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Recently, I became aware that recordings I participated in over 25 years ago with the Mexico City Philharmonic are available on YouTube.
Below is the Wagner “Ride of the Valkyries,” recorded in 1994, with yours truly on principal horn. We literally ran through this once, touched a few spots, and started recording.
Background
It took a long while to get accustomed to living and playing in Mexico City.
- The altitude is 2240 meters / 7,349 feet.
- The city is populated by millions and millions of people.
- The air quality is terrible.
- The pace is hectic.
Bill Broughton
From my best recollection, the circumstances behind this recording went something like this:
Bruce Broughton‘s brother Bill Broughton (primarily known as a session trombone player in the LA scene) set up some kind of agreement with the Mexico City Philharmonic to record soundtrack scores as the “Orchestra of the Americas.”
The scores included “Silverado,” “The Cowboys,” and Bernard Hermann scores such as “Psycho,” “Marnie,” and “North by Northwest.” It also included some arrangements by Bill, of John Williams scores such as “Star Wars,” “Jurassic Park,” and “Superman.”
From Bill Broughton’s bio at Trombone USA (click to view):
(The name of the orchestra is wrong in this account.)
Lots of heavy playing
The recording sessions were brutal. Bill conducted, and he was a strict taskmaster. The charts were only touched on briefly before recording began. Recording was done all on company time, in the Philharmonic’s hall. The sessions lasted about a week, with around 4-5 hours of playing on each day.
Royalties?
Seeing these videos appear many years after-the-fact is fun and exciting, however I can’t help but wonder how Entertainment One Distribution US acquired the rights to distribute this material freely on YouTube.
My best guess is that Bill sold the rights to these recordings sometime before his death, and that at some point, this conglomerate company acquired them. I have never received a residual check.
“Orchestra of the Americas”
The final product was marketed as “Bill Broughton – Orchestra of the Americas” under a series titled “The Magic of the Movies.” It ended up being 6 CDs.
My best guess is that the producers of these materials thought the recording would track better in US and international markets under these brand names.
Worth mentioning is that the “Broughton” name in itself is a brand when associated with film scoring, and so in this context, there may have been some nepotism or coat-tail riding involved. Who knows?
Learning from Adversity
The real star behind these recordings – the Mexico City Philharmonic – was an international mix of musicians: American, Canadian, Eastern European, Russian, Mexican, and Asian. At break time, it was commonplace to hear a multitude of languages being spoken, along with lots of coffee and cigarettes (just coffee for me).
These recording sessions were an intense pressure cooker, and what I learned was this: it doesn’t really matter what language you speak in order to collaborate and put on a good show.
Ensemble cohesion, intonation, and unity of style can sync without speaking a word, if you just stay alert, remain flexible, and make an earnest effort to engage and “play” with your colleagues.
Listening to this Wagner recording from over 25 years ago has reminded me that in adverse situations, an ensemble of musicians that is bonded like this can survive just about anything that is thrown at them.
They may even manage to have fun and make great music while doing so… or at least have good jokes and stories to tell afterwards.
More?
Other selections from this series with interesting horn parts:
Suite from Marnie – https://youtu.be/VceROsBToHE
North by Northwest – https://youtu.be/jCS2rItQyR4
Vertigo – https://youtu.be/6NlolIX4AO0
Cowboys – https://youtu.be/gbv0yc7lKWM
Gremlins II – https://youtu.be/GUzvV2AQ2Rg
HORNS:
- Bruce Hembd
- Bob Schwendeman
- John Findley
- Janice Kraynok
