Robert Folk

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Robert Folk (born March 5, 1949 in New York City , New York ) is an American film music composer , songwriter and record producer .

Live and act

Robert Folk began his music career at a young age as a songwriter and band member in various "East Coast Rock Bands". After a few years, however, he increasingly discovered his passion for classical music , so that he decided to study at the renowned Juilliard School of Music in New York (where John Williams also studied), which is by far the best American school for prospective students Composer applies. After earning a master's degree and a doctorate , he initially taught at the faculty for a few years before he finally made his first contacts in the film industry through a director friend in the early 1980s and finally went to Hollywood .

Robert Folk has now set over 70 different television and cinema films to music. His compositions, which he always orchestrates and conducts himself , can be seen in many well-known major and independent films such as Die Unendliche Geschichte II - Auf der Suche nach Phantásien (1990), Boy Soldiers (1991) or Loaded Weapon 1 ( 1993) hear. Many of his scores were also recorded directly in Germany, so the recordings for Beastmaster II - Der Zeitspringer were made in 1991 in East Berlin with the Berlin Radio Orchestra, while other scores, such as B. "Honeymoon Academy" or The Neverending Story II , with various orchestras (including the Munich Symphony Orchestra , Bavarian State Orchestra ) were recorded in Munich .

So far, very few of his works have been published on (official) soundtrack CDs - this also applies to his by far best-known film scores, the scores for the Police Academy series, although Robert Folk remarked in an interview: “I regret that these of all people Scores are the most popular [...] one can hardly describe one of these films as worth seeing. However, I enjoyed it because I was allowed to write music with a marching character for a large orchestra [... also] the producer is a good friend of mine, whom I always like to do a favor. If it weren't so, I probably wouldn't have written a score for the series after the first part. "

Robert Folk is a member of the " Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences " - in addition to his film music work, he occasionally works as a concert composer. His own ballet composition "To Dream Of Roses" (1990), composed for the American Ballet Theater and recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra , is probably the best-known and most successful work.

Compositions (selection)

Film music

Concert music

Trivia

For the horror comedy Tremors - In the Land of Rocket Worms , Robert Folk was asked shortly before the cinema release to completely replace the score of the composer Ernest Troost , as the producers of the film were not satisfied with his work - Folk had to pay for his symphonic replacement score (the can be heard especially in the second half of the film) but only five days and could therefore only replace half of Troost's music, the other half of his score can still be heard in the film.

Robert Folk's name is now in vain in the film's credits . In an interview he explained: “... that's because Troost had a contract that allowed him that if any part of his music was used in the film, his name would definitely be included in the credits. It is different when e.g. B. Jerry Goldsmith had been the original composer, the nomination would certainly have been shared. But with a composer without a reputation, I decided that my name shouldn't be included with his. Everyone here in Hollywood knows this story. "

Web links

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  1. ↑ Der Deutsche Filmmusik-Dienst No. 18 / September 1991 - Interview with Robert Folk - by Thomas Karban , p. 14 right column
  2. ↑ Der Deutsche Filmmusik-Dienst No. 18 / September 1991 - Interview with Robert Folk - by Thomas Karban , p. 14 left column
personal data
SURNAME Folk, Robert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American film composer
DATE OF BIRTH March 5, 1949
PLACE OF BIRTH New York , NY