It isn’t until the music track is added that a film achieves its ultimate effect. That may be a platitude, but it is an undeniable truism nonetheless. This year the Cologne Conference retrospective for the first time honors a film composer, and in so doing acknowledges the hugely significant contribution the score makes to the overall quality of a film or television production. Because film composers are mostly to be found hard at work in soundproof studios, few of them ever gaining a high public profile or much recognition outside of professional inner circles, we are especially pleased to have the privilege of welcoming to Cologne one of the globally acknowledged greats of this art form, Lalo Schifrin.
Lalo Schifrin was predestined for a musical life. Born in Buenos Aires in 1932, his father was concert master at the Teatro Colón, and his first piano teacher was Enrique Barenboim, father of conductor and pianist Daniel Barenboim. In 1957, after a year of study in Paris with Oliver Messiaen, came a meeting that was to have a decisive influence on the course of Schifrin’s life. On tour in Argentina, Dizzy Gillespie discovered the young pianist and offered him a job doing arrangements. Schifrin followed the bebop star to the USA and spent the next years writing - not only for Gillespie, but for other jazz greats such as Count Basie and Stan Getz as well. During this time he also began to work for film and television. In 1964 he wrote the music for "The Man From U.N.C.L.E.", in 1965 the score to "Once a Thief" and in the same year produced an early masterpiece with the music to "The Cincinnati Kid". In 1966 he delivered a theme tune for the series "Mission Impossible" that, with its driving 5/4 tact, was to become more famous than the production for which it was composed. Like Mancini's "Moon River", and "The Pink Panther", the "Mission Impossible" theme broke free of its context to become a popular classic in its own right, enjoying myriad incarnations.
In 1968, Lalo Schifrin scored "Bullitt", a film that made stars of Steve McQueen and his Ford Mustang. The cool, lounge jazz soundtrack became a style-blueprint for the inevitable rash of genre progeny that followed. In the 70’s, Schifrin’s trademark mixture of pop, jazz, funk and symphonic arrangements dominated the film music landscape. With his scores for "The Beguiled", "Dirty Harry", "Enter the Dragon" and "Starsky & Hutch" among many others, Schifrin wrote film history; not least by composing the music for the first feature - length project by recent film school graduate George Lucas: "THX 1138". This disturbing and depressive score, for which Schifrin experimented with a wide variety of instruments and synthesizers, occupies a special place in the phalanx of his film compositions, despite the fact that the film and its soundtrack - file under: "Legendary Moments in Film History" are known to only a small community of the initiated.
The list of stars with whom Schifrin has worked in his long career reads like a "Who’s Who of Hollywood": Audrey Hepburn, Charlton Heston, Dudley Moore,Walter Matthau, Carlos Saura, Sam Peckinpah, Billy Wilder, Don Siegel, John Sturges, George Lucas, Richard Fleischer and Peter Yates to name only a few, in a productive working life now spanning almost 50 years. And, with recent projects including the blockbuster "Rush Hour", there’s no end in sight. But, although Lalo Schifrin’s moniker graces a weighty filmography, film composition is only one part of his musical life. In addition to his consistent activity in jazz music - as instrumentalist, arranger, composer - he has also composed music for major events, renowned orchestras and for stars of both the classical and pop music worlds. Even football (soccer) fans are familiar with Schifrin’s arrangements, which flowed from the noble throats of the "Three Tenors" to herald the finale of the world championships in 1990, 1994 and 1998. "On the side" he has conducted the symphony and philharmonic orchestras of London, Vienna , Los Angeles , Israel , Mexico City, Houston and Atlanta , and also finds time to apply his skills as a pianist.
The variety of these activities gives a clue to the secret of Lalo Schifrin’s success: The ability to combine an unlimited chameleon-like facility across all music traditions and genres with an unmistakable style, incorporating all the different influences and leaving a distinct, ‘trademark’ stamp. The Asian influences in "Rush Hour" and "Enter the Dragon" are absorbed as organically into his work as the driving saxophone and ethereal flute in "Bullitt". Schifrin handles the rhythm of Carlos Saura’s "Tango" with as much apparent ease and certainty as he does the pastorale at the beginning of "Charley Varrick". Schifrin himself sees the bridge he spans between jazz club, concert hall and ‘silver screen’ as the logical consequence of his musical credo: "Every kind of music is important to me. That is why I work in different areas. My record collection is alphabetically ordered: Miles Davis is next to Debussy and the Beatles next to Beethoven. As an arranger I am a chameleon. That’s why I can do things as various as jazz, symphonic music, film music or even work with the "Three Tenors". I like variety. I love to conduct, compose and to play piano, because all these activities are so different. It’s like being married to three women at the same time, and you love all of them very much."
Nowadays, 4 Grammies and numerous other awards vie for space on Schifrin’s mantelpiece. He’s a six time Oscar nominee, a knight of the "Ordre des Arts et Lettres", and has been honored with a star along the Hollywood Walk of Fame. On June 20, Lalo Schifrin will be awarded with the Bonn International Film Music Prize. The Cologne Conference offers Lalo Schifrin its heartfelt congratulations on this occasion, and is pleased to have the opportunity in this year’s retrospective to show highlights of his film music career, including "Enter the Dragon", "THX 1138" and "Bullitt". In addition, on June 21, we have the honor of welcoming Lalo Schifrin in person to the Kabel 1 "Kultnacht", where he will join us for a discussion of his musical work and the stations of his varied and productive career.