With his latest album "Dreams in the morning," composer George Shaw has assembled a collection of some of his favorite movie score compositions.
"This is what I love to write," he says. "Stylistically, it's more what I like to write. Beautiful flowing melodies."
Shaw describes the album as a combination of relaxing piano melodies and inspiring chamber music utilizing violin and cello arrangements.
A gifted musician, Shaw plays all the instruments in his orchestral arrangements, including the piano and clarinet.
The album features alternate variations of songs used in movies including "Sailfish" and "Asian Stories."
"Sailfish" tells the story of 12 year old Yue Haiyang, who is forced to leave his swim team despite his dreams to become the greatest swimmer of his generation. In a quest to fulfill his dream, friendship and loyalty are tested as three friends wade through the waters of personal struggle and social unrest during China's Cultural Revolution.
The film was released in China during the Beijing Olympics. It was directed by Jin Yimeng and stars Teresa Mo, Vanessa Yu Kai Leng, Wang Chun Ngai, Hong Jiantao, Yu Xiaoguang.
Three tracks on "Dreams in the morning" were featured in the movie ("Born to Dream," "Narrow Victory" and "Candlelit Pool."
In working with Yimeng, communication was mostly through e-mail as the director was editing the film in China, although she did visit Los Angeles.
As Shaw tells it, the process of collaboration required a lot of give and take with the director who had studied "Italian Opera" and was "very specific" with the type of emotions she wanted the musical compositions to invoke in audiences.
"It's up to me to take what the director's saying and convey that to the audience," Shaw says. "When you add it all up the different parts of it become something special."
Although Shaw prefers the freedom to be creative with his compositions , he admits that working with detail specific directors can be valuable.
"The more work I do, the more I realize that I have to let go my own ego and focus on making the film as good as it can be," he says.
As an example in "Sailfish," Shaw points out that for one dramatic sequence during a swimming competition, he created a very "intense, exciting, driving musical arrangement" but the director felt it was too much and had him tone it down.
"The director knows what scenes need in terms of tone," he says. "You need them to pull you back from going overboard."
Nevertheless, Shaw loved his version so much, he titled it "Narrow Victory" and included it on the recent "Dreams" album.
Another track, "Candlelit Pool," also went through several variations as the director found the melody was overwhelming the actors in the scene.
"She felt it was too intrusive, so she had me thin it out and make it more placid," Shaw recalls. "You really have to learn to stay underneath the dialog. You want to write something above or below the human voice."
The experience of working on "Sailfish" may have challenged Shaw's ego but in the end he felt it was a good growth experience and looks forward to working on bigger budget features.
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