Hommages 1-5

PRODUKTBESCHREIBUNGEN
JOHN RODBY is a commercial musician by vocation and a composer of classical music by avocation. Born in Wahiawa, Oahu, Hawaii, September 14th, 1944, he moved with his family to the Los Angeles area at an early age. Formally educated at Cal State Northridge (1966) and Cal State Long Beach (1968) he did further independent study in composition from Leonard Berkowitz, Donal Michalsky and Albert Harris as well as independent study in piano with Sam Saxe, Ralph Pierce, Peter Hewitt and Julian Musafia. His 'Concerto for Saxophone and Orchestra' previously released on Crystal Records was described by Hewell Turcuit in the San Francisco Examiner as 'casually masterful. Packed with keen notions of sonority'. Most of Mr. Rodby's career the past 35 years has been in TV and Film. He was musical director for Dinah Shore for 26 years, Musical Director of the CTW TV show 'Square I TV' as well as musical director for two Sheri Lewis TV projects; The Shari Lewis TV Show, 'Lamb Chop's Sing Along, Play Along' and 'Charlie Horse's Music Pizza'. He worked further as a keyboardist-arranger for Frank Sinatra, Liza Minelli, Rita Moreno, Tiny Tim and Connie Francis. He also did work on TV shows such as Mitzi Gaynor, Dallas, Bob Newhart, Hart to Hart, Quincy, The Gong Show and X Files. He is currently musical director for Al Martino and arranger- producer- keyboardist for a series of CD's for Robert Clary and others. He lives in Woodland Hills with his wife, singer/actress Talya Ferro and continues to compose classical music. CLASSICAL COMPOSITIONS JOHN RODBY (2001) (Original Cast Records - CD) Hommages I-V New Symphony Orchestra Brian Wright - conductor Produced by Raymond Few Engineered by Mike Ross-Trevor CBS Studios, London England Chamber Symphony- Members of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Gareth Wood - conductor Produced by John Rodby Engineered bye Dick Lewzey CTS Studios, Wembley, England Music Copyist- Janet Roots Additional editing and mastering- Peter Woodford Cover photo taken at Cabo Sao Vicente by Talya Ferro Ó2001 by John Rodby All selections published by Penfield Music BMI ADDITIONAL MUSIC BY JOHN RODBY MUSIC OF JOHN RODBY -(Crystal Records C-500-Cassette Tapes) Festivals (1970) Variations For Orchestra (1969) Concerto For Saxophone and Orchestra Elgar Howarth conducting The London Sinfonietta JOHN RODBY - (Crystal Records S-504-LP) Concerto for 29 (1973-1974) Elgar Howarth conducting The London Sinfonietta JOHN RODBY - (Crystal Records S-505-LP) Etudes for Piano (1970) Septet (1976-1977) Daniel Lewis - conductor SOME THOUGHTS ON MY MUSIC 1. I have considered myself, through the years, to be more of a tradesman than an intellectual. I am more concerned with problems in sonority, performance, orchestration, texture etc., than I am in extra musical concepts or non-musical criteria. I am, therefore, not part of a self-conscious artistic movement, or collective agenda. I am further not interested in bringing peace and harmony to the world through my music or in propagandizing the universal brotherhood of man. The architecture and craftsmanship of my music is the message and contains no other reason for being. 2. Due to my problems in creating, that is to say, lack of significant blocks of time to devote solely to a work in progress, the resultant offering takes on a sectional or episodic character. The architecture, therefore, is not one of a large building, temple, etc., but more of a suburb, perhaps a valid and logical consequence of living in Los Angeles. 3. Style should be as arbitrary as choice of instrumentation. Conventional harmonies, early musical forms and dance like rhythms are still very much a part my musical language. To anathematize their usage because they are 'not of our time' or some other such abstraction is nonsense and excludes a vocabulary which still has considerable artistic merit. 4. My early training as a composer was tainted somewhat with Western notions of progress, a holdover no doubt from the 1930s and the exaltation of the machine age. With the benefit of hindsight, however, I am unconvinced of any progress in music but do see that it merely changes according to the whims and artistic desires of it's creators. Were it otherwise, the music of Bach, Mozart, Metal, would not be performed except as an historical curiosity, being, as such, obsolete and irrelevant to current musical sensibilities. 5. I have always had an affinity toward craftsmanship in the arts and tend to relate 6. strongly to the historical period of the guilds, where one worked as an apprentice learning his craft, then journeyman, then finally, when all the necessary elements were mastered, on to a master piece. Ironically, as technology has become more advanced, particularly with the superb recording facilities we have now, craftsmanship seems to have occupied a lesser position, being subservient to youth, flamboyant lifestyles, philosophical concepts and political or social agenda, which, while making good press copy, tend to obscure the value of the music at hand.