Took a break and watched a terrific DVD called Leonard Bernstein's New York. Wonderful music and songs. I'm a bit of a fan. In the program we see people like Mandy Patinkin, Dawn Upshaw, and Donna Murphy rehearse, sing, and talk Bernstein and his New York-centric tunes. After the show ended I wanted to play the disc again. Don't have the time, although the tunes will not go away. I'll just stick a CD of the composer's music into the drive.
Woke up this morning to the news that film composer John Barry passed away yesterday. Although his composing style was often pretty unified -- for example, while watching films like King Kong (1976), The Black Hole, or any James Bond film, one feels like they are watching and listening to the other two, if you know what I mean -- John Barry was often "it".
Okay, film composers John Barry, Elmer Bernstein (pronounced "Bern-steen", unlike Leonard's "Bern-stine), and Jerry Goldsmith have all died in the last few years. That leaves very few of any real note.
(Those in the music business referred to Elmer Bernstein as "Bernstein West" [meaning his affiliation with Hollywood], and Leonard Bernstein as, you guessed it, "Bernstein East" [he had something to do with New York].)
