Orchestral Tracks
It Takes Two To Tango
It Takes Two 2 Tango is a short orchestral piece written in November 2025. I’d never written a tango, and it was fun writing this whimsical piece.
Catango, Anyone?
Also in November 2025, I created “Catango, Anyone?“, a fun short video featuring It Takes Two To Tango.
Jojo Kitty was the director and executive producer of the video.
Frank acted as casting director and line producer. He got his dog friends to appear in the video, paying them a few bones…
The video clips were created using AI video program Sora 2. Being the early days of AI, there are, of course, many inconsistencies in the video – you get what you get with Sora!
For example. I repeatedly asked for 8 cats to appear in the final curtain call, but Sora was determined to give me only 7. Maybe it can’t count to 10 yet, or it could be one of the performers was taking a catnap, or went on strike protesting purr working conditions… Who knows?
The music, however, was written and performed solely by me, no AI!
Walking With Walt Disney
Walking With Walt Disney is a short orchestral piece written in November 2025. It’s a light and melodic piece intended to invoke a little of the “Disney” orchestral sound.
Papillons
Papillons (French for butterflies) was written in October 2025, and is the first orchestral piece I’ve written in over 20 years. It was inspired by walks in a neighborhood trail where I would see quite a few monarch butterflies flit from plant to plant and flower to flower.
It was also written directly to score, which I feel opens up creativity. For most of my career, I’ve written music straight into the computer, but this old-school method of writing allows for more development. It was also completely written at my desk, not in my studio – but in a nod to modern times, I did use electric lights, not candles….
Sonata For Orchestra
The Sonata for Orchestra, written in 1983, was a piece I wrote when I was just getting interested in writing and recording. It was originally played on a Roland Juno 60 synth, back when DAWs (digital audio workstations) didn’t exist yet (that would be starting around 1985).
The original recording was played part by part into a 4-track cassette recorder, without a click track. By the end of the piece, I recall it was a rhythmic mess! But that’s the best I could do at the time.
That recording is lost now to time (probably rightly so), so I recently programmed a mockup in my studio. The original score did not include any brass, so I added some new parts.
So, after lying in a box in my studio for 42 years, the Sonata now makes its public debut! I must say it’s not bad for my first orchestral composition at the age of 20.
String Quartet #1
The String Quartet #1 goes back more than 40 years to my time at UCLA. It was composed as part of the requirements for my master’s degree. I remember struggling with it as it didn’t jive with my musical sensibilities at the time. Not long after that, I decided to leave the program (foregoing the master’s degree, which I didn’t deem relevant to what I wanted to do – write music for film and TV) and venture out into the real music world.
In 2025, I programmed a mock-up of it as the original string quartet concert recording was lost to time, plus I remember the performance being somewhat of a disaster!
The hardest part was recording the viola parts, which were written in alto clef, and I really struggled to play the right notes!
I was pleasantly surprised to finally hear the composition!
Woodwind Trio and 3 Variations
The Woodwind Trio Theme and 3 Variations also goes back more than 40 years to my time at UCLA. I’m not sure the woodwind trio ever got a performance – if it did, it was not recorded. This is a recent recreation of the trio.
Three Days
Three Days is a track composed in January 2025 as a way of working through my thoughts (and fears) regarding an upcoming back surgery in March 2025, which was going to last three days, hence the title. I wanted to do a quasi-Broadway type track with a female singer. The vocalist is not a real singer but was produced using Synth V, a fantastic vocal plugin. Hard to tell, isn’t it?
My Favorite Things
This arrangement of Rogers and Hammerstein’s My Favorite Things was part of a package of three spots produced for a series of Mitsubishi ads. We recorded both :30 TV and :60 radio versions with a 40-piece orchestra in a great studio in LA; this is the longer radio version.