?  Really?!  The composer is played by Adam Goldberg, and the gallery owner by Marley Shelton. But here’s the really great part: the music and score is by David Lang!

I have no idea how the general public will feel about this film; I think I’m too close the subject to be objective about it.  However, if you are a composer or artist, if you are an art collector or like to commission new music, if you curate a gallery or produce concerts–you will relate to the characters and their situations and struggles.  When you see the funny parts you’ll laugh because you’ve been there, when you see the artists and composers struggling you’ll sympathize because you’ve been there.  Again, I’m not going to say that this is a great film or a bad film–but, if you are part of this community at all, it’s worth seeing.  The movie addresses the questions we all ask ourselves about success: Is it okay if only six people show up to the concert?  Is it okay to be overtly emotional in our music?  Is it okay to steal your brother’s girlfriend?  All of your questions will be answered in this movie.


(Untitled) opens on October 23 in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco.  It’s not clear if there are plans for it to open in other markets, so keep your fingers crossed if you don’t live near one of those cities. In the meantime, check out the trailer, the website, and join me in congratulating David Lang on his first film score!

Update on openings…
November 6: Austin, Chicago, Dallas, Miami, Minneapolis, Portland, San Francisco, Santa Cruz, Seattle, Washington DC.  November 13: Boston, Philadelphia, Houston, Providence.  Enjoy!

by James Holt
Composers, Concerts, Contemporary Classical, Electro-Acoustic, Film Music, Opera, Premieres, San Francisco

Let’s ask Jack Curtis Dubowsky

Jack Curtis Dubowsky EnsembleSan Francisco-based composer, conductor, writer, educator, and filmmaker Jack Curtis Dubowsky is a very busy man.  This Wednesday night, September 9th at 7:30 p.m., he’ll take the stage along with the Jack Curtis Dubowsky Ensemble in San Francisco’s Meridian Gallery, located at 535 Powell Street, convenient to Powell Street BART.  Next month, he has a new opera premiering. But fortunately, he wasn’t too busy to talk to me.

S21: How does it feel to be leading off the Meridian Gallery’s 11th season of Composers in Performance?

JCD:  It’s an honor to be selected to be a part of the Meridian Gallery’s prestigious Composers in Performance series. Anne Brodzky, the gallery director, is wonderful.  Tom Bickley is a brilliant series curator; the composer/performers he’s invited have been consistently cutting-edge, engaging, and talented.  I also owe thanks to Adria Otte at Meridian who has been very helpful.

Innova, the label of the American Composers Forum, has released Earth Music, a compilation CD of music selected from the first ten years of the series.  This CD has amazing solo performances on it.  It shows the high level of quality and wide variety of music at the series as well as Meridian’s commitment to new music. (more…)

by Polly Moller
ACO, Classical Music, Contemporary Classical, Film Music, Music Events, New York

Minimalist Friday

It’s minimalist week in the Center of the Universe, highlighted on Friday night by the John Adams 60th birthday concert at Carnegie Hall.  Adams will be conducting the American Composers Orchestra in performances of My Father Knew Charles Ives, The Wound-Dresser (with bass-baritone Eric Owens) and the Violin Concerto, with Leila Josefowicz doing the honors. 

Meanwhile, also on Friday, in a nearby universe, Michael Riesman, Music Director of the Philip Glass Ensemble and concert pianist, will be performing the world premiere of his marvelous new transcription for solo piano of Glass’ score to the 1931 classic horror film, Dracula.  The gothic walls of the Orensanz Foundation for the Arts provide a perfect backdrop to Reisman performance, which will done live to film.  Tickets are $20 ($25 at the door).

On a more somber note, there will be a public memorial service for composer and pianist Andrew Hill, who died last Friday, at Trinity Church (89 Broadway at Wall Street) this Friday, April 27, at 2:00 pm.

by Jerry Bowles
Composers, Contemporary Classical, Film Music

Pare & Virgil

For those of you who were insufficiently cheered by Florida’s decisive surge over the Ohio State football factory, here’s something that should help.  Our friends at Naxos will  release on January 31 a  DVD of fellow Mountaineer Pare Lorentz’s landmark New Deal-era documentaries “The Plow that Broke the Plains” (1936) and “The River” (1938), featuring the first complete modern recordings of the seminal Virgil Thomson soundtracks by Washington, D.C.-based Post-Classical Ensemble under Angel Gil-Ordóñez, with narration by Floyd King.

“The Plow that Broke the Plains,” which examines the causes of the Dust Bowl drought and was made for $20,000, was the first film produced by the United States Government for commercial release. Despite being rejected by the film distribution system as New Deal propaganda, the documentary reached people in over 3,000 theaters. “The River,” which addressed flood control on the Mississippi River, won Best Documentary honors at the Venice Film Festival and received a Pulitzer Prize nomination for its script.  It is probably unfair to call Lorentz Roosevelt’s Leni Riefenstahl but his films demonstrated the power of documentary to influence opinion.

Virgil Thomson’s soundtracks to both movies rank among the composer’s greatest work and also set the trend in the 1930s and 1940s for a new style of film music. A young Aaron Copland found the scores to be “fresher, more simple, and more personal” than most Hollywood soundtracks, “a lesson in how to treat Americana.”

Hey, somebody start some trouble over on the Composers Forum page.

 

by Jerry Bowles