American Warsaw

In 1987 noted poet and author Gary Gildner went to Poland on a Fulbright scholarship to teach at the University of Warsaw. One January day, a Warsaw sportswriter came knocking on Gildner’s classroom door with a problem and a request. The professional baseball team he had organized the year before could not win; would the professor—who he had heard was a baseball player—come help?

“For 25 years legendary Brazilian producer Kassin was trying to get me to make an album of my songs. We finally made it.
In Poland”

Contemporary symphonic music tends to fall into either one of two categories: hopelessly cerebral concert hall material that is difficult (if not impossible) to understand – or background music for motion pictures. Neither classification would be much to the liking of New York native Anthony Iannaccone, who sets out to prove that one can have the best of both worlds on LOOKING BACK, MOVING ON. Both his third and fourth symphonies make a strong case: spirited, organically structured, and imaginative, they are formidable displays of American verve. The Concertante for Clarinet and Orchestra, more subtle but no less energetic, drives home the point.

Forever to be remembered as the composer of the catchy 5/4 theme for the TV series Mission: Impossible, the very definition of jazzy intrigue, Lalo Schifrin actually established himself early on as a versatile, well-grounded composer and pianist adept at bebop, Latin sounds, and straight classical composition. He has written several concert works, but the bulk of his effort accompanies television shows and movies.