Rock-musician-turned-film-composer Danny Elfman was commissioned by the American Composers Orchestra to write Serenada Schizophrana, his first piece of classical concert music, and it had its world premiere at Carnegie Hall on February 23, 2005. This recording, produced by Elfman and conducted by John Mauceri, has been made with all the ambition of a big-budget Hollywood film, employing an orchestra of 140 members plus a small choir. In his liner notes, Elfman cites a series of influences, but the two a listener is most likely to be reminded of are Bernard Herrmann and the man Elfman calls "one of my few living influences," Philip Glass. This is because, as is usual in his many film scores, Elfman pay particular attention to radically changing dynamics (Herrmann) and quick, driving tempos (Glass). But the biggest influence on Elfman, as demonstrated here, may not so much be an earlier composer as his day job. He writes that he began composing the work by writing short pieces of "maybe a minute each," developed some of them until he had six separate movements, and then "more or less let the movements take themselves wherever they wanted to go in a kind of musical stream of consciousness...." This turns out to be a reasonable description of the musical results, and another way of putting it would be to say that Elfman as a film composer, particularly of the adventure and fantasy films on which he often works, is accustomed to writing short cues to underline specific dramatic moments onscreen and that, even without that inspiration, he has done much the same thing here. One might have hoped that he would take the opportunity to develop his musical ideas more rather than just stringing a lot of them together and juxtaposing them in ways that sound interesting, but given his experiences of the past 20 years, that might have been too much to expect. As it is, Serenada Schizophrana lives up to its name, and it is not surprising to note that, although not written for the movies, it has already been adapted to them, serving as soundtrack to the IMAX film Deep Sea 3D. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
Tracks
Track Title
Composers
Performers
Time
Serenada Schizophrana, for orchestra~I. Pianos
(7:00)
Serenada Schizophrana, for orchestra~II. Blue Strings
(10:08)
Serenada Schizophrana, for orchestra~III. A Brass Thing
(7:55)
Serenada Schizophrana, for orchestra~IV. The Quadruped Patrol
(2:55)
Serenada Schizophrana, for orchestra~V. "I Forget"
(6:23)
Serenada Schizophrana, for orchestra~VI. Bells and Whistles
(8:07)
Serenada Schizophrana, for orchestra~VII. End Tag
(:51)
Improv for alto saxophone
(2:46)
Credits
Searmi Park (Violin), Dan Higgins (Saxophone), Danny Elfman (Producer), Carole Castillo (Viola), Tony Cooke (Cello), Kimberly Lingo (Vocals), Julie Rogers (Violin), Becky Bunnell (Violin), Kazi Pitelka (Viola), Katie Kirkpatrick (Harp), Thomas Dienner (Viola), Keith Greene (Viola), Julian Hallmark (Violin), John Mauceri (Conductor), Marlo Fisher (Viola), Ishani Bhoola (Violin), Bill Reichenbach Jr. (Trombone), Dennis Karmazyn (Cello), David F. Walther (Viola), Caroline Campbell (Violin), Mark Sazer (Violin), Robert Zimmitti (Percussion), Kim Scholes (Cello), Roger Lebow (Cello), Phillipe Levy (Violin), Phil Teele (Trombone), Dan Greco (Percussion), Richard Feves (Bass), Radu Pieptea (Violin), Erika Duke-Kirkpartick (Cello), Christian Kollgaard (Bass), Tereza Stanislav (Violin), John Steinmetz (Bassoon), Scott Dunn (Producer), Jennifer Levin (Violin), Steve Richards (Cello), Leslie Reed (Oboe), Cecilia Tsan (Cello), Danny Elfman (Liner Notes), Darrin McCann (Viola), Tim Morrison (Trumpet), Barbara Northcutt (Oboe), Liane Mautner (Violin), Irina Voloshina (Violin), Shie Rozow (Music Editor), David Washburn (Trumpet), Warren Luening (Trumpet), Donald Foster (Clarinet), Sara Parkins (Violin), Natalie Leggett (Violin), Trevor Handy (Cello), Kevin Connolly (Violin), Elin Carlson (Vocals), Doug Tornquist (Tuba), Matt Funes (Viola), Piotr Jandula (Viola), Louise Di Tullio (Flute), Ron Vermillion (Music Preparation), Malcolm McNab (Trumpet), Scott Dunn (Assistant), Al Hershberger (Violin), Colleen Carroll (Flute), Bobbi Page (Vocals), Josephina Vergara (Violin), Eun Mee Ahn (Violin), Sarah Thornblade (Violin), Robin Olson (Violin), Chris Bleth (Oboe), Ed Meares (Bass), Laura Kszan (Editorial Director), Joel Timm (Oboe), Agnes Gottschewski (Violin), Paul Cohen (Cello), Julie Long (Flute), Gina Zimmitti (Orchestra Contractor), Bill Talbott (Stage Engineer), Harry Shirinian (Viola), Alyssa Park (Violin), Pat Johnson (Violin), Ryan Sweeney (Cello), Marina Manukian (Violin), Jacqueline Brand (Violin), Bruce Dukov (Concert Master), Jen Kuhn (Cello), Darius Campo (Violin), Victor Lawrence (Cello), Gary Bovyer (Clarinet), Stephen Erdody (Cello), Roberto Cani (Violin), Wade Culbreath (Percussion), Larry Corbett (Cello), Timothy Landauer (Cello), Elissa Johnston (Soprano (Vocal)), Charles Loper (Trombone), Daniel Kelley (French Horn), Shie Rozow (Digital Editing), Ryan Robinson (Mix Technician), Drew Dembowski (Bass), Ken Munday (Bassoon), Yelena Yegoryan (Violin), Gloria Cheng (Keyboards), Lily Chen (Violin), Phil Yao (French Horn), Emil Radocchia (Percussion), Ana Landauer (Violin), Tiffiany Yi Hu (Violin), Bruce Morgenthaler (Bass), Alma Fernandez (Viola), Shawn Mann (Viola), Teri Koide (Vocals), Steve Bartek (Producer), Stuart Balcomb (Music Preparation), Jimmy Ienner (Photography), Alan Grunfeld (Violin), Rick Todd (French Horn), Armen Anassian (Violin), Ralph Williams (Clarinet), Oscar Hidalgo (Bass), Julian Bratolyubov (Music Preparation), Eric J. Hosler (Violin), Mike Grego (Clarinet), Shie Rozow (Producer), Alexander Iles (Trombone), Sue Raney (Bass), Julie Gigante (Violin), Katia Popov (Violin), Brian O'Connor (French Horn), Joanna Bushnell (Vocals), Andrew Duckles (Viola), Dennis Sands (Mixing), Marc Mann (Music Preparation), Tina Soule (Cello), Rick Baptist (Trumpet), Lorand Lokuszta (Violin), Todd Miller (French Horn), Bobbi Page (Choir Contractor), Rose Corrigan (Bassoon), Andrew Shulman (Cello), Jon Lewis (Trumpet), Patricia Sullivan (Mastering), Brian Dembow (Viola), Terry Wood (Vocals), Andrew Picken (Viola), Dane Little (Cello), Richard Altenbach (Violin), Maggie Parkins (Cello), Peter Limonick (Tympani [Timpani]), Carolyn Riley (Viola), Ann Atkinson (Bass), Steve Becknell (French Horn)
Serenada Schizophrana is a series of compositions by American film composer Danny Elfman that he wrote for the American Composers Orchestra at Carnegie Hall in New York City on 23 February 2005. It was conducted by Stephen Sloane. Since its premiere, it has been re-recorded in studio and released onto SACD on 3 October 2006 with John Mauceri conducting. The album art for the CD release was done by George Condo. Some of the songs were used for the soundtrack for the 2006 IMAX film Deep Sea 3D.
The series consists of 6 movements, running approximately 42 minutes:
Pianos
Blue Strings
A Brass Thing
The Quadruped Patrol
"I Forget"
Bells and Whistles
The SACD recording also consists of two extra tracks following the work: "End Tag" and "Improv for Alto Sax". The tracks are respectively listed as the seventh track and a bonus track.
The composition titled "I Forget" is the only one accompanied by lyrics, in Spanish. It is sung by a female solo voice and a chorus.
The Saxophone part at 44 seconds into "Improv for Alto Sax" can also be heard as a theme in "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", during the scene where the camera pans over the factory to see the crowd waiting for Wonka to emerge. This is at 50 seconds into the song "The Golden Ticket/Factory" on the movie's soundtrack.[citation needed]
