Composers on Celluloid.

Byline: FRED CRAFTS The Register-Guard

TALK ABOUT movies with James Paul, the Oregon Festival of American Music's conductor and music director, and the conversation immediately centers on movie music.

"So many of the famous composers of our times - like, for instance, William Walton - did really fantastic film scores," Paul says by phone from his home in Baton Rouge, La.

A film buff with a large video collection, Paul views movie music as substantial and worthy of the concert hall, adding that "really good music is good music, no matter where it comes from."

Without hesitation, Paul "would happily go to a concert of music by Max Steiner, Dmitri Tiomkin and all those people. They had wonderful musical ideas. They wrote in the days when the studios were hiring these mammoth orchestras; they have this terrific orchestral sound."

Which is why Paul relishes the opportunity to conduct the festival orchestra (now called the American Symphonia) in a program titled "The Golden Age of Film Music." The era is represented by such giants as Steiner (1888-1971), Erich Korngold (1897-1957), Bernard Herrmann (1911-75) and Aaron Copland (1900-90). The concert is at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in the Hult Center's Silva Concert Hall.

The program will include selections from "Citizen Kane" (Herrmann), "Casablanca" (Steiner) and "The Red Pony" (Copland).

Korngold will be represented by an aria from his opera "Die Tote Stadt," sung by Maria Jette, and by his Violin Concerto in D Minor, featuring Alyssa Park.

Music from "The Red Pony" also will accompany a new ballet, commissioned by the Oregon Festival of American Music, choreographed by Toni Pimble and danced by the Eugene Ballet Company.

Although Steiner was exclusively a film composer, Herrmann, Korngold and Copland first developed reputations as serious composers. Their music, Paul insists, "stands quite wonderfully on its own."

"When people hear the Steiner music from `Casablanca' and hear the Korngold violin concerto, they'll hear Steiner just as effectively orchestrating as Korngold.

`Of course, Copland is a genius at this sort of thing. But I would say that Copland, compared to Herrmann, will come off as being the least opulent. It's not quite the hell-for-leather you get in his `Billy the Kid.' '

Although the program does not include music that Korngold wrote specifically for film, Paul notes that his violin concerto "has been featured in films and came from film material Korngold wrote. He calls the work "a very impressive late-Romantic concerto." The aria, he says, is "spectacular."

Instrumental in "Casablanca" is the famous song "As Time Goes By," which Steiner slips into his orchestral score a number of times. "It'll bring anybody who attends our concert smack dab back into the film," Paul said.

Incidentally, Steiner did not write the song; Herman Hupfeld did, in 1931 - 11 years before Dooley Wilson played it for Ingrid Bergman at Rick's Cafe Americain.

Newmans' own

In assembling the program, Paul and festival officials faced a multitude of choices. In fact, Paul says, "The field is so rich and fertile that there are many more programs to be developed out of it."

One way to go was to focus on a certain composer or family of composers, such as the Newmans - Alfred, Randy, Maria and Thomas - who will be at the hub of the Jan. 20 program: "The Newman Dynasty."

This talented family has been part of movie history since 1930, composing soundtracks for many blockbuster films. Alfred Newman ranks with Steiner and Korngold as one of the three great pioneers of American film music. Newman's brothers, Emil and Lionel, were top studio conductors and occasional composers. And his sons, David and Thomas; his youngest daughter, Maria; and nephew Randy all followed him into the business.

Soprano Maria Jette, who is coordinating the tribute, says the Newmans remind her "of the Bachs, both various elder relatives of J.S. and his own progeny. Decades of Bachs were involved in many areas of the music profession, as composers, performers and `music directors,' just like the Newmans.

`I'm fascinated by a family where everyone became a professional musician - and a bit envious."

Alfred Newman composed more than 250 film scores, including "The Prisoner of Zenda," "Gunga Din," "Wuthering Heights," "The Hunchback of Notre Dame," "How the West Was Won," "All About Eve," " Airport," "How Green Was My Valley" and "The Grapes of Wrath." He racked up 45 Academy Award nominations and nine Oscars - more than anyone except Walt Disney.

Newman's son Thomas wrote music for "The Green Mile," "Three Kings," "Erin Brockovich," "Desperately Seeking Susan," "Fried Green Tomatoes," "Scent of a Woman" and "The Horse Whisperer." He has been nominated for the Academy Award for "American Beauty," "The Shawshank Redemption," "Little Women" and "Unstrung Heroes."

Nephew Randy Newman has composed the music for "Ragtime," "Toy Story," "Meet the Parents," "A Bug's Life," "Pleasantville," "James and the Giant Peach" and "The Natural." He received Billboard magazine's Century Award at the year 2000 ceremony. Alfred Newman's daughter, Maria, is a critically acclaimed violin and viola soloist and an award-winning composer who was commissioned by the Mary Pickford Foundation to compose original scores for the vintage silent films "Daddy Long Legs," "What the Daisy Said" and "The Lovelight."

Maria Newman's String Quartet No. 1 underscored "Tom Sawyer," and she scored the historical documentary film "Jack Pickford: In Mary's Shadow."

Highlight reel

No single concert could accommodate all of the music the Newmans have written, so Jette will highlight just a few pieces.

From the movies come Alfred Newman's music for "The Robe" (1953), in a suite arranged by Maria Newman, and selections from Randy Newman's musical "Faust" (1995) and "Toy Story 2' (1999).

Also planned are a suite of songs that Maria Newman dedicated to a friend whose children had been killed, as well as selections from Thomas Newman's "Three Mean Fairy Tales" (1978).

One of the first pieces Jette chose was Thomas Newman's score for "American Beauty," which she liked for its "distinctive personality and color. Anyone who's seen the film should try to imagine it without that score.

`To me, it would be as if you'd removed an entire character."

Even though some of the pieces were written for large orchestras, all have been reduced to chamber ensembles for the Jan. 20 concert. Performing in various configurations will be pianist Tom Linker, clarinetist Michael Anderson, cellist Sylvie Spengler, harpist Jane Allen, violinist Fritz Gearhart and Jette.

Although it might have been tempting to show the films as the music is being played, Jette has shunned that device and will let the music speak for itself.

If all this talk about film music makes you curious about how it was actually used in the movies, the festival will show three of them, for free, in the American Music Institute at the organization's headquarters, 104 W. Broadway.AMERICAN COMPOSERS SERIES 2002

WHAT: Movie music is explored in concerts featuring violinist Alyssa Park, soprano Maria Jette, the Eugene Ballet Company, chamber ensembles and the American Symphonia, conducted by James Paul

WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 4 p.m. Jan. 20

WHERE: Hult Center, Seventh and Willamette streets, and Beall Hall, 896 E. 18th Ave.

HOW MUCH: $16 to $38 through the Hult Center box office, 682-5000

FILM SCREENINGS: "Citizen Kane" (10 a.m. Saturday), "The Red Pony" (2 p.m. Saturday), "Casablanca" (noon Jan. 20); at the festival's American Music Institute, 104 W. Broadway; free

OFAMILY-STYLE DINNER: A pre-concert dinner, 5:30 p.m. Saturday, at the American Music Institute; $12.50 for adults, $5 for 12 and under; reservations by 5 p.m. Monday at 687-6526

GUARDLINE: To hear examples of "Music & Film," call GuardLine at 485-2000 from a touch-tone phone and request category 3733