Attended this terrific panel and have to hand it to Steven Allen Fox, like in this year's Fans of Film Music panel, he stole the show by putting the most insightful questions out and letting the panel direct the flow of those questions. I really value having knowledgeable hosts like Jon Burlingame and Daniel Schweiger at the helm but if memory serves me right the few choice moments in the past when the likes of Henry Mancini or Elmer Bernstein anchored such panels stood way out. Primarily because they did this for a living. With Steven you get a conductor, a composer and a guy who does his homework, in other words the best of all of these worlds.
And now let me praise Charles Bernstein. He had the best moment at the Fans of Film Music - "Could we have a minute to be quiet and enjoy the absolute silence of this soundstage?" It was like being in church. His delight in having this crowd together last night to talk about film music was refreshing Having a composer being a film music fan is awesome and (like Elmer Bernstein or Austin Wintory) is rare. His remark about film music not scaring people but preparing people to be scared went right to the heart of the matter as the clip from NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET illustrated. BTW my wife who is extremely squeamish about horror films had no problems with the clips, they were all anticipatory.
Marco Beltrami was his usual quiet self but by breaking down a scene from SCREAM Fox managed to get a glimpse into his working process. May I add praise for being the only composer to bring CDs for the attendees. Picking a TRUE BLOOD episode for Nathan Barr brought a whole different set and wide range of emotions illustrated for his clip. And finally Joseph LoDuca got to present both his titles from CURSE OF CHUCKY and a reworking of his earliest score THE EVIL DEAD.
This was the best horror film score panel I have attended. All attendees put the final praise onto Steven Allen Fox's Golden State Pops Orchestra where all of these fellows have had, and continue to have, their work presented. All mentioned how important that in this town that a continuing entity like the GSPO thrive to not just play the famous film music but the work of the obscure and underrated. This was brought home dramatically to me years ago when Irving Gertz at 93 got to hear his PRAYING MANTIS for the first time at their Halloween show (just before he died!) It is why all of us were there.
