Irwin Kostal

Irwin Kostal James (* 1. October 1911 in Chicago , Illinois ; † 23. November 1994 in Studio City , Los Angeles , California ) was an American arranger , composer of film music and conductor . He is best known for his collaboration with the Sherman brothers and as the musical director of several Disney musicals , including Mary Poppins (1964). For the musical arrangement and direction of West Side Story and My Songs - My Dreams (1965) he was each awarded an " Oscar ".

Life

Irwin Kostal was born in Chicago on October 1, 1911. As a child he learned to play the piano and studied scores by composers such as Ludwig van Beethoven and Claude Debussy in local libraries . It soon became clear to him that he wanted to become an arranger. Kostal studied at the American Conservatory of Music in his hometown and worked with Art Van Damme , among others . His first professional assignment as an arranger was for the Chicago-based NBC radio show Design for Listening . He then went to New York City , where he arranged the music for Sid Caesar's hugely successful television series Your Show of Shows (1950). During this time he also worked as an arranger or pianist for band leaders such as Vaughan Monroe or Al Nevins as well as on Broadway . There he developed into an important arranger of musicals . Together with Sid Ramin he orchestrated the original stage production of Leonard Bernstein's West Side Story and later also of "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum". Kostal was also the arranger for the film version of West Side Story , which earned him an "Oscar" and a "Grammy".

This was followed by an order from Walt Disney to take over the musical direction of the musical Mary Poppins (1964). Kostal succeeded so well in interweaving the music of Richard M. and Robert B. Sherman into a convincing sound carpet that his music editing is still used today in lessons for budding arrangers. Another great success of Kostal was the film version of the musical My Songs - My Dreams by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein in 1965 , also with Julie Andrews in the lead role, for whose TV show Kostal also acted as musical director in the same year.

Other musical projects with the Sherman brothers followed, including Tschitti Tschitti Bäng Bäng (1968) and The daredevil witch in her flying bed (1971), both of which, however, could not build on the success of Mary Poppins. The 1973 by Kostal orchestrated Broadway production of Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe's Gigi was not a success, nor the first American-Soviet film co-production The Blue Bird ( The Blue Bird , 1976).

After the overall musical direction of Elliot, the Schmunzelmonster ( Pete's Dragon , 1977), Kostal also took over the digital re-recording of the music for the cartoon classic Fantasia (1940) for the Disney Studios in 1982 . Although he used the original arrangements by Leopold Stokowski , there was some protest against this new recording, so that the film has been shown again with Stokowski's original music recording since 1990. 1983 Kostal wrote the soundtrack and the theme song to the Oscar-nominated Disney animated short film Mickey's Christmas Carol ( Mickey's Christmas Carol ).

Irwin Kostal died of a heart attack in Studio City on November 23, 1994 while serving as president of the American Society of Music Arrangers and Composers .

The Disney Company named him posthumously in 2004 to "Disney Legend" ("Disney Legend").

Filmography

• 1950: Your Show of Shows (television series) - composer and musical director
• 1955: Smoking Colts (Gunsmoke , TV series) - composer and musical director
• 1958: The Garry Moore Show (TV series) - musical direction
• 1961: West Side Story (West Side Story) - musical arrangements along with Saul Chaplin , Johnny Green and Sid Ramin
• 1964: Mary Poppins (Mary Poppins) - musical arrangements and musical direction
• 1965: My songs - my dreams (The Sound of Music) - musical arrangements and musical direction
• 1965: The Julie Andrews Show (TV series) - musical direction
• 1966: The old Romans had a great time (A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum) - musical arrangements and musical direction of the songs
• 1967: The Carol Burnett Show (TV series) - musical director
• 1967: Half a Sixpence (Half a Sixpence) - musical arrangements, musical direction and background music
• 1968: Tschitti Tschitti Bäng Bäng (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang) - musical arrangements, musical direction and background music
• 1971: The daring witch in her flying bed (Bedknobs and Broomsticks) - music arrangements and musical direction
• 1973: Zuckermanns Farm (Charlotte's Web) - music arrangements and musical direction
• 1973: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (TV movie) - musical arrangements, musical direction
• 1976: The Blue Bird (The Blue Bird) - Composer, music arrangements and musical direction
• 1977: Elliot, the Smirking Monster (Pete's Dragon) - music arrangements and musical direction
• 1978: Our Lassie (The Magic of Lassie) - musical arrangements and musical direction
• 1983: Mickey's Christmas Carol (Mickey's Christmas Carol) - Composer, music arrangements and musical direction

Awards

Oscar

Won

• 1962 - West Side Story (1961) - "Best Adapted Film Music" (with Saul Chaplin , Johnny Green and Sid Ramin )
• 1966 - My songs - my dreams (1965) - "Best adapted film music"

nomination

• 1965 - Mary Poppins (1964) - "Best adapted film music"
• 1972 - The daring witch in her flying bed (1971) - "Best adapted film music"
• 1978 - Elliot, the Schmunzelmonster (1977) - "Best adapted film music"

Grammy Awards

• 1962 - West Side Story (1961) - Grammy for "Best Soundtrack Album" (with Saul Chaplin, Johnny Green and Sid Ramin)

Emmy Awards

• 1966 - The Julie Andrews Show (1965) - nomination

Laurel Awards

• 1962 - West Side Story (1961) - Nomination for the "Golden Laurel" (together with Saul Chaplin, Johnny Green and Sid Ramin)

Web links

• Irwin Kostal in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Irwin Kostal as a "Disney legend"