Abe Grundleton

[shnurgle]

He did Lawrence of Arabia, Star wars and Citizen Cain. He was there when Al Jolsen came clean about the Ogden L. Mills scandal, he was the first to break the sound barrier with film music, and he slept with Buzby Berkley's mom. Grundleton had a subtlty about his music and about himself; and he rarely ate the same meal twice.

In a 1998 interview for Ongbundt Magazine, acclaimed director Martin Scorsese recalled:
"Abe is a true original. Probably the closest I've ever seen to a legitimate genius. Yep, definitely the genuine article.....I thought he was pretty hip when I saw The Bishop's Wife after they rereleased it in '55 with the rerecorded audio tracks, and I couldn't believe he did the whole thing with an Electrolux vaccume cleaner. It sound like a real orchestra! Then, later, all that @#$% he did for Little House on the Prairie with the live animals and everything... was...just breathtaking."

I heard Grundleton would get a locked picture and bring it into his screening room and just sit there for like 2 weeks watching it over and over non stop. Then, alledgedly, when he came out, he would have the complete score written in his head, start to finish. Then he would write it down "Mozart Style" in like 3 days and bring it in. What a freak.

Here's a quote about Grundleton from the great Romantic composer Richard Wagner taken from a letter to his wife dated May, 1856:
"I have taken into my studio a new apprentice the likes of whom I have never encountered. One Abraham Grundlton of America. He possesses none of the traditional qualities longed for in an student, yet he intrigues me beyond measure. His compositions owe perhaps more to the Russians than the Austrians, but he favors a French sensability overall and cannot be described as wanting in any way for emotion....Tuesday afternoon, he arrived an hour early for instruction, dripping with perspiration, and wearing a curious ensemble to say the least. He dropped his manscript on the floor, and as he knelt down to retrieve it, the taught wrenching of his leather..."
(The page is ripped here rendering the rest of the letter illedgible)

Anyway, just wondering what you guys thought about this guy, who's clearly been around, pretty much done all the big films and isn't showing any sign of slowing down.

[DallasComposer]

he's off his meds again folks, look out :o

[TheVamp]

I can truly say he's one the greats. I've been collecting his scores since the late 19th century when they were first issued on phonograph cylinders. Almost a third of my soundtracks are by Grundleton. Certainly The Adventures of Robin Hood and The Devil in Miss Jones are among my favorite scores of his.
I heard on Revenge of the Sith he and Ben Burtt got into such a huge shouting match about how the score was being mixed to picture, he challenged him to a mansabre duel. I don't know what happened after that...

[F. Murray Baberaham]

Yes, is true that Grundleton is of course is best. Nothing even come close. I love in Gone With the Wind when he bring the bassoons up in high registrar to double violas at the end of first act. Make it so lush. Also, I like his later operas like Don Giovanni. My favorites scores from him is Disney's the Kid. Grundleton is very clean.

[guy theaker]

he's off his meds again folks, look out :o

I say, sack the man who was keeping him ON his meds.

There is so much, and yet so little that can be said to sum up a musical legend such
as Grundleton. Much has already been said, through the years, and indeed continues to be said, though it has to be said, mainly behind his back. But those who continue to say such things are indeed in a minority, for none can doubt the true genius of a true genius.

I think his reworking of Elgar's Enigma Variations for Bass Opheclide, Sitar and Maladjusted Duck Call totally masterful (don't worry, it's a little known concert piece).

[sinkd]

Abe Grundleton was my first teacher and I'll always remember his zest for life, his manic, almost giddy appreciation for cheap sardines and string cheese, and the fact that he met with all of his composition students at Beaver College in the unisex bathroom.

DS

[WoodIsGood]

Everything he "composes" is a complete rip of someone elses. His score for Lawnmower Man 2: Beyond Cyberspace sounds exactly like Teen Wolf Too. What a joke. I bet you didn't know this: if you play his score for Rhinestone backwards and sync it up with The Wizard of Oz starting at the lion's roar, and then close your eyes . . . it fits perfectly. I think that's how he came up with one or the other. Some call that genius; I call it pure crap! Although I will say this . . . the music in Anus Magillicutty ain't all that bad. It sure blows away anything Williams has done for Spielberg.

[shnurgle]

I remember a story from Dick Prendergheist's third biography on Grundleton( Grundleton Volume 3: The Lean Years) about his collaborations with Chaplin. Apparently, in the 20's, Chaplin would hire Grundleton (then 97) to write "rehearsal pieces" that an orchestra would play on the sets during shooting and rehearsal to give the actors "inspiration" or whatever. So, one morning Chaplin comes in totally wasted from the night before and Grundleton is there with his orch warming up. Chaplin stumbles over to the podium and starts doing a Grundleton impression (mock conducting etc). Grundleton's notorious temper comes out and he starts screaming at Chaplin, calling him a "talentless hack," a "common clown;" a "lightweight fairy." So of course Chaplin comes back at him twice as hard. The two start throwing punches! Alledgedly, Chaplin got the first jab in, but after that it was all over. Grundleton took him to a new universe of pain. He threw music stands and wrapped a tuba around his face. The massacre lasted over three hours and by the end, Chaplin was covered in talc powder, hanging on a 40 foot high rafter by his underwear. Then, once he was done "taking Chaplin to church," Grundleton calmly turned to the orchestra, tapped on the podium and said, 'All right ladies and gentlemen, letter A please," and began conducting the rehearsal score.
Later in the 70's Chaplin recalled in his memoirs, "I have no regrets about working with Abe Grundleton. He taught me how to love again."

What a legend huh?