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 CC: Since this is
"Olympic music," do
you feel that pressure
of having Leo Arnaud's
Bugler's Dream or John
Williams' memorable
olympic-theme hovering
over you?
JEFF RONA: Yes. Well,
it's grand, epic,
melodic and
uplifting...for the
most part. Of course
an entire concert of
that would be akin to
"chinese water
torture." About 60% of
it is big, epic,
thematic and then
there are pieces that
are more quiet, more
reflective or noble. I
have written one piece
that is performed
underneath a piece of
poetry. One of China's
leading young poets is
going to write a poem
about the sea and it
will be read as this
sort of dramatic
thing. And then there
are going to be some
interconnection
between my music: some
being played on
western instruments
and then adapted to be
played by traditional
instruments.
CC: Do you quote the
"Bugler's Dream" or
John Williams' fanfare
at all?
JEFF RONA: No. This is
all original stuff.
CC: What would you say
your biggest challenge
was in writing this?
JEFF RONA: To feel
open enough to write
music that didn't
necessarily reflect a
purely cinematic
perspective. These are
longer pieces of music
and so it was an
opportunity to stretch
into a more
concert-approach.
CC: Do you utilize any
soloists like LANG
LANG, YO YO MA,
VANESSA MAE...or even
the pop singer WEI WEI?
JEFF RONA: There is a
Chinese violinist,
Frank Yang, and he will
be performing a violin
concerto that I've
written. He is quite
spectacular and has
been in L.A. and San
Francisco as the
principle violinist of
the Alexander String
Quartet.
CC: What did you use
for inspiration while
writing this symphony?
JEFF RONA: Well, they
brought me out and
gave me a tour
of the Olympic
village. They
essentially flew me
out to the city and
gave me a special tour
of the entire town. We
went to a 1000 year
old Taoist monastery.
We went to visit the
concert halls and the
beach and this huge
Olympic village where
some 200,000 will
attend just the
sailing events. So I
was just very moved by
the spirit these
people have about the
whole thing.
CC: So are you looking
to blend the feeling
of "old world" China
with contemporary
China?
JEFF RONA: As far as
I'm concerned, it's
contemporary China. My
role is to bring fresh
thinking to the entire
thing. The music we
are doing, although
some of it feels very
"classic," it's not
really. It's my music
and not a generic
approach to what it
means to write Olympic
music....I hope. But
still, there are lots
of trumpets, but no
real fanfares. I'm
catching the spirit of
it, but hopefully
doing it in my own
ear. Now they could
have done this with
all Chinese composers
and, from what I
understand, there is
going to be an
enormous amount of
music written for the
games by Chinese
composers. But they
didn't want Chinese
composers doing this
particular project.
They wanted something
a bit more universal.
Their composers write
with a "Chinese
accent" if you will. I
don't think I write
with an "American
accent." I think I
speak with a
story-teller's accent.
So my goals has been
to write something
with a universal
message, because China
is slowing attempting
to become an open
country.
CC: Will there be a
release of your music?
JEFF RONA: We are
going to record it in
July and I'm talking
with some people now
about releasing it. It
probably won't be out
before the beginning
of the games, but it
will be out.
CC: Where would you
say this project rank
among all your work to
date?
JEFF RONA: Well, you'd
probably need to ask
that after I record
it, but there are
quite a few pieces
here that I'm really
very fond of. A couple
of the quieter pieces
I've really enjoyed.
This mini violin
concerto to be played
by violin virtuoso
soloist and orchestra
has been a tremendous
feeling of freedom.
God I hope it works!
CC: That brings up an
interesting thought.
Now you've been
writing for weeks and
have heard the music
in your mind and in
your mock-ups for a
long time. What is the
anticipation like in
waiting to hear it
performed by the full
orchestra?
JEFF RONA: My thought
is, "God, I hope they
can play it!" The
level of musicianship
in Beijing is
phenomenal, especially
the string players
there. The brass
sections have been
superb, but they've
never played music
quite like this. I
hear this music in my
head, the way I
intended it. It's not
complicated stuff, but
its demanding in that
it must be played
full-on with a
tremendous amount of
energy. The orchestras
in China are very good
when it comes to very
traditional or Chinese
music. They write and
record film music
there as well and they
sound tremendous. Film
scores like HERO are
great (one of my
favorites from that
year) but generally
their scores are
subtler.
CC: So what is the
plan for working with
this orchestra and
recording?
JEFF RONA: First, they
are going to have a
month of rehearsals.
Now, this is going to
be quite different
from the process of
recording for a film.
Normally, when you
finish the score, you
get it copied, you
record it, and then
you make changes. It's
quite normal to make
changes to the score
during the recording
sessions. For this
project, this is going
to be very difficult
because I won't be
there for the
rehearsals. So, we've
put in a request that
they record the
rehearsals everyday
and send them to us as
mp3s. Then we'll
listen to them, make
notes, and make
quick changes if
needed. Hopefully,
they will be open to
the idea of this music
being more fluid than
playing Beethoven's
3rd Symphony.
CC: Will you stay on
for the games?
JEFF RONA: It depends
on my schedule. There
might be a film that I
have to work on which
would cut my trip
short, but if not, you
bet I want to stay!
CC: Well, Jeff
congrats on this
Olympic project and
thanks so much for
your time.
JEFF RONA: My
pleasure. Talk to you
soon.
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