Let’s Start at the End

So I just connected a dusty old hard drive to my shiny new Mac, and found some things I ought to share here.

For starters, here’s my favorite cue from a film score I did a few years ago. This is the very end of Shakespeare’s Merchant. I can’t give you a whole synopsis of The Merchant of Venice here, but for this cue it helps to know that in our version, Antonio is in love with Bassanio. Bassanio has just pledged fidelity to his wife Portia, and that sucks for Antionio. In the second half of the cue, we see Shylock, having been rendered penniless and yarmulke-less due to a court-ordered punishment for his crediting practices. I love the way this cue came together for a lot of reasons.

I will sheepishly mention that this score is an electronic rendering of what is/was hoped to be recorded properly. Also, due to the rather severe letterboxing, I recommend the “full screen” option, which is the square icon to the right of the timeline.

By the way, the this score is available from CD Baby, iTunes and Amazon.

New Release: Shakespeare’s Merchant

In 2004 I wrote the score for Shakespeare’s Merchant, an independent film adaptation of Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice. The film is still making its way through the process of festival submissions, etc., but I’m so proud of the score that I’ve taken it upon myself to arrange for it to be released on CD.

It’s a short movie with an epic score. The director wanted a lot of underscoring, and so in many places the music resembles opera, where the orchestra frequently carries the subtext and the emotional weight. I frequently accuse myself of being derivative, but this is some of my most original work, (although any listener who’s a Sondheim fan will hear that influence). One of my jobs was to help set a scene where people are routinely nasty to each other, and so it’s mostly a dark, tense score with some lyrical and humorous moments.

The CD is available now at CD Baby, and will soon be on Amazon as well. Sound clips can be heard on the film’s web site. (Click “Soundtrack”)

A Lovely Ringtone

I thought I’d share something weird. Although I’m a little old to be horsing around with mobile phone ringtones, last year I did just that. Just for the heck of it, I took a tiny excerpt from a film score I’d recently finished, and created a ringtone out of it. I suppose I just wanted to see if I could do it. Turns out it’s a simple matter of placing any mp3 on a web server where a WAP-enabled phone can retrieve it. Go know.

Anyway, I’m still using it on my phone. It’s very gentle and soothing, whereas I’ve never heard another ringtone that didn’t irritate the bejeezus out of me.

So, have a listen. (Picture it repeating until you answer, of course.)

Shakespeare’s Merchant reviews

Last year I composed the score for an independent film adaptation of The Merchant of Venice. Shakespeare’s Merchant finally premiered at the Philadelphia International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival in July.

The film hasn’t been widely reviewed, but here are two that I’ve found; one terrible, and one not too bad. Neither mentions the music. So, what else is new.

• The terrible one. Actually, this is a “user comment” on the film’s IMDB page. It’s not very thorough, but he/she has some valid points, particularly about the sound quality. We’re hoping for another round of audio cleanup.
• The not-too-bad one From FilmThreat.com. At least it recognizes Bruce Cornwall’s performance as Shylock, and director/screenwriter Paul Wagar’s adaptation of the text.