A Neat Experience - Met a Favorite Composer

[Saxbabe 28]

I'm posting to share a story about an awesome experience I recently had. On May 7th, I got to see live and meet a composer/conductor I have long admired - Joel McNeely.

(I attempted to edit this down but what the hey, it was too difficult. Long, but hopefully you guys will find it heartwarming!)

Monday night we heard one of his first ventures into the concert hall, the piece Portraits, written for violin and string orchestra. And we in Houston had another treat - his wife, concert violinist Margaret Batjer, as the featured soloist. Portraits is notable because it was written especially for her, a colorful, virtuosic display of an incredibly musical, superb player. She was entrancing to watch! Besides his piece, she also did with the group a Bach Concerto with Oboe, where she effectively led the orchestra while playing, top-notch communication. As concertmaster of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and recording artist with the likes of Hilary Hahn, she is indeed accomplished. I wondered at the happy coincidence of having them both here in Houston of all places, but actually his wife is a Texas girl (San Angelo) and she has family and friends who live in Houston.

Margaret Batjer

As far as the concert piece, it was exciting and inventive, less decidedly tonal than his film work, but very accessible. Occasionally looking toward minimalism with a lot of early 20th c. influence. Also reminiscent of his rousing string writing (3rd mvmt. being a "fiddler's reel" of sorts) in the score for Wild America, though again, a more ambiguous tonality. Thoroughly, his own creation. (Isn't it great when composers are freed from temp tracks?!)

(Note: he stated in an audio interview he has plans to record this soon, along with concert works of other film composers. Maybe some JW?) And also, he's conducting a concert in L.A. on Saturday, May 12 where another concert piece of his will be performed, his piano quartet Pacific Dances.

It was a treat to watch him conduct, I'd give anything to see him conduct Herrmann, as this piece only gave him brief moments to really cut loose. Very clear, expressive, and engaging conducting. He has a funny story on his blog that he recently changed his conducting technique in preparation for this, as in London with the BBC CO (in rehearsal or performance I don't know) the baton got away from him!

In action

And now to the good part. If you've been to his website and read any of his blogs (yes, there are two, one is on food!) you get the idea that he really seems like a nice guy. Fans request unreleased music, and the composer responds with posting cues on his website? Sounds too good to be true, but it is. In reality, he's kind, generous, possesses an acerbic wit, and is extremely down-to-earth.

It was lucky in that this was an intimate venue with a smallish crowd, and afterward there was a champagne reception for the two special guests, offering a relaxed chance for a meet and greet. Prior to the concert, we had a little communication via the blog, so when I did get to meet him he remembered who I was, and even remembered that we had driven in from quite a ways.

So, what did we talk about? Well, it's funny how when you meet someone you really admire, each minute goes by in a second, and it's hard to remember it all clearly! I had thought a lot beforehand of what I wanted to say, so I wouldn't get nervous and blank out. Actually, I wasn't nervous though, just incredibly happy to stand in front of a composer/conductor whose work means so much to me on both levels and express my deepest appreciation.

When a great musician is also a humble person, it's a happy coincidence. I thought of the subject of John Adams' Naïve and Sentimental Music, which is the "naïve" and "sentimental" sides of an artist as per the poem by Friedrich Schiller. The "naïve" is the natural, innate expression of the artist, purely for the sake of the art, without regard to his legacy, and the "sentimental" is the self-conscious artist who tries to evoke times gone by, in search of the "naïve". In this day, you could argue that good old-fashioned orchestral film scoring is a "sentimental" art on those terms, but when you do it well because it's something you truly love, scoring sometimes substandard movies irregardless of associated fame or fortune, it also can be in the best way, "naïve".

This description seems apt for McNeely. When I walked up, he was discussing with a few of the musicians Tinkerbell, which a bassist said he planned to rent for his 3-yr-old. Joel was proud of the score, and explained it had been in the works three years. Not because the movie was a masterpiece however, but because it was a mess, with 9 directors and who sounded "like a teenager from the Valley". I understand the final product was revised, but he was shocked they would take a classic figure like Tink and change her that way. And he is getting back to live action (Yay!!) with a Lindsey Lohan movie, it's a horror movie that sounds, well, very strange, and clearly he was disappointed at the state of movies today. He said he really likes to do projects his kids can watch (they're 8 and 12), stuff of quality for them.

That he likes stuff of quality is evidenced in the choice of his favorite score he's done. I had something for him to sign, and as he did so I said it was hard to pick which to bring but that my personal favorite score of his was Lover's Prayer (the gorgeous Kirsten Dunst period film he did in 2000), because the themes and orchestration captured the characters and the mood so well. This was a chamber music score, with an extremely haunting theme, and has that all-too-rare credit, "Composed, Conducted and Orchestrated By".

Surprisingly, he said, "You know what - that's my favorite score too." He said it was really unique because the director wasn't even at the scoring sessions. The director had given him general guidelines, and left the music completely up to him. And he felt that score was very personal, it was a project where it was really "all about the music". It went by largely unnoticed, a small independent film with an unknown director, but he gave it his, IMHO, finest work.

One of the booklets I had signed was Marnie, my favorite of his Varese rerecordings. Ravishing interpretation. I made a special point to comment on these, because we're so lucky to have them and he has put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into their making. ( His post on conducting Herrmann is a must-read!) I spoke about how I came to Herrmann through his recordings, and that they're treasures really, for film music fans it's very special to have them and we are grateful for what they do. His face just lit up as I said that. He said was so glad, and "that's it, that's why we do them". Not for the money or anything, but in service to the music. He said it was a shame the dollar was so weak against the British pound, that it really made it cost-prohibitive these days. And that Varese does have some things in the works for the future, but not with the RSNO currently.

He also asked about me, what I do, what I'm studying, and he smiled when I said I'm a saxophone player, because of course he is as well. Though he said he doesn't play that much anymore, and he joked, that "about all he plays these days is the pencil!" Which I said he does so well! ROFL

And finally, I talked about how I admired his own composing, and how much his music spoke to me, how he wrote such beautiful, magical themes.

He was obviously truly touched by this. Clearly, this is an unsung composer. He didn't have that "consciousness" some have of being great, he seemed a bit in wonderment. He said, that as the composer working "all those solitary hours behind the piano" he didn't really have the sense of it "getting out beyond" the picture, you do the project, and it's just - done, and from his position it's hard to get a sense of "feedback".

The fact that he has fans all over the world, Europe, South America, beyond, he said he was amazed by this. He was (really touched) that his music has made that kind of impact. I told him, yes, his music means a lot to fans, in fact I played his music almost every week! (Indeed true, love his work) At this, he said grinning, I must stop, "for all the compliments would go to his head!"

You really get the sense for him it's all about the music, it's not about the fame at all, the recognition is just this icing on the cake. There's an honest, sincere gratitude that someone appreciates his work. And as a fan, that is the best thing in the world. Case in point of how it's so important for us to appreciate our living composers, because life is gone all too fast.

In short, it was an experience I'll always remember, and he truly is a class act. When I came home the next night, there was an email sitting at the top of my Junk Bin (thanks Hotmail!) titled "From Joel", with a sentence or two expressing how much my support meant. 'Nuff said.

Our pic

-Greta

[Ray Barnsbury 8]

What an absolutely amazing experience, Greta! I'm so happy for you, it must still be so exciting for you to think about. As someone who was turned onto McNeely's music by you, I know how great this must've been for you. And it sounds like you represented the film score community well....congratulations!

Ray Barnsbury

[Joni Wiljami 1,206]

Very cool!

...and champagne...yumm...

[King Mark 3,631]

Did you ask him what JW thought of Shadows of the Empire?

[Trent B 337]

You're very lucky to experience such a thing Greta. I think anyone who is able to meet their favorite composer in their own life time is pretty lucky. I wish I could have met Jerry Goldsmith.

[Lurker 5]

Fantastic story!

Neil

[Mr. Breathmask 555]

That's awesome, Greta.

[Ollie 1,059]

Great story, I really enjoy his Herrmann recordings with Varese.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

By all acounts McNeely is a talented but critically underused composer.

I also like his work with the RSNO, to bad Varese doesn't seem to be doing these any more.

[Ray Barnsbury 8]

Yeah, as evidenced by that Tinkerbell III (there were already two of these?!?) story, he often gets stuck providing great scores for unworthy films. I'd love to see him get a high profile project that would showcase his talents more to the mainstream.

Ray Barnsbury

[Dr. Jones 0]

Wow!!

I just know him from the "Shadows of the Empire" Album Boollet... he has... hmm changed!

but that was 11 years ago... my god 11 yaers! I'm so old!!

[John Crichton 4]

...but actually his wife is a Texas girl (San Angelo)...

Hey!

Very nice, Greta, it's those kinds of experiences that make life worth living.

[scissorhands 16]

Wow! Great report, Greta! Thanks for sharing this. I'm really happy that you got to meet McNeely.

From all your sentences, I'd take this one: "When a great musician is also a humble person, it’s a happy coincidence.". McNeely looks like an extraordinary person. I wish I knew more about his works (I've listened to all the re-recordings, but only to a couple of his scores), so I had better start right now. Since we share our taste on music, I'll probably like "Lover's Prayer".

Peio.

[Saxbabe 28]

It was indeed one of those perfect nights, I had to remind myself I didn't dream it the next day when I woke up! I'm still pretty wowed about it.

Yeah, as evidenced by that Tinkerbell III (there were already two of these?!?) story

Yes, I messed up on that and have fixed it above. Actually, the bassist referred to Cinderella III, which is recently out on video (and the score seems to be very good). However, it was TinkerBell McNeely got off onto discussing, LOL. It is coming out on video soon.

Did you ask him what JW thought of Shadows of the Empire?

Haha...no. Didn't mention SOTE once. Yeah, cause, OMG you wrote SOTE and it like rocks !!1!!11!!, would definitely not have been cool!

From all your sentences, I'd take this one: "When a great musician is also a humble person, it's a happy coincidence."

Yeah, he kind of blushes at effusive praise, hehe! And that is just too cool. His website really shows how great he is with the fans.

I can tell he'd be super interesting to talk to in a sitdown conversation, quite gregarious and honest. He can be rather humorous about movies he's done in the way Goldsmith was!

The score I mentioned that is his favorite, Lover's Prayer, is really worth checking out. Way different from both his Disney scores and action stuff. Gorgeous and romantic, written for chamber orchestra with solo piano.

To hear a good example of his concert style, there are clips of the piano quartet being performed this weekend at this link:

http://pacser.org/v1/premieres/

I love that piece, nice sense of humor and mix of modern classical and jazz. Portraits is more introspective and less jazzy, and also excellent. He really should write more concert stuff!

-Greta