Search - Shardad :: Cinema Passion

Musical director and conductor for the Los Angeles Symphony Orchestra, as well as a composer in his own right, Shardad indubitably has an ear for a melody. On the descriptively titled Cinema Passion, he reworks film themes from some of the movie industry's best-known composers, highlighting the particular qualities of each. James Horner's overplayed "My Heart Will Go On" has been stripped of Celine Dion's vocals and arranged with an emphasis on piano, while John Williams's theme for Sabrina is arranged for solo piano, which emphasizes its homage to Chopin. However, Shardad hasn't neglected his classics; his version of "Raindrops" from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is a positive toe-tapper, Henry Mancini is well represented with selections from Breakfast at Tiffany's and Charade, and "Maria" from West Side Story is complemented by the love theme from Romeo and Juliet. One should also not fail to mention Beethoven's "Berto Surto #8," which appeared on the Age of Innocence soundtrack and sounds almost out of place among the more modern selections; on the other hand, perhaps it will encourage the listener to sample other classical music, which is all to the good. --Genevieve Williams