SCHIFRIN: A MUSICIAN OF MANY WORLDS

A product of his time, Lalo Schifrin was a crossover musician three decades before the term became popular.

Before he became a student of Olivier Messiaen in Paris, Schifrin was a young 12-tone composer in his native Argentina. Concurrent with his studies in France, he served a long apprenticeship as a professional jazz pianist. Back home in Buenos Aires, he scored his first film, then joined the Dizzy Gillespie band and moved to New York. After that, he easily traversed the distance to Hollywood and found more success as composer, conductor and educator.

Now, the various threads of Schifrin’s different musical lives seem to be coming together.

Saturday night, for instance, Schifrin leads the opening concert in the 1985-86 season of the Glendale Symphony in the Pavilion of the Music Center.

The popular film composer--whose more than 100 screen credits include “Dirty Harry,” “Magnum Force,” “Cool Hand Luke” and “The Fox,” and whose best known work may just be the brief but memorable theme from the television series, “Mission: Impossible”--continues to ply his trade in the commercial sphere.

At the same time, and while serving as music director for the Young Musicians Foundation Debut Orchestra, he continues to turn out successful works for the concert hall.

“I have just finished a Piano Concerto, scheduled to receive its premiere, by the Mexico (City) Philharmonic, in April, 1986,” says the lean and amiable composer, seated in the studio-workshop of his Beverly Hills home. “And now I am writing a concerto for double bass, for Gary Karr.”

At the same time, as if there were 72, not just 24, hours in the day, Schifrin is actively pursuing a career he has always had but never pushed--conducting.

“I would like to be able to talk to Mahler--to find out how he did it all, all at the same time,” the 53-year old Schifrin says. Then, he reveals one of his own secrets: “I have a routine. I divide my day into sections. If I have an assignment for a movie studio, then I divide the time into more sections.”

After exercise, and breakfast, “and reading the paper,” Schifrin says, he devotes never less than half an hour to piano practice. “This is good not only for keeping up whatever technique I have at the piano,” he says, “but it also gets the juices flowing. Being in touch with Bach, or Chopin, is a good way to start a day of composing.”

From the first, Schifrin says, his commercial work and his concert pieces have shared the same style, though they are destined for different outlets.

“When I was very young, I never saw the difference between composing and playing. I didn’t realize I was stealing from other composers,” he says. “Now, I see that this has been the situation for hundreds of years: Composers borrow from other composers. It’s simply private enterprise.”

In Schifrin’s case, he began, as a student of Juan Carlos Paz and as a serialist under the influence of Nono, Boulez and Berio.

“In Paris, perhaps to compensate for the intellectualism of 12-tone (composition), I played in jazz clubs every night. In that time, you must remember, jazz was not chaotic. In fact, it seemed to be related to Bartok and Stravinsky. I never saw a great difference between so-called classical music and jazz--because I found the same discipline in both fields.”

As a conductor, Schifrin’s roots go back to his student days in Buenos Aires; his teacher was Mariano Drago, conductor of the symphony orchestra in La Plata.

“In my life,” Schifrin says, “one thing has always helped the other.” In the case of writing for films, he adds, having to conduct his own scores has greatly enhanced his conducting technique.

Now, says Schifrin, he is interested in doing more conducting.

“The turning point for me was ‘The Competition.’ All the pianists I worked with on that film encouraged me. So now, I have a manager, and I am available.” Having said that, Schifrin immediately lists some parameters.

“A permanent post? Well, I would have to think about it. The location would be an important matter. And, as you know, I already have a number of commitments right here.”