Guest Author - Michelle Taylor

When I get a new classical CD, I pop it into my car’s stereo and listen to it as I’m driving 3 kids around to school, practices, and meets. (I spend a lot of time in my car!) Within about the 1st two songs I can usually tell whether it is a CD I will enjoy or not – although there have been a few exceptions.

But almost invariably, any symphonic music is going to fall into one of two categories for me: music that I will listen to or music that I will play in the background during a dinner party.

I have found one to listen to: Danny Elfman’s Serenada Schizophrana.

Most of you are probably familiar with Danny Elfman as the favored composer for the soundtracks of many of Tim Burton's movies; “Beetlejuice”, “Batman”, “Edward Scissorhands”, and “The Corpse Bride” just to name a few (a very few). He has over 50 movie soundtracks under his belt.

But Serenada Schizophrana was a new type of undertaking for Elfman. For the first time he was being asked to compose pieces completely on their own, with no film to back it up – or give inspiration. “As a film composer, I’ve always had visuals to drive my orchestral music. Serenada began as a commission from the American Composers Orchestra in new York with very few restrictions. As I’d never done anything like this before, figuring out how to begin was daunting.” (From: A note from the composer on the Serenada Schizophrana jacket.) According to Elfman, he began with about a dozen different movements that eventually melded into the eight tracks for the CD. It is difficult to believe these all started out separately however, as the progression is seamless.

Elfman doesn’t go for long, flowery track titles, either. You know exactly what you are getting.

The first track, “Pianos” is my favorite on the CD. To a background of building orchestration, two pianos duel it out. The pianos, played by Robert Thies and Gloria Cheng, are energetic and show what can really be done with a keyboard. Timpani and strings counterpoint and showcase rather than outshine the pianos. It has been a long time since I have heard something truly new on the piano – and this fills that spot.

“Blue Strings” is smooth and haunting. It gives a nice segue into the third movement. “A Brass Thing” is the track that is the most “Elfmanesque”. This piece would be at home in any movie featuring a villain or angry mob. The instruments seem to bring out different personalities. The song flits back and forth between a jazzy, easygoing tempo and the building drums of a triumphant march.

Although Serenada Schizophrana was written for a live orchestra, the music wound up being conscripted for a soundtrack, anyway. It is featured in the IMAX “Deep Sea 3D” soundtrack, and the 4th track “The Quadruped Patrol” brings the feel of the turbulence and majesty of the ocean and its inhabitants. It is easy to picture schools of brightly colored fish swimming along, and then getting knocked out of the way by a rampaging shark.

“I Forget” is a breath of fresh air with singing. The all-female chorus and Soprano soloist Elissa Johnston bring an interesting change of pace to the otherwise instrumental CD. But rather than standing out, the voices seem to become just another instrument, accenting the orchestra.

“Bells and Whistles” starts out light, and seems like it’s going to give us a break from the emotional turmoil of the rest of the CD, but that doesn’t last long. It builds into grandiosity, gradually adding every instrument a symphony possesses including the aforementioned female choir. It is a song that will leave you breathless and exhausted by the end.

The “End Tag” is just that; a short (less than 50 seconds) little tag that repeats one of the themes played throughout the other songs. It is reminiscent of “Jaws” and “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”, and is recognizable in just about every other song on this CD. Although it is confusing to me why Elfman chose to separate it from the other pieces, unless it is simply to draw attention to the recurring theme.

Finally there is a bonus track on here, for which I am extremely thankful. “Improv for Sax Solo” showcases one of my favorite instruments that is normally not part of a symphonic orchestra. Usually relegated to jazz bands, the saxophone in this song fits perfectly with its “upperclass” relatives. Dan Higgins plays the smoothest sax I have ever heard. You will be hard pressed to find a better representation of the sax anywhere. My only complaint is that the song is not long enough.

Serenada Schizophrana is the most enjoyable and creative CD I have listened to in quite a while. Elfman will one day be classified with Mozart, I have no doubt. Don’t plan on listening to this CD before going to bed. Enjoy it when you need a creative burst. It is just the thing to give you inspiration when working on that illusive painting or short story. For Elfman’s first composure without visuals, it supplies all on its own.