A suite from Dimitri Tiomkin’s score for Alfred Hitchcock’s film Dial M for Murder was part of the traditional season-ending fireworks spectacular at the Hollywood Bowl on September 16, 17, and 18. Olivia Tiomkin Douglas and Patrick Russ attended the Sunday night concert. Billed as the “Fireworks Finale: The Russians Are Coming,” Tiomkin was in good company, sharing the program with fellow Russian composers Khachaturian, Prokofiev, Rachmaninoff, and Shostakovich. Following the final piece—a rousing firework-infused performance of Franz Waxman’s “The Ride of the Cossacks,” from Taras Bulba—conductor John Mauceri launched into Dimitri Tiomkin’s theme from Rawhide. Those heading for the exits stopped short and listened to the galloping rhythms of the television show theme.
Although this marks the 75th anniversary of Tiomkin’s association with the Bowl, it is not the first time the Tiomkin name has been associated with a Russian-themed concert at that venue. The lead line in a 1939 Isabel Morse Jones article in the Los Angeles Times read, “Russian music by Russian-born musicians who have wandered far, constituted the Hollywood Bowl program last night.” On that occasion Tiomkin joined conductor Albert Coates and the Los Angeles Philharmonic in a performance of Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Concerto. Of Tiomkin’s playing, Jones went on to write, “His contemplative Adagio marked a winning simplicity in Tiomkin and his sustained tone carried far. Brilliant passages verified his reputation for technical equipment.” The previous year marked Tiomkin’s conducting debut with music from Lost Horizon.
Dimitri Tiomkin with Arthur Lange, Hollywood Bowl, 1930
Performances throughout the 1930s, in particular 1930, 1933, and 1939, featured Tiomkin’s music for ballet choreographed by his wife, Albertina Rasch. Music from at least a dozen different films scored by Tiomkin has serenaded the hills surrounding the amphitheater. In addition to performing his well-known works, such as High Noon and The High and the Mighty, the Bowl has seen performances of music from Spawn of the North, The Adventures of Hajji Baba, and Take the High Ground. Conductor John Mauceri and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra have championed Tiomkin’s music in a number of Bowl concerts since 1996. Few can match Tiomkin’s enviable record, including roles as composer, conductor, and pianist over the past seven decades; film suites, themes, and songs; ballet music; and music from the standard concert repertoire.