Lalo Schifrin
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Currently enjoying COOL HAND LUKE, one of his best efforts. And so nice that he’s still with us, same age as Williams. One of the last giants of that generation.
I had a (sorta) walkthrough of his work awhile back, and added a few items I didn’t already own, but I’m always open to more suggestions. Even those that I already know and/or have sampled. Can’t be too wild and jazzy and dissonant, though, for my delicate sensibilities. 🙂
These are the ones I currently have:
COOL HAND LUKE
THE FOX
MANNIX (my favourite, and it needs to be the recent rerecording)
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE
BULLIT
THERE’S A WHOLE LALO SCHIFRIN GOIN’ ON
DIRTY HARRY
JEAN MICHEL BERNARD PLAYS LALO SCHIFRINOh, there are lots of them. Bullit is an all time favorite of his, especially on the FSM with the original score and the also great album re-recording. The other re-recording by Schifrin is nice but misses the feeling. I feel similar with Mannix.
Some others, especially those 70s groovy ones
– Enter The Dragon
– Rush Hour
– The Liquidator (Great “Bond song” 😉
– Dirty Harry
– Magnum Force
– Joe Kidd
– Coogan’s Bluff
– The Concord – Airport 79
– The Hellstrom Chronicle (very experimental)
– Amityville HorrorENTER THE DRAGON is a must, but only in later expanded and remastered editions, as the original album contained inserted yells and “Kung Fu vocals”.
The John Williams 20 CD box is in the meantime down to under a hundred Euro at Amazon. Has maybe something to do with the new Anthology being announced? Anyway, this box is still the better choice.
Yeah, nice box… but I didn’t pick up that one either… I mean, I have all these scores already anyway.
ENTER THE DRAGON is a must, but only in later expanded and remastered editions, as the original album contained inserted yells and “Kung Fu vocals”.
Yes, not on all tracks but right on the main and I think end title.
Don’t have that Schifrin box as I had most already in some form.
Yeah, nice box… but I didn’t pick up that one either… I mean, I have all these scores already anyway.
I didn’t have everything. For example the Cinderella Liberty OST or the Checkmate bits or The Man Who loved Cat Dancing. And the song CD was a nice addition. Or Sinfonietta for Wind Essemble or Prelude and Fugue. Also I like some compilations of stuff I have in complete form like the desaster movie compilation or the Oliver Stone compilation. It’s nice to listen to the JFK highlights without the songs.
Btw, sorry for my off-topic.
Incidentally, Schifrin seems to be working on a new concert piece to celebrate a historical Argentinian event. That was a nice surprise, I thought he had completely retired, and the recent pics I’ve seen have been of a very frail, wheelchair-bound man.
Damn, just as I was about to congratulate him on his 93rd birthday a few days ago, as well musing on his upcoming concert work (hopefully finished?), we receive the news of his death:
https://variety.com/2025/music/news/lalo-schifrin-dead-mission-impossible-film-composer-1236442000/
The giants of Williams’ generation are falling one by one.
No reactions?
I’m pondering who’s left of the titans of that generation, outside Williams, now that Schifrin is no more.
There are some, like Laurence Rosenthal, Stu Phillips, John Scott, Dave Grusin, Klaus Doldinger, Philip Glass etc., who are more or less in the same age range, but as icons of the silver screen, I feel like it was only Williams and Schifrin left, after the passings in recent years of Morricone, Legrand, Q. Jones and so on.
I thought I did comment… Yeah really and unexpected bad news even given his age. Again one of the last greats gone. Just played the old GNP Best of Mission Impossible album and just listening to the rerecording album (sadly missed the MI box a few years ago).
his upcoming concert work (hopefully finished?)
Wasn’t that a collaboration? Then maybe the chance is good it will be completed. I long planned to dig into his (non jazz) concert works. Currently I know these:
– Concerto de la Amistad (2nd guitar concerto): Unreleased except a DVD I think. I got it from an arte concert broadcast a few years ago…
– Trumpet Concerto (This is not the 1967 one but a later one called “Delta Concerto”, apparently written for the trumpet player Jan Hasenröhrl)
– The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich (originally a documentary score, right)
– Rock RequiemI have these on my list to check out:
– Double Bass concert on “Lalo Schifrin Conducts Stravinsky, Schifrin and Ravel”
– Concierto caribeño, Guitar Concerto & Trópicos
– Cantos Aztecas
– Symphony No. 1 “Lili’uokalani”
– Shifrin Plays Schifrin with some some clarinet focussed works)
– Symphonic Impressions Of Oman
– SCHIFRIN / SCHULLER / SHAPIRO: Piano TriosI read he wrote two piano concertos but I didn’t see any release of those. Any recommendations? Anything else I missed?
I read he wrote two piano concertos but I didn’t see any release of those.
In case anyone is interested: His Piano Concerto #2 (The Americas) is on the score album “Something To Believe In”
You’re right about the new concert work being out. It premiered in April already, apparently. Hopefully it will be made available in some form eventually.
I’ve never really seeked out Schifrin’s non-film work, feels like a jungle to get lost in. But you’ve provided some good recommendations, Malte!
Hmmm….normally when a composer dies, I get all hyperactive and explore their entire catalogue to build whatever collection I have of them.
But it’s taking its time with Schifrin. Probably has to do with the tinnitus.
But anyway, I mentioned some of my Schifrins earlier in the thread. Could I ask you for other recommendations? Be aware that I gravitate towards lyrical stuff, or loungey, and not so much the abrasive and dissonant (or the heavily action-oriented).
First and foremost and hands down because of the impression it made upon this then-kid, for me it’s think Lalo think Mission:Impossible. Every Sunday night. That show and theme were monstrous hits. Later in life I’d accidentally discover his Rollercoaster on a cable TV channel and it was instant LP purchase.
Over at jwfan someone found a live performance of Schifrin’s last concert work with Rod Schejtman:
Haven’t listened to it yet but after some Schifrin and Schejtmann tracks the actual symphony starts around 35 minutes in.
Nice! I was curious about that piece.
Does anyone know what the time gap is between that piece, which became his last, and the one that came before it? Was it RUSH HOUR 3 (2007)?
Yes, I was curious as well. According to my knowledge RUSH HOUR 3 may be the last film score. There was music for SPOOKS (2007 as well) with Andy Garfield which was a kind of music to a graphic novel. And there were at least some concert works, I know of these (haven’t heard any yet:
CROSSCURRENTS (2010)
PAMPAS (2009 – won a Latin Grammy – that’s for cello and piano, no idea if that is an apdation of the same named track from Latin Jazz Suite which itself is an adaption of the same named track fron the album GYPSIES if I recall right)
ELEGY AND MEDITATION (2009)
TANGOS CONCERTANTES (2008)
CONCERTO FOR JAZZ TRUMPET AND PIANO (aka DOUBLE CONCERTO) (2007)Are you sure those are new compositions, and not merely new recordings of older pieces?
Anyways, I googled around myself. From what I can tell, the last original, new composition prior to the “Viva la Libertad!” (which I will listen to at a later time) was the theme for a 2015 horror anthology series called TALES OF HALLOWEEN. Appears his son Ryan Schifrin directed one of the episodes, so that may explain his involvement.
As sure as I can be. My reference was Doug Payne’s site with has these listed as commissions and premieres:
https://www.dougpayne.com/lslcomm.htmSince the official Schifrin site references him as teh source of the discography on https://schifrin.com/discography/ I guess it can be jugded as pretty reliable. TALES OF HALLOWEEN did escape me and is not listed there. I found it on YT and seems he wrote the theme and Blair Mowat arrangned and orchstrated it.
I finally had the opportunity to listen to Schifrin’s final piece, “Sinfonia Viva La Libertad!”, as mentioned and linked to above.
It’s not quite what I expected. Well, I don’t know what I had expected, really, but this is very melodic, anthemic and old-fashioned in style. It’s definitely not AMITYVILLE HORROR Schifrin on display, nor jazz Schifrin, but then again, why would it? It’s a celebration of Argentine liberty. Of course, I have no idea where Schifrin ends and Schejtman begins and vice versa, and I doubt we’ll ever know. But yes — pretty nice piece, closer to the type of music Schifrin wrote for THE FOUR MUSKETEERS and that kind of stuff. The performance has issues here and there, but it’s okay.
If I had posted this in the “final scores” thread instead, I’d say it’s a pretty high quality composition to go out on, even if it isn’t film.
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