Lights, camera…melodies!
Frankly Music, the classical chamber ensemble headed by Frank Almond, concertmaster for the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, will spend a night at the movies later this month. Their Monday, Nov. 27, performance will feature works from the serious side of well-known Hollywood composers Erich Wolfgang Korngold and Bernard Herrmann.
“We’ve never done anything with a nod to film composers,” says Almond. “I thought it would be interesting to play what are some really spectacular works by what amounts to two of the 20th century’s greatest composers.”
The evening’s quintet will perform two works by Korngold—Incidental Music from Much Ado About Nothing and the Piano Quintet, Op. 15. Korngold left his native Austria in 1934 as the Nazis came into power, but by then the 37-year-old composer had already established himself as a major force in classical music.
“Korngold was considered a child prodigy and was a household name among music fans in Vienna,” Almonds explains. “His serious works and a lot of his chamber music don’t get played very often, and they should be. These compositions are very reflective of his style.”
The New York City-born Herrmann, whose Echoes for String Quartet is also part of the evening’s program, created a very different style of music, especially compared to the lushness of Korngold, Almond says. Echoes also is a piece too often ignored by chamber groups, he adds. “Herrmann is known almost exclusively as a film composer, but he has done other things throughout his career as well,” Almond says. “He was working as a conductor right out of Juilliard and would create these incredibly eclectic programs with the CBS Symphony Orchestra, and he was an early champion of composer Charles Ives.”
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While working at CBS, Herrmann met a young Orson Welles, who brought him to Hollywood to score his first film, Citizen Kane. It wasn’t long before the prolific and creative composer was working with directors both major and minor, including a long and particularly productive relationship with Alfred Hitchcock.
“Herrmann is a very atmospheric composer whose work creates specific moods,” says Almond. “Echoes is an especially compelling piece that has elements similar to those that appear in some of his film music, especially in his work for Hitchcock.”
Plainly speaking, Almond is a fan of film music “when it’s good,” and he is pleased to see a growing appreciation among classical performers for various cinematic composers. In addition to those compositions already listed, his “Movie Night” program may contain a few surprises.
“It’s tough to look at the career of someone like John Williams and be anything but amazed,” Almond says. “We may include something of his work, but I am finding it tough to adapt the theme to Jaws for chamber ensemble.”
Monday, Nov. 27 at 7 p.m. at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 914 E. Knapp St. For tickets visit franklymusic.org.
