Boston Modern Orchestra Project & Gil Rose - Gail Kubik: Symphony Concertante (2022) [Official Digital Download]

Tom [ Scherman, of the Little Orchestra Society ] came to me and said, “Hey Kubik, I’m being pestered all the time by the pianist in my orchestra, Frank Glazer, for a solo appearance, and by Bob Nagel, my trumpet player, and the principal violist [ Theodore Israel ] .” And so Tom, figuring to kill three birds with one stone said, “Can’t you write me a piece for piano, viola, trumpet, and orchestra, and I’ll have my three players do the solo parts and they’ll get off of my back?” I said, “Sure.” And since it came within a month or so after I’d finished recording the score to the film C-Man, which had exactly those three solo instruments, I just re-wrote it as the Symphony Concertante. Don’t do that thinking that you’re going to save time. It’s twice as hard, it’s ten times as hard, than to just write a new piece.

Because Gerald McBoing Boing’s producers were insistent that the musical score should function as equal partner with animation and writing in the film’s production, the usual cartoon-making procedures were reversed: the score was composed first; the music served as a blueprint for animation, and not, as is usual, as imitative “super sound effects” to accompany the animation. In short, music functioned as music. To transfer Gerald’s score, therefore, from motion picture screen to concert stage was simple, indeed, and was accomplished without alteration or loss of a single note.

The basic difference between film and abstract music is one of architecture; a film score being, of course, required to follow the architecture of the film, whereas abstract music follows a purely musical and self-sufficient structure. Abstract music needs no film to accompany it in order to be a totally satisfying aesthetic experience. [ The film Transatlantic ] reflects an over-all light-hearted mood, with only a moderate effort at precise synchronization. The sections of the score therefore take on, for the most part, fairly clear-cut formal structures which made their later use in my Divertimento for thirteen instruments not too difficult.

Tracklist:
01. Divertimento No. 1: I. Overture
02. Divertimento No. 1: II. Humoresque
03. Divertimento No. 1: III. Scene Change
04. Divertimento No. 1: IV. Seascape
05. Divertimento No. 1: V. Burlesque
06. Gerald McBoing Boing
07. Divertimento No. 2: Overture
08. Divertimento No. 2: Pastorale I
09. Divertimento No. 2: Pastorale II
10. Divertimento No. 2: Scherzino (Puppet Show)
11. Divertimento No. 2: Dialogue
12. Divertimento No. 2: Dance Toccata
13. Symphony Concertante: I. Fast, vigorously
14. Symphony Concertante: II. Quietly
15. Symphony Concertante: III. Fast, with energy


Thanks to the Original customer!