An American Symphony
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An American Symphony ("Mr. Holland's Opus") is the symphonic piece played at the end of the 1995 film Mr. Holland's Opus. It was written by American composer Michael Kamen, and it won the 1997 Grammy for Best Instrumental Arrangement.
The lead character, Mr. Holland, can be seen working on the piece (at the piano and on scraps of sheet music) throughout the film. At the end of the film, the music comes to represent Holland's "opus" – as the many generations of students that he influenced come together to play his symphony for him – during the film's resolution.
Instrumentation
The score was recorded by the London Metropolitan Orchestra for the film and issued in an 8+1⁄2 minute version on the original motion picture soundtrack.[1] It was the second work on Kamen's 2001 album The New Moon in the Old Moon's Arms (a symphonic poem), played in an 18-minute version by the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Simon Mulligan (piano), Leila Josefowicz (violin), Michael Kamen (English horn), Pino Palladino (bass guitar), Phil Palmer (guitar), Andrew Charles Newmark (drums), conducted by Leonard Slatkin.[2]
The 18-minute version consists of five movements:[3]
- Iris
- Cole's Tune
- Marking Homework
- Rowena
- Finale
The score calls for an orchestra consisting of the following instruments:
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