Having completed the sequel, I wish to mention music once again. While staples like Peter Gabriel and Tori Amos were often in evidence, this book was finished with the musical aid of two very special, but quite different, contemperaries.
The first is Erich Wolfgang Korngold, the composer of the soundtracks to Errol Flynn’s CAPTAIN BLOOD, THE SEA HAWK, and THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD. His work on those and other films were the model John Williams used for, well, everything he’s done. The rousing opening score, the personal theme for the major characters, the variations on both for action and romantic scenes. I own three collections of Korngold’s works, and put them on a constant loop, at random. I was always excited when the score for the great escape from THE SEA HAWK came up, because when those liberated sailors burst into song, well, there’s nothing cornier – or better.
The other composer is Benny Goodman. Turning away from the various albums I own, I put on a loop of his radio broadcasts. It’s amazing – Krupa on drums, the Trio, the Sextet, the full orchestra, varying singers each week, with even Benny himself joining in. While the staples like Is Everybody Happy, In The Mood, et al are there, it’s delightful to hear his Jingle Bells, Bobwhite, It Comes Out Here, and a dozen other popular tunes of the late thirties, as interpreted by the Goodman crew.
Thanks to these two men, the sequel was finished to a rousing and jazzy fashion.
