by Warren M. Sherk
Reporting from London, October 24, 2011
Conductor Richard Kaufman led a rehearsal of the London Voices in preparation for Thursday’s concert, “Symphonic Hollywood: The Music of Dimitri Tiomkin.” The London Voices will perform six pieces with the London Symphony: The Alamo, Giant, The High and the Mighty, Land of the Pharaohs, Rawhide, and Search for Paradise.
Patrick Russ and I joined Olivia Tiomkin Douglas at the afternoon rehearsal at the Barbican. Things went smoothly as the London Voices brought their experience recording contemporary film music to the classic film music of Dimitri Tiomkin. The London Voices are among a select number of vocal ensembles in the world that can hear a conductor’s direction once, implement the suggestion on the next downbeat, and move on.
Since the 50 voices must be heard as a single entity, many details and logistics must be worked out. Exacting instructions were given, such as when to stand, when to breathe, and how to pronounce certain words. Richard has a great ear for small details and made many musical adjustments that would maximize the group’s effectiveness when singing with the full orchestra.
On diction matters, Richard coached the singers to get the desired effect. For example, for Giant the lyric “Land…I…love” was to be sung as “Lan…die…love.” The Egyptian Arabic of Land of the Pharaohs was particularly fun. Pat pointed out that the letter “z” is best pronounced as “tz,” so Azam becomes Atzam. The women were excused and Andrew Playfoot joined the men to rehearse Rawhide. After, Olivia Tiomkin remarked that a certain Russian-ness came out of the music when one heard the men singing a cappella.
After the rehearsal Patrick Russ and I met up with record producer James Fitzpatrick who treated us to dinner at the Barbican Foodhall. James’s latest effort is out, a 2-CD set of the complete music for Fall of the Roman Empire. It seems like ages ago since Pat, myself, Paul Henning, and Alex Wurmbrand spent hours poring over the Fall of the Roman Empire scores and parts in the Dimitri Tiomkin Collection at the Cinema Library at USC. That was only the first step in compiling the music that James so lovingly brought to fruition with the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra. Topics of the lively dinner conversation included the present state of the art of film scoring, memories of working with orchestrator Christopher Palmer, and more.
This morning, I accompanied Pat to the home of Larry Ashmore, the legendary orchestrator whose music career spans nearly 60 years. Ashmore worked with Patrick Doyle, Michael J. Lewis, and many others. His orchestrations on Henry V are worthy of study by any student contemplating a career in film music. Prior to becoming a top notch film orchestrator, he was a member of the London Symphony Orchestra, a music copyist, arranger, and composer. Coincidentally, while working as a music copyist in the 1960s, Ashmore became familiar with Dimitri Tiomkin. On behalf of the Film Music Foundation, Pat hired a crew for a filmed interview that will document Ashmore’s life and career for the benefit of students.
TOMORROW: The first London Symphony Orchestra rehearsal for Thursday’s program.