by Warren M. Sherk
Dimitri Tiomkin
Another banner year for the music of Dimitri Tiomkin has come and gone. Highlights include the premiere of the LSO Live recording “The Greatest Film Scores of Dimitri Tiomkin” performed by the London Symphony Orchestra; a Tiomkin competition culminating in a gala concert at the international jazz festival in Kremenchug, Ukraine; and Cinerama Dome screenings of Search for Paradise in Hollywood. The latter presented a rare opportunity to see a Cinerama film projected in near optimal conditions. The widescreen marvel was accompanied by Tiomkin’s glorious score heard in six track stereo.
Transnational might best describe both Tiomkin’s music and its performance around the globe by such orchestras as the Brazilian Symphony, Central Washington University Symphony, Danish National Symphony, Golden State Pops, Kansas City Symphony, Knoxville Symphony, Malaga Philharmonic, Malaysian Philharmonic, Münchner Rundfunkorchester (Munich Radio Orchestra), New Queen’s Hall Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic, Space Coast Symphony, and the Sudbury Symphony.
Increased access to Tiomkin’s life story and music was provided by several publications ranging from the first electronic edition of Dimitri Tiomkin: A Portrait to Kathryn Kalinak’s Music in the Western as well as concert suites from High Noon and The High and the Mighty from Hal Leonard and the Alfred Rental Library, respectively.
With 2013 shaping up to rival or exceed 2012, here are some things to look forward to.
More Concerts
Building on years past and the wider availability of Tiomkin concert suites thanks to efforts by Patrick Russ, this year Dimitri Tiomkin’s music will be performed by the New York Philharmonic and many other orchestras around the world. With the exception of John Williams, Dimitri Tiomkin may now be one of the best represented Hollywood composers in the concert music field.
More CD releases
2012 saw the release of three diverse Tiomkin recordings. The aforementioned LSO Live recording, “The Greatest Film Scores of Dimitri Tiomkin,” was contrasted with the mighty Fall of the Roman Empire issued by La-La Land Records and the atypical score for The Four Poster released by Screen Archives Entertainment. What’s in store for 2013? We’ll keep you posted…
More Alfred Hitchcock: A Perennial Favorite
Alfred Hitchcock was everywhere in 2012, from a biopic to an HBO movie to a comprehensive retrospective presented by the British Film Institute (BFI) in London. This year the New York Philharmonic joins the celebration with a Hitchcock-themed concert featuring Tiomkin’s music in September.
More of everything
Each month we will continue to post news, articles, and a blog. A treasure trove of photographs, poster art, and documents are being prepared for the Gallery from material collected by Olivia Tiomkin Douglas that document the life and music of Dimitri Tiomkin.
Our long-awaited feature article on Arthur Zepp, Tiomkin’s valet during the late 1920s, has grown into two parts thanks to an abundance of material supplied by Tom Zepp, Arthur’s son.
We will reassess Tiomkin’s role as a producer, documenting his desire to produce films and television programs with Russian or musical themes during the 1950s and 1960s, that culminated in the production of Tchaikovsky.
Thanks for visiting www.dimitritiomkin.com.