Well, dear readers, I am sitting here like so much fish, listening to what has become my favorite piece of music by Malcolm Arnold, and one of my favorite pieces period. I know I’ve mentioned it before – I first heard this on KUSC about a year ago, because they use if for station breaks. And I had no idea what it was or who wrote it, but one day I just lucked out because I had it in my Music folder (iTunes) amongst all the Malcolm Arnold stuff I have. It just began playing and there it was, this piece of pure musical poetry. My favorite performance of it is the one they play on KUSC, conducted by Bryden Thompson. I link to it here right now so you can hear this incandescent piece, called Sarabande from his ballet Solitaire, which I’m now listening to.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyJyB0BfFlc
Interestingly, the ballet is comprised of Arnold’s English Dances Set 1, followed by Sarabande and Polka, followed by English Dances Set 2 – wonderful stuff. I did watch a motion picture I’d never seen, entitled True Believer, starring James Woods and Robert Downey, Jr. It’s nothing special – a courtroom drama where attorneys for both sides behave in ways that would get them thrown in jail for contempt. Mr. Woods is Mr. Woods – I find him mannered and weird, frankly. Downey doesn’t really have much to do other than hang around. The director, Joseph Ruben made The Stepfather, a film I liked, but his other work isn’t so hot – his craft is fine, but he either accepts jobs just to work or doesn’t have the ability to fix scripts that need fixing. A bad score by Brad Fiedel doesn’t help matters. And now, I am having an allergy attack – why not? I just took a Claritin-D, which will hopefully kick in sooner than later.
Yesterday was another day. I got six hours of sleep, had some inspiration, got up, and wrote a rough version of the first five pages of the book. I now have about sixteen pages, but beyond the five I wrote, I have to put them in order, as I’ve just been writing things as they come to me. Once that’s assembled, I’ll have the first sixteen pages done, which is a great way to begin the book on January 1. After that, I answered e-mails, tried to go back to sleep and failed, went to Gelson’s and got two onion rolls, garlic for the spaghetti sauce, red onion for the tuna pasta salad, and brown onion for the sauce. I came home and made two count them two tuna sandwiches.
Then I moseyed on over to the mail place and picked up three packages, one containing paper plates, one containing a CD and one containing a screener of Nope, which I’ve seen and didn’t care for. I came home and immediately played the CD, Ron Goodwin’s score for Alfred Hitchcock’s Frenzy, its first release. As some know, Mr. Goodwin’s score replaced a tossed-out score by Henry Mancini. Mancini recorded his main title on an album, and I rather liked it. Well, his entire thirty-two-minute score is on this CD, too. First, I listened to Goodwin’s score, which I like, although I don’t think it’s an ideal fit for the film. I know what Hitchcock and he were going for in the opening music, but for me it’s just a bit too much, too on the nose, and while it serves a purpose it doesn’t really set up the film at all, which is what a good main title should do. In that regard, Mancini’s main title, while retaining a bit of the flavor of what Goodwin would write, it’s also ominous and slightly foreboding, which DOES set up the film better, I think. Goodwin’s score is a bit melodramatic, like Hitchcock’s scores pre-Bernard Herrmann. But it’s enjoyable.
Then came the Mancini score, which is the polar opposite of the Goodwin score. It’s a much more suspense-oriented score and much darker than what Goodwin would write. The only way we’d know if Mancini’s score would have worked in the film is if someone finds a way to marry the Mancini cues to the movie, which some people on the Internet do expertly. That’s what I’m hoping for. I love Mancini in suspense mode – think Experiment in Terror or Wait Until Dark – and so I really enjoyed his score, which I listened to twice already.
I had a couple of telephonic calls, got the final hi-rez version of the main titles and got that to Marshall so he can cut them into the four finished episodes. Then I watched the movie, after which I made some popcorn that I’m now regretting having eaten. The Claritin-D hasn’t kicked in yet. Soon, I hope.
Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’ll do whatever needs doing, I’ll buy some burger buns and make two hamburgers for food, I’ll hopefully pick up some packages, do my final shopping for the Do – I mostly have everything save for the pasta, mushrooms, dinner rolls, and drinks. After all that, I’ll watch, listen, and relax.
Tomorrow will be more of the same and then I begin slicing, dicing, and mincing, not necessarily in that order. Then I’ll make the two big batches of tuna pasta salad. Saturday, I’ll start cooking the sauce at noon. Then I’ll relax, get ready, and then people will start arriving at six. Sunday, the Darling Daughter will arrive at noon.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up when I’m up, do whatever needs doing, buy some burger buns, make two burgers and eat them, hopefully pick up packages, do the final shopping for the Do, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite courtroom dramas on film, stage, and television? And what real-life trials have you been obsessed with? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, always happy to hear the beauty which is Sarabande.