Here is the backstory of Alex’s final project for his Master’s degree from the Berklee College of Music:
Fantasia (1940) is an animated film by Disney that introduced classical music to several generations of children and many adults as well. (You’ll remember Mickey Mouse as the Sorcerer’s apprentice.) There was a second Fantasia (1999) and a third was underway but cancelled in the middle of production.
One short piece (already animated and completed for Fantasia 3) was “The Little Matchgirl” with music by Alexander Borodin. It was made available to the Berklee College of Music with a blank soundtrack. Alex composed a new soundtrack that was recorded live in a studio conducted by Alex and played by seven (7) of his very accomplished musician friends from the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Pacific Northwest Ballet Orchestra, and San Francisco Opera Orchestra. He wrote and scored a new track, composing the music for each instrument and setting the tone, mood and atmosphere for the little girl’s plight.
In the studio, he conducted and recorded his composition to align with the action in the film. He mixed it into a final version, presented it to the faculty of the Berklee college, and earned considerable praise for this very delicate original work. (The credits scrolling at the end were from the original film, but all of the music is Alex's work.)
I'd suggest listening with good speakers if you want to be impressed by the talent of his musician friends!
Fantasia (1940) is an animated film by Disney that introduced classical music to several generations of children and many adults as well. (You’ll remember Mickey Mouse as the Sorcerer’s apprentice.) There was a second Fantasia (1999) and a third was underway but cancelled in the middle of production.
One short piece (already animated and completed for Fantasia 3) was “The Little Matchgirl” with music by Alexander Borodin. It was made available to the Berklee College of Music with a blank soundtrack. Alex composed a new soundtrack that was recorded live in a studio conducted by Alex and played by seven (7) of his very accomplished musician friends from the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Pacific Northwest Ballet Orchestra, and San Francisco Opera Orchestra. He wrote and scored a new track, composing the music for each instrument and setting the tone, mood and atmosphere for the little girl’s plight.
In the studio, he conducted and recorded his composition to align with the action in the film. He mixed it into a final version, presented it to the faculty of the Berklee college, and earned considerable praise for this very delicate original work. (The credits scrolling at the end were from the original film, but all of the music is Alex's work.)
I'd suggest listening with good speakers if you want to be impressed by the talent of his musician friends!
The Little Match Girl from Alexander Grimes on Vimeo.
Below is a video of Alex during the actual recording session with his back to the camera and the musicians in the background. In this video, he is recording the final minute of the film where the little girl is taken up to heaven by her grandmother...
Budapest Recording Session
An assignment during Alex's graduate program (last year) was to compose a piece from scratch that represented the final scene from an imaginary movie where the enemy is being defeated by the good guys in outer space. He was to compose the music for a full orchestra and write for each instrument. The final composition was about 50 pages long. The Budapest orchestra was retained by Berklee to play the piece two or three times (live) while Alex communicated by text with the conductor to make corrections or minor adjustments. Alex was in his apartment in Seattle; the orchestra was in Budapest, Hungary. Below is the final version: