A Conversation with Laurence Rosenthal

It has been my immense privilege to write the liner notes for numerous Laurence Rosenthal scores over the years, and each time, maestro Rosenthal has generously made himself available for interviews. By necessity, only excerpts of these make it into the finished notes. In many cases, that means plenty of interesting details fall by the wayside.

The interview I conducted for Film Score Monthly's recent release of The Comedians/Hotel Paradiso was particularly extensive. Both films were directed by Peter Glenville, allowing me to set two radically different scores within the context of a single working relationship – one of the most important of the maestro's long career. And so our conversation ranged from Rashomon to Man of La Mancha to A Patriot for Me, in addition to going into great detail on Hotel Paradiso and The Comedians.

Given all this, I thought it might be nice to transcribe the interview in its entirety, and put it up online for interested readers. Happily, both FSM founder Lukas Kendall and maestro Rosenthal were obliging! You can now read the complete piece, for FREE, at the FSM webpage.

I have come to know Laurence Rosenthal as man of robust good-humor and keen intelligence. I hope that in reading his words, you are able to get a sense of the personality behind so much incredible music.