The Goldsmith Odyssey

In our second installment of Odyssey Interviews, Yavar has a conversation with film composer and conductor Cliff Eidelman. Eidelman is perhaps best known for his striking score for Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, and has scored such diverse projects as Leap of Faith, Triumph of the Spirit, The Meteor Man, and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. Eidelman has also written a variety of works for the concert hall, some of which will be featured on an album being released this fall. Over the course of this interview, Eidelman talks about his personal encounters with Jerry Goldsmith, the unique challenges of conducting Goldsmith's work, his current musical endeavors, and much more.
Note: Since this interview was conducted, the digital release date for Cliff Eidelman's "Symphony for Orchestra and Two Pianos" has shifted to early November instead of late October. For up-to-date information on Eidelman and his work, visit his website.
Music in this Episode:

• 00:00 - C2 Logo Fanfare (Goldsmith)
• 02:14 - Christopher Columbus: The Discovery - The Great Sea (Eidelman)
• 06:41 - Planet of the Apes - No Escape (Goldsmith)
• 10:02 - Rudy - The Final Game (Goldsmith)
• 17:49 - Alien - Breakaway (Eidelman conducting Goldsmith)
• 35:56 - Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country - Sign Off (Eidelman)
• 43:01 - The Tempest: Tone Poem for Orchestra (Eidelman)
• 47:01 - Symphony for Orchestra and Two Pianos (Eidelman)
• 49:01 - Symphony for Orchestra and Two Pianos (Eidelman)
• 52:45 - Night in the Gallery - Seduction and Mischief (Eidelman)
• 53:57 - Night in the Gallery - The Tempest and the Mysterious Clown (Eidelman)
• 56:24 - Being Dolphin 4D (Eidelman)
• 1:08:15 - Rudy - The Final Game (Eidelman conducting Goldsmith)

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The Odyssey team is thrilled to welcome a very special guest: film composer (and bona fide Goldsmith enthusiast) Carlos Rafael Rivera, whose music for the Netflix miniseries The Queen's Gambit ranks as one of the year's most compelling original scores. When your humble hosts David, Yavar, and Clark began recording this episode, our intention was to interview Carlos for about thirty minutes, then move into an examination of of the Rawhide episode "Incident in the Middle of Nowhere." However, Carlos had so many fascinating things to say that we simply couldn't cut things off at the half-hour mark, and we hope you'll enjoy what turned out to be a two-hour conversation about a host of different topics (the Rawhide stuff is coming soon, we promise). You'll hear Carlos tell us about the first Jerry Goldsmith scores he fell in love with, being mentored by Randy Newman, stories behind his assorted creative decisions on The Queen's Gambit, how Alfred Newman's score for The Robe came to play a pivotal role in the first episode, working on the western miniseries Godless, and much more! Check it out, and stay tuned for the follow-up installment coming soon!
Featuring music from Carlos Rafael Rivera's soundtracks A Walk Among the Tombstones, The Queen's Gambit, and Godless, as well as his classical pieces "Concierto de Miami - Finale", "Popol-Vuh II. Birth of the Hero Twins", "Plegaria y Canto (al Bodre de la Mar)", and "Cumba-Quin." Also featuring music from Jerry Goldsmith's Rawhide, Poltergeist, The Great Train Robbery, and Twilight Zone: The Movie, as well as James Horner's 48 Hours, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, and Avatar, plus John Williams's E.T., Ennio Morricone's Cinema Paradiso, Randy Newman's The Princess and the Frog, Alfred Newman's The Robe, Cliff Eidelman's Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Howard Hanson's Symphony No. 2, Op. 30 Romantic, Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring, and the "Ave Maris Stella" choral. Full Goldsmith Odyssey Interviews Carlos Rafael Rivera track list here.
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We realize that we've been interrupting our Odyssey with a lot of Soundtrack Spotlights lately. To make up for that, this month we're interrupting the Odyssey with a new Odyssey Interview! Back in October of 2021, Yavar had an in-depth conversation with Retired Chief Master Sergeant Mike Davis, who served as chief arranger for the U.S. Air Force band for many years. Among Davis's numerous musical endeavors was a reconstruction of Jerry Goldsmith's "The Thunder of Imperial Names" (originally written for the 1957 radio production 1489 Words), which in turn inspired Goldsmith himself to re-examine his original piece. Over the course of this wide-ranging interview, Davis talks about his personal and professional encounters with Goldsmith, his own efforts as a composer and sole experience writing for film, his work with the U.S. Air Force Band, his role in the creation of Goldsmith's now-iconic "The Generals" Suite, the experience of working in Hollywood on a '70s Goldsmith recording, encounters with other legendary film composers such as Henry Mancini, Elmer Bernstein, and Richard Rodney Bennett... and much more! Lots of great stories and great music in this one, so do your patriotic duty and give it a listen!
Here is your Odyssey Interviews Mike Davis Track list!
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It's a special team-up episode!

ANALYSIS TEAM-UP: Your humble hosts Yavar, David, and Clark are joined by musicologist Dr. Reba Wissner, author of A Dimension in Sound: Music of The Twilight Zone!

WEIRD TEAM-UP: Together, they examine the Thriller episode "Terror in Teakwood," in which an esteemed classical pianist forms a strange relationship with the contents of a mysterious teakwood chest!

COMPOSER TEAM-UP: That episode features tense, suspenseful music by Jerry Goldsmith, and his work is joined by solo piano compositions from Cesar Giovannini!

YOUR VERY OWN PERSONAL TEAM-UP: Finally, we encourage you to join forces with your electronic device of choice to listen to this podcast! It's three hours of solid, collaborative entertainment!

Please send your correspondence to [email protected].