December 2004
Holiday music by Dimitri Tiomkin

Dimitri Tiomkin's score for the American film It's a Wonderful Life is well known. In addition to this Christmas classic, he wrote several Christmas songs not associated with motion pictures. To find out more about Tiomkin's music for the holidays and the story of the carol he wrote, "The First Christmas," to read more . . .

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November 2004
Chicago Symphony Orchestra performs The High and the Mighty Suite

A suite from Dimitri Tiomkin's Academy Award®-winning score for The High and the Mighty was performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra as part of the second concert in the inaugural "Friday at the Movies" series. The concert, titled "The Golden Age of Film Music," was conducted by Richard Kaufman at Chicago's Symphony Center on November 19. In attendance was Olivia Tiomkin Douglas who was introduced to the audience. The audience had the rare privilege of an onstage viewing of Tiomkin's Oscar® statuette from the 1954 film. The concert marked the second public performance of the six minute suite arranged and extended by Patrick Russ from a shorter earlier version by Christopher Palmer, which Kaufman recently recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra (see May news, below). Kaufman and the orchestra received a standing ovation.

In addition to the Tiomkin suite, the music scores of Elmer Bernstein, Ernest Gold, Ron Goodwin, Bernard Herrmann, Maurice Jarre, Erich Korngold, Henry Mancini, Alfred Newman, Alex North, David Raksin, Max Steiner, Franz Waxman, and Victor Young were performed while selected still images from the films they accompanied were projected above the orchestra. Much of this music was composed between the years 1957 and 1964, for films ranging from Peyton Place to 633 Squadron. Sadly, hearing Raksin's haunting theme for Laura and Bernstein's rousing call to arms for The Magnificent Seven reminds us that their recent deaths signify that an era has indeed ended.

Concerts featuring film scores have gained increasing respect over the past several years. Live performances of film music have become standard fare on community and pops concerts, and the genre is growing more visible in the repertoires of regional and larger orchestras. In November alone, performances were heard from Knoxville, Tennessee, to Greeley, Colorado, to Redwood, California. The performance by the CSO, in their first-ever series devoted to film music, is noteworthy and perhaps evidence that film music is fast becoming a publicly and critically accepted American symphonic art form.

Richard Kaufman, who has served as principal pops conductor of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and the Pacific Symphony Orchestra, returns for the final program of the three-concert series, "A Night on the Red Carpet," on February 25, 2005. On Oscar® weekend, the CSO will perform Academy Award®-winning music by John Barry, Maurice Jarre, Nina Rota, and others. Music from Tiomkin's score for High Noon will be featured.

For ticket information: www.cso.org

For a review of the concert ("CSO steps out with evening of film scores," by Michael Cameron): www.chicagotribune.com (search "Archives" for "CSO")

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June 2004
The High and the Mighty suite recorded in London

A new suite from The High and the Mighty has been recorded at Abbey Road in London by conductor Richard Kaufman and the London Symphony Orchestra for a future release by Koch International. Olivia Tiomkin Douglas attended the session at Abbey Road's Studio One.

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Silva Screen releases Dimitri Tiomkin: The Essential Film Music Collection

Silva Screen Records will release a special limited collector's edition of The Alamo: The Essential Dimitri Tiomkin Film Music Collection on June 21. With more than 200 minutes of music, including more than fifty tracks from thirty classic films, this four CD set contains music from Westerns, epics, Hitchcock thrillers, and drama and high adventure. A suite from The Alamo and "The Tiomkin Vocal Songbook" including "Do Not Forsake Me," "Thee I Love," "The Ballad of Jett Rink," and "The Ballad of the War Wagon" round out the selections. The music is performed by the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra and the Crouch End Festival Chorus conducted by Nic Raine, Paul Bateman, and Mario Klemens. Produced by James Fitzpatrick, with orchestrations largely by Patrick Russ and Christopher Palmer, this represents the most complete collection of Tiomkin music ever assembled on CD. Premiere recordings of music from Tarzan and the Mermaids, Tension at Table Rock, The War Wagon, The Well, The Wild Wild West, and others make this a must-have for any film music enthusiast. The twenty page booklet contains copious liner notes by David Wishart and introductory remarks by Olivia Tiomkin Douglas who states, "It is thrilling to see this Dimitri Tiomkin compilation come to fruition, the realization of so many dreams."

Order it at www.silvascreenusa.com.

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April 2004
D.O.A. music score and poster highlight film noir music exhibit

Dimitri Tiomkin's original music sketches and a one-sheet poster for D.O.A. (1950) formed part of a recent exhibit "Film Noir: The Music That Sets the Tone" at the Hollywood Entertainment Museum (www.hollywoodmuseum.com). The main title for this quintessential film noir suspense drama could be heard on portable MP3 players while viewing the D.O.A. material. Tiomkin's music sketches along with conductor scores for Strangers on a Train and Angel Face were also on display. The exhibit, on view from April 8 to June 7, included music sketches and scores, photographs, sheet music, cue sheets, posters, lobby cards, production-related materials, and MP3s of representative works. Co-presented by The Film Music Society, which provided a selection of artifacts, it was co-curated by archivist and FMS board member Warren M. Sherk. The retrospective evoked the often haunting sounds of the atmospheric orchestrations of film noir and spotlights the composers who scored a broad range of memorable films–from German Expressionist works and the American gangster genre to classic Hollywood noir and modern-day interpretations. "While most Hollywood films from the 1930s offered an optimistic view of American life and mores, World War II and the ensuing Cold War brought a darker tome to Hollywood," said Jan-Christopher Horak, curator of the Hollywood Entertainment Museum. "It was French critics in 1945, viewing the many American films they had missed because of the Nazi occupation, who coined the term film noir–literally 'black film'–to describe the new attitude and style." Composers represented included Elmer Bernstein (The Grifters), Don Davis (Bound), Herschel Burke Gilbert (The Thief), Jerry Goldsmith (L.A. Confidential), Bernard Herrmann (Taxi Driver), Henry Mancini (Touch of Evil), John Ottman (The Usual Suspects), David Raksin (Laura), Miklos Rozsa (Double Indemnity), Max Steiner (Mildred Pierce). Franz Waxman (Sunset Boulevard ), Christopher Young (Rounders), and Victor Young (The Glass Key).

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