Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-1-1984

Abstract

DETROIT SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Raymond Harvey, conductor . SWASHBUCKLER was originally written on a dare from one of my graduate composition students - a fella who insisted I only appreciated (and wrote) avant garde / experimental contemporary / new music. As I had the Buffalo Phil commission contract sitting on my desk at the time, I thought this might be the perfect opportunity to prove the student wrong, and to expand my catalogue with something different. Quickly, the piece transcended the casual well-intentioned challenge, and became a sincere, genuine and respectful homage to the great swashbuckling film scores of Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Max Steiner and Co., and to the quintessential movie stars of the classic 1930's Hollywood swashbuckler blockbusters I so dearly loved ("Captain Blood", "The Sea Hawk", etc. - Errol Flynn and Basil Rathbone). There's heroic music, action music, lugubrious night-sailing music, even a tortured 'love theme' in the middle of all the action ... a tip of the hat the great swashbuckling femme fatale, Olivia de Havilland. Commissioned and premiered by the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, this recording is the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (rescued just in time from an old 1/4 track reel-to-reel tape that was disintegrating!! - the sound quality here is not the greatest stereo high fidelity, for sure ... ).

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Copyright © Michael Schelle, all rights reserved.

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