Serenada Schizophrana [HYBRID SACD]

Danny Elfman (Artist), Bruce Morgenthaler (Artist), Christian Kollgaard (Artist), Connie Deeter (Artist), Drew Dembowski (Artist), Edward Meares (Artist), Frances Liu Wu (Artist), Oscar Hidalgo (Artist), Richard Feves (Artist), Susan Ranney (Artist)

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 3, 2006)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Hybrid SACD
• Label: Sony Classics
• ASIN: B000HEZF7C
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #33,553 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
As the New York Times put it when Danny Elfman’s Serenada Schizophrana was performed live at Carnegie Hall in February 2005: "Better good Hollywood music than second-rate Brahms." Elfman, better known for his soundtracks to Tim Burton movies, had been commissioned by the American Composers Orchestra to write a concert work, and the Serenada Schizophrana in six movements was the result. It appears here under the baton of John Mauceri, known for his crossover work with Los Angeles’ Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. Fans of Elfman’s soundtracks won’t be disappointed—or even very much surprised—by this venture into the concert hall. The composer’s style remains very much the same, probably because his habitual orchestrator, Steve Bartek (whose contribution is crucial to Elfman’s sound), worked on four movements, with Edgardo Simone handling the remaining two. Blending Bernard Herrmann, Duke Ellington, Max Steiner, and especially JG Thirlwell (a.k.a. big-band industrialist Foetus), Elfman has come up with an audience-friendly piece that actually sounds more convincing than similarly high-reaching works by Paul McCartney or Elvis Costello.--Elisabeth Vincentelli

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nourishment for your Imagination, October 18, 2006

By	J. C. Roberts "The Mysterious Irresponsible Man" (Higashi-Hemi-Cho, Yokosuka, Kanagawa, Honshu, Japan) - See all my reviews

When I mention my appreciation of Danny Elfman's work to other people, a question I often get is "What kind of music does he do?"

To date, the best answer I've been able to come up with is, "Imagine a truly great jazz impressario given an entire symphony orchestra to play with." He does movie soundtracks, of course, which I absolutely love, but to say that he is a soundtrack artist is not giving him the credit he deserves.

This album is marvelous. Every time I listen to Danny's music, it not only fires my imagination, it kicks it into high gear. In that respect, I would call this album truly inspiring. It is by turns ethereal, imposing, surreal, ambient, overwhelming, disturbing, and just plain fun!

If you love good music, if you love to have your imagination captivated and set free on a whole new plane of existence, then you owe it to yourself to give this album a listen.

Your imagination will thank you for it.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Music for the Hitchcock Movie Never Filmed, October 3, 2006

By	Kenneth Windrim (Toronto, Canada) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Danny Elfman's "Serenada Schizophrana" is best decribed as a score for the Alfred Hitchcock movie never filmed. It has all the elements of a dark and cinematic film score by Bernard Hermann. There is also the humour of Elfman's work for Tim Burton. With a total running time of about 45 minutes, this is truly a disc that leaves you wanting more. If you have an SACD system then you will not be disappointed - the 5.1 surround sound is spectacular but never forced. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Danny Elfman's masterpiece..., February 13, 2007

By	Alan Draven "Author of Bitternest, www.alandr... (Montreal, Canada) - See all my reviews

Danny Elfman has long been a favorite of mine, going all the way back to his days with Oingo Boingo. I've been following his career closely since I heard his Beetlejuice score in 1988. He followed it with the classic Batman score in 1989. He made wonderful music throughout the nineties, often accompanying Tim Burton's films (he scored all of them save for Ed Wood). In my opinion, it took until 1999 to surpass his work on Batman, with the release of the Sleepy Hollow soundtrack. And now, with the release of Serenada Schizophrana, Sleepy Hollow has been dethroned. It'll take an impressive score to take this last composition's place.

This orchestral suite showcases Elfman's versatile influences and he sounds better than ever. Sometimes dark, other times playful with more quiet and subtle parts, this was a completely different project than his usual film scores. He had a lot of freedom for this symphony and it shows. Serenada is divided in 7 movements and contains a bonus track.

If some of the cuts sound familiar, it's because it was heavily featured in last year's Imax film Deep Sea 3D, narrated by Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet. It fit perfectly well with the mysterious underwater world unfolding in 3D on the oversized screen.

If you're a fan of Elfman's, you'll love Serenada. If you love movie scores, chances are you'll enjoy it too. The only downside with this CD has nothing to do with its content, but rather with its encoding. This is a SACD (Super Audio CD) and therefore will not be playable on your computer. It is designed for super audio players so you might want to check if your CD player can play it. It plays fine on mine and on my DVD player. The sound quality is much clearer than your average CD, but I find it disappointing that I'm not able to listen to this great suite on my IPod. Still, it's well worth it for the opening track alone!