"Cross Creek is a 1983 American biographical drama romance film starring Mary Steenburgen as The Yearling author Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings. The film is directed by Martin Ritt and is based in part on Rawlings's 1942 memoir Cross Creek.
The film features stunning performances: Mary Steenburgen, Oscar-nominated for Best Actress; Alfre Woodard nominated for Best Supporting Actress; and Rip Torn nominated for Best Supporting Actor.
The Oscar-nominated score by Leonard Rosenman is one of his very best. It perfectly captures the time and place of the story, and it has a beautiful theme that first appeared in part of his score for the 1982 film "Making Love".
I’m not a big fan of Rosenman, but this score is quite lovely and probably my single favorite work of his. Highly recommended; I think a lot of Rosenman doubters would be quite surprised by it.
I’m not a big fan of Rosenman, but this score is quite lovely and probably my single favorite work of his. Highly recommended; I think a lot of Rosenman doubters would be quite surprised by it.
Yavar
We're definitely on the same page with CROSS CREEK. I waited a long time for this score to see the light of day from the time of the film's release and Intrada's wonderful CD release. Thank you,Intrada.
Interestingly, I am generally a big fan of Leonard Rosenman, yet, while I certainly like CROSS CREEK, it's not one of my "all time favorite" scores of his, but I have not listened to it in a while. Have to give it a re-listen these days. I certainly remember it as a nice score.
I haunted record stores looking for a soundtrack release of "Cross Creek" back in the day -- and I seem to recall that I made do with a grey market lp (but I'm not at home so can't verify that). I was thrilled when Intrada issued their beautiful CD. When Rosenman is in his "pastoral" mode, he's got few peers. Another favorite of mine is "Birch Interval" which has largely been forgotten. That film is available on "You Tube" in a fairly bad transfer that looks like a copy of a copy of a VCR tape. The movie has its problems, but the music is vintage Rosenman.
Thanks for posting the comparison with Making Love, Ron. It's a great reminder of Rosenman's versatility -- for instance, I first think back to the austere and simple diatonicism of East of Eden, which of course was coupled to such great effect with his modenist post-tonal style; and yet, for all its pure unaffected lyricism, Making Love can't help but lead me back to Rebel, and Rosenman's distinct facility with jazz harmony. There's a fourth, subtler, Rosenman to be found for instance in the static texture from 2:20-2:45 in the above Cross Creek suite, built on that sort of interlocking contrapuntal prism that's all over his music, often in a more astringent harmonic context, but there it is, shimmering in the water. for me personally, the jazz-inflected post-Rebel stream runs a little deeper, straight through Jurij. But especially when they happen to cross paths, the various idioms coursing through Rosenman's music comprise such a distinctive and remarkable voice -- it's hard to imagine anyone else doing things that way.
Thanks for posting the comparison with Making Love, Ron. It's a great reminder of Rosenman's versatility -- for instance, I first think back to the austere and simple diatonicism of East of Eden, which of course was coupled to such great effect with his modenist post-tonal style; and yet, for all its pure unaffected lyricism, Making Love can't help but lead me back to Rebel, and Rosenman's distinct facility with jazz harmony. There's a fourth, subtler, Rosenman to be found for instance in the static texture from 2:20-2:45 in the above Cross Creek suite, built on that sort of interlocking contrapuntal prism that's all over his music, often in a more astringent harmonic context, but there it is, shimmering in the water. for me personally, the jazz-inflected post-Rebel stream runs a little deeper, straight through Jurij. But especially when they happen to cross paths, the various idioms coursing through Rosenman's music comprise such a distinctive and remarkable voice -- it's hard to imagine anyone else doing things that way.
