Current Projects

Gone With the Wind (1939)

Max Steiner (and several assistant composer/orchestrators) wrote one of the great epic scores for David O. Selznick’s iconic Civil War masterpiece, but the complete score has not been performed since the film soundtrack was recorded in 1939. Referencing the surviving printed music materials and soundtrack recording, I am restoring this mammoth work in its entirety, as well as creating a new suite for concert performance. A critical edition will be published and available to the general public, and the world premiere complete stereo recording is being planned. Stay tuned!

Composers/Orchestrators: Max Steiner; Hugo Friedhofer, Adolph Deutsch, Heinz Roemheld; Leo Arnaud, R. H. Bassett, George Bassman, Cecil Copping, Maurice De Packh, Bernhard Kaun, Arthur Kay, Albert Hay Malotte, Joseph Nussbaum, Darol Rice.

Secrets of Life (1956)

One of the Disney Studio’s most prolific composers of dramatic film music was Michigan native Paul J. Smith. Not only did he score dozens of cartoon shorts in addition to feature-length animated films, but he also worked extensively on Disney’s live-action output in the 1950s and early 1960s. I find his evocative music for Secrets of Life to be one of his finest achievements in the True-Life Adventures series of documentary films produced by Walt Disney—an opinion supported by the fact that Disneyland Records issued a “highlights” version of the score on LP (now available via iTunes). My 35-minute suite from the film includes additional music not heard on the LP and derives from the original film orchestrations preserved in the Disney archives.

Composer: Paul J. Smith; Orchestrators: Franklyn Marks, Edward Plumb.

Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)

Although M-G-M discarded all of the film's original full scores back in the late 1960s, I am reconstructing nearly the entire score using the surviving piano/conductor score, the film's orchestral pre-recording tracks (which survive virtually complete), and additional newly discovered primary sources. Songs include the Oscar-nominated "The Trolley Song," as well as "The Boy Next Door," "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," "Over the Bannister," "Skip to My Lou," "You and I," and "Boys and Girls Like You and Me" (cut from the final film).

Orchestrators: Conrad Salinger; Sidney Cutner, Robert Franklyn, Wally Heglin, and Joseph Nussbaum.

Judy Garland: The M-G-M Years

As with Meet Me in St. Louis, all but one of the full scores for Garland’s M-G-M films were sent to a landfill decades ago. However, armed with many pre-recording tracks and copies of the various piano/conductor scores, I am reconstructing the original orchestrations to songs from throughout Garland’s career at the studio. Songs include “Dear Mr. Gable/You Made Me Love You,” “A Pretty Girl Milking Her Cow,” “How About You?” “Nobody,” “Could You Use Me?” “But Not for Me,” “Look for the Silver Lining,” “Who?” "On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe," "It's a Great Big World," “Last Night When We Were Young,” “Howdy Neighbor, Happy Harvest,” “Get Happy,” and more.

Orchestrators: Conrad Salinger, Leo Arnaud, David Raksin, Skip Martin, Robert Franklyn, and Lennie Hayton.