FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

DANNY ELFMAN’S FIRST CONCERT WORK
SERENADA SCHIZOPHRANA
IN STORES OCTOBER 3rd ON SONY CLASSICAL

Grammy-winning, Oscar-nominated composer of music for over 100 films and tv series – Batman, Spiderman, Good Will Hunting, Edward Scissorhands, “The Simpsons”

Work premiered at Carnegie Hall in 2005 – music later featured in IMAX’s Deep Sea 3D

Adding another facet to an already brilliant life in music, Danny Elfman steps out from his career-defining role as a Grammy Award-winning, Oscar-nominated composer of original music for film (Batman, Spiderman, Beetle Juice, The Nightmare Before Christmas) and television (“Pee-Wee’s Playhouse,” “The Simpsons,” “Desperate Housewives”) with the release of Serenada Schizophrana, his first orchestral composition written specifically for the concert hall.

The world premiere of Serenada Schizophrana at Carnegie Hall on February 23, 2005 drew ecstatic reviews across-the-board from both classical music and pop culture critics. It subsequently received worldwide exposure as the featured music in the soundtrack to the IMAX film Deep Sea 3D which was narrated by Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet. The Sony Classical recording is conducted by John Mauceri, best known for his sixteen years as conductor of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra.

The genesis of Serenada Schizophrana was a commission from the American Composers Orchestra (ACO), a new honor for Elfman and a challenge that he welcomed. Without the usual visuals to drive his orchestral music, he writes, “I began composing several dozen short improvisational compositions, none of them related. Slowly, some of them began to develop themselves until I had six separate movements that, in some abstract, absurd way, felt connected.”

Serenada Schizophrana was scored for large orchestra, electronics, two pianos, and female voices. “With six movements, rolling piano solos … and the charming hoots and chirps of eight female voices,” wrote Bernard Holland in the New York Times, “Mr. Elfman gave us music comfortable in its own world and highly professional in its execution … The composer of this piece has an ear for symphonic colors and how to balance them.”

“In keeping with the piece’s title,” Mac Randall also noted at the time in the New York Observer, “the music veered madly from Ellingtonian whimsy to Bernard Herrmannesque agitation … The tortured swing of the third movement conjured up the image of a jazz band on a storm-tossed raft, with trash-can cymbals acting as the crashing waves. And the furious horn-stoked climax and surprising last-second resolution of the closing movement made for a rousing finish.”

For Elfman, a self-taught musician who had never heard any of his orchestral music performed live on stage, it was a “thrilling experience.” Highly influenced by the work of such mid-20th century film composers Bernard Herrmann, Nino Rota, Dimitri Tiomkin, Max Steiner and Erich Korngold, among many others, Elfman’s music is also tempered by Prokofiev, Stravinsky, Orff and Bartók, as well as early Duke Ellington. “I am forever attached to the music of the early 20th century,” Elfman writes. To this mix, he adds his recent discoveries of Harry Partch, Philip Glass and Lou Harrison.

Serenada Schizophrana is a ‘gumbo’ of all these styles and influences, as conjured up by the imaginative and often surreal pen of Danny Elfman. A prolific composer for more than a quarter-century, Elfman has written music for over a hundred films and tv series. He is well-known for his collaborations with equally eccentric director Tim Burton on a partnership that began in 1985 with Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure, and went on to include Beetle Juice (1988), Batman (1989, whose theme won the Grammy for Best Instrumental Composition), Edward Scissorhands (1990), Batman Returns (1992), Mars Attacks! (1996), Sleepy Hollow (1999), Planet Of the Apes (2001), Big Fish (2003), Charlie and The Chocolate Factory (2005), and Corpse Bride (2005).

For most of this time (until about a decade ago) Elfman was a mainstay of the beloved Los Angeles-based group Oingo Boingo, which was originally assembled in the late-’70s by his older brother, writer-director Richard Elfman, to provide the music for his first movie Forbidden Zone (1980). The group flourished (over the course of eight albums) but also became ubiquitous on movie soundtracks through the ’80s: Fast Times At Ridgemont High (1982), Bachelor Party (1984), Weird Science (whose title song became a pop hit, 1985), Something Wild (1986), to name a few.

Meanwhile, as his working friendship with Burton grew in the ’90s (and Oingo Boingo eventually disbanded), Elfman focused on what turned into a string of some 50 signature movie soundtracks, among them: Dick Tracy (1990), Sommersby (1993), Dolores Claiborne, Dead Presidents, and To Die For (all 1995), Mission Impossible (1996), the Men In Black franchise (1997, 2002), Good Will Hunting (1997), Chicago (2002), and Nacho Libre (2006). Upcoming projects include Disney’s animated Meet the Robinsons, Paramount's adaptation of Charlotte's Web.

Sony Classical, RCA Red Seal and deutsche harmonia mundi are labels of SONY BMG MASTERWORKS. For e-mail updates and information regarding Sony Classical, RCA Red Seal and deutsche harmonia mundi artists, promotions, tours and repertoire, please visit www.sonybmgmasterworks.com.

Hopefully I can break the space/time continuium and get people to talk about new (maybe even great) music instead of waxing the same poetic crap about Zimmer and Horner that never seems to go away.

Peter, you mentioned calling one of the tracks "Berrmannesque"; I assume you're refering to the first movement, "Pianos". It has a great fusion of both styles, as well as a piano approach utilized most often by Philip Glass (whom Elfman mentions as a major influence in his liner notes). The second movement, "Blue Strings", is where the Herrmann really shines through. He reuses a few chord movements from his Red Dragon score (but what composer doesn't these days, I guess we have to forgive him) but a great majority of the orchestrations ring more Herrmann than Elfman/Bartek. Not discounting it, I'd say it's my least favorite movement. "A Brass Thing" is simply a power to behold. A lot of Stravinsky, Korngold, and Tiomkin influence here. The opening is very percussion and brass heavy (hence the title) leading into the strings and woodwind. The orchestrations here are mesmerizing, they really bring me back to fantastical side of Elfman. It's a shame movement four, "The Quadruped Patrol" is one of the shorter tracks; it changes the tempo of the entire piece dramatically and the nature of the obstinato is broken off before the track ends for a wordless female chior and a slower rythym change (a bit like Glass again). Some may be happy at the shorter track time change as I know many might find problems with the repetition; I would have liked the tempo change at the end to have continued. "I Forget" is signature Elfman (and a major highlight). A female choir (singing in Spanish, the lyrics are printed in the booklet) lead the orchestra to a beautiful adagio finale of woodwinds and strings. Although it might not be evident, I think the final movement, "Bells and Whistles", is very much inspired by Stravinsky. It won't sound like his work on any listen that you complete; but the style is so completely different than the rest of the movements that I have to cite it. The beauty of Stravinsky (especially a highlight like The Rite of Spring) is that the entire piece varies dramatically from movement to movement but don't feel like a part of a seperate piece. That's how I would describe "Bells and Whistles". The progression is Elfman more along his suspense music (frantic strings, disoriented piano, and brass clusters here and there) but it's a very different part of the music in the entire concert piece. It also incorporates a wordless female choir into the final minutes and closes with dramatic brass and the disoriented piano. "End Tag" is a short encore of a motif found in "The Quadruped Patrol" and a soft piece for the orchestra to end on. The album closes with "Improv for Alto Sax". It's not exactly a movement in the entire piece, but it compliments the music heard before it well. For years, I've wanted Elfman to do a very suitable noir-ish score and this is the closest he's come to achieving that in my ears. Throughout the entire album, the Hollywood Studio Symphony is put through the test; this would be a fantastic piece to see performed live and I'm curious to see how Disney worked it into their IMAX Deep Sea 3D.

Hopefully, other Elfman fans will take note, grab a copy, and tell their friends. It's a rare treat when a modern day film composer is asked to write an original concert piece; and I wish more film music fans would take note and appreciate the versatility of Danny Elfman.

NP> Elfman's Serenada Schizophrana (*****/*****)

What I love to see the most: Danny Elfman getting down to it and delivering something incredible in a very pressurized setting created by stuffy classical elitists that would never have allowed this to happen if they had their way. Danny Elfman, concert composer? No way, say they. Yay yay, say we!

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Originally posted by PeterK:
What I love to see the most: Danny Elfman getting down to it and delivering something incredible in a very pressurized setting created by stuffy classical elitists that would never have allowed this to happen if they had their way. Danny Elfman, concert composer? No way, say they. Yay yay, say we!

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Especially considering that Elfman isn't classically changed. To them, that IS blasphemous. Personally, I think it's daring and most importantly: it works. I have a friend who is very fond of classical composers and turned me on to many of my favorites. While he has a respect for Elfman as a film composer, the moment I called him after hearing the first movement to tell him how great the music was, he sounded surprised. A bit like, "Elfman can write orchestral music with no visuals?!" I made him a copy and he's promised to listen to it tonight. I can't wait to hear his thoughts. To me, the great thing about Elfman's musical experience in a band like Oingo Boingo is the fact that they really experimented with time changes and the progression of rythym; something that's greatly evident on this concert piece.

Usually have no real love for music. In fact I find them to be haters of music in general. Even of the classical music they claim to love so much.

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Originally posted by budharney:
It's sad that "Scorekeeper" over at AICN is in a position to reach a lot of people who might otherwise not read up on film music and the best he can do to describe this amazing piece is to call it "phrenetic" (sic). It's no wonder he's held in such high estimation around here.

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ScoreKeeper is one smart individual. It's such a relief knowing that Elfman can write "phrenetic" music; who knew?

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Originally posted by budharney:
It's sad that "Scorekeeper" over at AICN is in a position to reach a lot of people who might otherwise not read up on film music and the best he can do to describe this amazing piece is to call it "phrenetic" (sic). It's no wonder he's held in such high estimation around here.

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I don't know who Scorekeeper is, but don't you think it's a pun on the word "Schizophrana", as in SchizoPHRENETIC?