Los Angeles, CA (Top40 Charts/ CineMedia Promotions) Composer Igor Stravinsky said, "Film music should have the same relationship to the film drama that somebody's piano playing in myliving room has on the book I am reading." Stephen Edwards (Cool Dog, Feast) combines the two with Piano
Music From The Movies. The recording will be available digitally and on CD on April 26, 2011.
Many of the tracks featured on the recording were originally performed by a larger ensemble, in some cases a full orchestra. Taking these pieces and strippingthem down to a solo piano may seem an odd choice. "What I love about this collection," said Edwards, "is that in many of the instances these are very similar to the original piano recordings that were in the movies - just my pianistic interpretation of them."
Though he's a film composer himself, Stephen Edwards decided to pay homage to the film music that moved him. He described, "Shawshank Redemption is one of my all-time favorite movies and I'm so moved by Thomas Newman's muted and slightly dissonant beauty in this score; Field of Dreams moved me so profoundly because of the relationship with my own father and the piano music grabbed me immediately in the theatre when I saw it in the 1990s; A.I is a beautiful tone poem that very few would guess is actually written by John Williams.
He continued, "'Playing Love' from The Legend of 1900 is a bravura jazz piece turned into a beautiful thematicstatement - and in the film actor Tim Roth's character plays the piece in the movie just as it is heard on this CD. Once Upon a Time in America is probably my all-time favorite Morricone theme - I can still remember the very late night in the 1980s when I saw that movie on late night TV and was bowled over by the beauty of the single voice and orchestra playing that iconic tune - and this is my pianistic remembrance of that recording."
As to one of the lesser-known themes on this recording, "Betty Blue sounds like Gabriel Yared's modern take on the Chopin Ballades," said Edwards.
Michigan native Stephen Edwards' music education began at an early age with training by his mother, Rosalie Edwards, followed by studies at Interlochen Music Camp and Lawrence University, where he was recipient of the "Outstanding Classical Soloist" award sponsored by DownBeat magazine, and selected as a participant in the All-American College Orchestra National Talent Search sponsored by Disney.
Edwards continued his studies at the Dick Grove School of Music in Los Angeles and immediately started working as a session musician for film and TV composersincluding Mike Post. An avid pianist, he frequently performs on soundtracks for film and TV, including The Mechanic, The Prestige, Desperate Housewives and many others. A prolific composer, Edwards has scored more than 60 movies. He is producing a feature-length documentary, Requiem for My Mother, about a new choral work he composed in honor of his latemother that premiered at the Vatican. Look for the film and CD soundtrack release sometime in 2012.
"Since I started out as a piano player, I was always interested in playing music I heard in movies that I loved when I was a kid." said Edwards. "It just made sense to me to record a CD of my favorites."
Stephen Edwards Piano Music From The Movies will be available digitally and on CD on April 26, 2011
Track Listing
1. To Kill a Mockingbird "Main Title" Elmer Bernstein
2. Cleopatra "Antony and Cleopatra's Love" Alex North
3. Being There "The Room Upstairs" Johnny Mandel
4. Being There "Goodbye Louise" Johnny Mandel
5. Diva "Sentimental Walk" Vladimir Cosma
6. Sophie's Choice "Main Title" Marvin Hamlisch
7. Once Upon a Time in America "Main Title" Ennio Morricone
8. Betty Blue "le Petit Nicholas" Gabriel Yared
9. Cinema Paradiso "Medley" Ennio Morricone/Andrea Morricone
10. Field of Dreams "Night Mists" James Horner
11. Cousins "Main Title" Angelo Badalamenti
12. Shawshank Redemption "New Fish" ThomasNewman
13. Shawshank Redemption "Brooks Was Here" Thomas Newman
14. Sabrina "Main Title" John Williams
15. Titanic "The Portrait" James Horner
16. The Legend of 1900 "Playing Love" Ennio Morricone
17. A.I. Artificial Intelligence "The Reunion" John Williams
18. Munich "End Credits" John Williams
19. Little Children "2 Hillcrest" Thomas Newman
20. The Mechanic "Eb Piano Trio" Franz Schubert arr. Stephen Edwards
