Composer Given A Tip We Can All Be Thankful For
Newcastle Herald
Wednesday January 30, 2008
THERE'S a piece of advice Burt Bacharach received as a student composer which he, and the rest of us, can be be thankful for: never be ashamed of a melody.
Bacharach said he was studying under French composer Darius Milhaud when he wrote a sonatina that embarrassed him as a budding "serious composer"."I was almost apologetic and didn't want it to be played in the class," Bacharach said yesterday."Milhaud took me aside afterwards and he said: 'It's very good. Never be ashamed of a melody'." Six decades and almost 50 Top 10 hits later, Bacharach has written an 11-minute "love letter" to the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. The 79-year-old said he wrote For the Children because he wanted to give his Australian audiences something new. Bacharach will perform at the Sydney Opera House today and on Friday before travelling to Wyndham Estate Wines for a Hunter Valley show on Saturday.
© 2008 Newcastle Herald