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| re: On PASTICHE: is anyone trying to write a new 'Golden Age' musical these days? Would we pay to see one? | |
| Posted by: PJ 11:22 am EDT 08/27/19 | |
| In reply to: On PASTICHE: is anyone trying to write a new 'Golden Age' musical these days? Would we pay to see one? - GrumpyMorningBoy 10:43 am EDT 08/26/19 | |
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| I'm making my way through this thread (and loving it). GMB's posts continue to be one of my favorite things about this community. While composers certainly control the sound of their music, I'd posit that arrangers and orchestrators have an equal, if not larger, influence on the overall sonic identity of a piece. Further, a large part of the disappearance of pastiche may be attributed to the economic needs/constraints of the production. The larger and more "broadway!/acoustic" composition of the arrangement/orchestration, the more likely it will be to fall on the ear as "pastiche," if indeed that's the goal. What I wouldn't give to hear the Dear Evan Hansen score kitted out in the style of Robert Russell Bennett or Jonathan Tunick. Would it be good? Probably not. Would be an interesting experiment? Absolutely. BCEFA: Consider a "Will It Pastiche?" fundraiser concert, pls. To answer one of your original questions: today's most likely candidates for Keeper of the Pastiche Flame (to my ear) are probably Jeanine Tesori ("Millie") and David Yazbeck, both talented compositional mimics and strong composers in their own regard; Matthew Sklar (Leavel's "The Prom" numbers); and perhaps Paul Gordon (whom I regard as a slave to melody, like Rodgers). PJ |
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| re: On PASTICHE: is anyone trying to write a new 'Golden Age' musical these days? Would we pay to see one? | |
| Posted by: GrumpyMorningBoy 09:08 am EDT 08/29/19 | |
| In reply to: re: On PASTICHE: is anyone trying to write a new 'Golden Age' musical these days? Would we pay to see one? - PJ 11:22 am EDT 08/27/19 | |
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| Gosh, that's kind. I do try to pose the kind of questions that don't have easy answers, but I too am continually AMAZED at the encyclopedic knowledge of theatre history & experience that exists within this online community. It's pretty remarkable! I think your point about orchestration is sooooooo valid. I'd go even further to say that I would pay GOOD MONEY to hear a cast recording that did its best to sound like a Goddard Lieberson recording from the CBS 30th Street studio. Those warm echoey acoustics in the classic Broadway cast recordings get me all nostalgic! - GMB |
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| re: On PASTICHE: is anyone trying to write a new 'Golden Age' musical these days? Would we pay to see one? | |
| Posted by: Chromolume 12:20 pm EDT 08/27/19 | |
| In reply to: re: On PASTICHE: is anyone trying to write a new 'Golden Age' musical these days? Would we pay to see one? - PJ 11:22 am EDT 08/27/19 | |
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| While composers certainly control the sound of their music, I'd posit that arrangers and orchestrators have an equal, if not larger, influence on the overall sonic identity of a piece. In certain respects that's always true. But orchestrators and arrangers do need to be in lockstep with the composer's stylistic intentions. The reason that a "golden age" orchestration for Dear Evan Hansen would be ridiculous (and laughable) is simply because that's not the musical style of the score that Pasek and Paul wrote. Style is a collaboration, not the will of the orchestrator. Even in cases where the composer doesn't know how to write or notate an accompaniment in the style he wants, the orchestrator should know how to do just that. So yes, while the finished musical product we hear in any show is certainly due to the work of arrangers and orchestrators as well as the composer, it shouldn't be the case that the arrangers and orchestrators are writing against the composer's style. It's more that they need to have a keen sense for how to expand on what the composer has already set out. If Lacamoire had said to Pasek and Paul, "this is all great stuff - and I'm going to write a Robert Russell Bennett-style orchestration for you, because I think it would be fun to try that," I daresay he might have been taken off the project. ;-) Whatever one may think about the current Oklahoma, I think that orchestration works because it stays within a style that we can already naturally sense from the show's setting. (But you wouldn't want the same "country band" feel for Carousel, for instance - it wouldn't be the right match.) So if the style is going to change, I think there has to be a valid reason that fits with the specifics of the production. |
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