Amazon.co.uk Review
Leonard Rosenman is one of the few composers to have launched a film career on the recommendation of a major Hollywood star. The iconoclastic Rosenman, who had been enjoying an avant-garde concert hall career, was hired by director Elia Kazan in 1955 to score
East of Eden at the insistence of leading man James Dean. Rosenman's cutting-edge style was partly inspired by his studies with serial pioneer Arnold Schoenberg, whose modernisms found their way into his scores through various guises (for example, in his 12-tone score for
The Cobweb). Nevertheless,
East of Eden is remembered primarily for its gentle, lyrical Americana and its expressive use of jazz. The main influence is Copland, but Rosenman is too original a composer for the comparison to be drawn broadly. Also released the same year was Nicholas Ray's
Rebel Without a Cause (1955), which Rosenman underscored with the primitive energy of his abstract concert works. This is the art music of America's restless, disenfranchised youth, tempered only by the compassion of the composer's main theme. Conductor John Adams was endorsed by Rosenman for this recording, and brings out every nuance of the artist's complex but accessible voice. --
Kevin Mulhall