THE PAUL CHIHARA COLLECTION VOLUME 6

Composer Paul Chihara has had one foot in film scoring (having composed scores for over 90 motion pictures and television series) and the other in concert music for more than 45 years. Among his efforts in Hollywood film scoring are the six films that make up this sixth collection of Chihara’s film music, which are presented here on CD for the first time.

Chihara is a pioneer in the use of synthesizers morphed with traditional orchestral instruments to create compositional hybrids. Often imitated but never duplicated, his unique musical sound blurs the boundaries between electronic and acoustic instruments. He was a prolific and speedy composer able to churn out large volumes of music in relatively short periods of time. This made him a popular commodity in Hollywood.

Airing on television in 1986, RESTING PLACE was directed by John Korty, sporting a star-studded cast including John Lithgow, Morgan Freeman, CCH Pounder, and M. Emmet Walsh. The film tells the tale of Major Kendall Laird (Lithgow), a Survivors Assistance officer tasked with helping families of fallen military service members killed in action. Laird’s current assignment is to escort the remains of a deceased Army lieutenant back home to his parents, Luther (Freeman) and Ada (Pounder) in Rockville, Georgia. Unbeknownst to Laird, the town is deeply segregationist and its authorities refuse the deceased internment in the local “whites only” cemetery. With Laird’s assistance, Luther and Ada fight to give their son the honorable burial he deserves.

Also released in 1986, THE MORNING AFTER is a psychological thriller directed by Sydney Lumet, starring Jane Fonda, Jeff Bridges, and Raul Julia. The plot centers around a rock-bottom alcoholic actress named Alex (Fonda) who awakens early Thanksgiving morning to discover the bloody corpse of a sleazy Los Angeles photographer she shacked up with the night before. Alex has no memory of the incident and flees for her life. Unable to catch a flight out of the city due to crushing holiday congestion, Alex attempts to uncover the truth of what transpired with the assistance of a former police officer named Turner (Bridges) whom she encounters on the run.

Released in 1984, IMPULSE is a science-fiction thriller directed by Graham Baker, starring Tim Matheson, Meg Tilly and Hume Cronyn. IMPULSE takes place in a small rural town where its residents begin exhibiting strange and violent behavior after a small earthquake ruptures the seal of a toxic waste burial site.

Airing on television in 1987, THE KING OF LOVE was directed by Anthony Wilkinson, starring Sela Ward, Rip Torn, Michael Lerner and Nick Mancuso. THE KING OF LOVE tells the story of a publishing tycoon who discovers the skyrocketing price of power and fame as he continues to rise in power.

Airing on television in 1985, TOUGHLOVE is a dramatic movie, directed by Glen Jordan, starring Lee Remick, Bruce Dean, Piper Laurie, and Jason Patric about Rob (Dern) a high school principal, and his wife, Jan (Remick), who discover their son, Gary (Patric) is addicted to drugs and alcohol. Rob and Jan are encouraged to seek assistance from an organization called Toughlove who help rehabilitate teens lost in the clutches of substance abuse.

Airing on television from 1983-1984, WHIZ KIDS was a science-fiction family adventure television series originally broadcast on CBS. The eighteen-episode series was created by Philip DeGuere, regarded in Hollywood as the creator of the hit detective series SIMON & SIMON. WHIZ KIDS stars Matthew Laborteaux, Todd Porter, Jeffrey Jacques and Andrea Elson as a group of high-school teenagers who become amateur detectives by using computer technology to help crack complex cases and bring criminals to justice.

Paul Seiko Chihara was born in Seattle, Washington in 1938. He received his doctorate from Cornell University in 1965 as a student of Robert Palmer and also studied with renowned pedagogue Nadia Boulanger in Paris, Ernst Pepping in Berlin and Gunther Schuller at Tanglewood. Alongside Tōru Takemitsu, Chihara was composer-in-residence at the Marlboro Music Festival in 1971 and was the first composer-in-residence of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Sir Neville Marriner.

Dragon’s Domain Records is excited to bring Paul Chihara’s music for RESTING PLACE, THE MORNING AFTER, IMPULSE, THE KING OF LOVE, TOUGHLOVE and WHIZ KIDS to compact disc for the first time on THE PAUL CHIHARA COLLECTION, VOLUME 6, mastered by James Nelson at Digital Outland with exclusive liner notes by author and composer Brian Satterwhite, including the participation of the composer.