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We’re very honored and happy to be speaking today with acclaimed recording artist, composer and writer William Goldstein; greetings and salutations, William! Before we dive down the Q&A musical rabbit hole, how have the last days of the summer of ‘23 been treating you?
No complaints. I’ve been in New York City for over a week now. Ever since I became a Motown artist in the late 70s I’ve been bicoastal, living in LA, but keeping a place in New York City ,that I get to every couple of months.
Congratulations on your most recent single release Early Reflections of Ping! What inspired this gem of a tune?
I met Ping Fu early in 2023. She came across some of my work and contacted me. We became friends and she gave me her memoir to read, Bend Not Break. It’s the story of her surviving the cultural and as a child in Shanghai, after the cultural and she became an annoyance to the Chinese authorities told to leave the country so she ended up in the United States went to school here, became a very successful entrepreneur and well respected international figure. I was moved by her book and invited her to come by on March 29 as I was going to create in real time a musical response to her memoir. She actually ended up videoing that creation which you can see on YouTube, as well as hearing on all the streaming services.
Word ‘round industry campfire has it that you’ve got yet another single set to premiere this coming November; congrats! Can you tell our ever-inquisitive readers a little about this upcoming single release?
Mutual Portraits: An International Collection, is being released November 17. The focus track on that album is The Sound of Fragrance. Prior to the album release there is a second single coming off the album that will be on October 6, The Power of Dheer. Dheer, is an Indian filmmaker who I met this past winter when his movie The Last Film Show, was part of the international film competition for the Oscars. I’m on the judging committee, and had the pleasure of meeting he and his wife, both stopping by for musical portraits, which consists of picking three notes on the piano that resonates with you, and by taking those three notes and creating a composition. Of course, all in real time instantaneously.
You’re renowned for your unerring ability to sit at a piano and create “instant composition.” Is this a gift that you’ve always had?
A gift is a gift. If you’re born with it, you always have it, although sometimes it takes a while for you to discover that what is easy for you is not normal for everyone… 🙂 I grew up in a nonmusical family, no piano in the house. Yet, because my folks were in the hotel business, and we lived in the summer hotel on the beach in Bellmore New Jersey, which had a piano in the ballroom, it became apparent when I was about three or four years old that I had musical ability. I never took piano lessons but by the time I’m eight years old I could go to the movies a come back and play themes. I was nine years old I ended up at Columbia University’s Teachers College, being interviewed by the end of the piano department Prof. Raymond Burrows, who gave my mother all kinds of advice none of which he took. So essentially I grew up on my own and the gifts developed naturally without outside instruction or influence. (Teachers College published an interview this past December on my attendance there is a nine-year-old https://www.tc.columbia.edu/articles/2022/december/composer-and-pianist-william-goldstein/ )
Has your love of music and your amazing talent in performing it stemmed from a musical upbringing? Was your family very musical?
(See above.) Born into a nonmusical family, no one knows where the gift came from. It was only in 2011 that I discovered that what was natural and easy for me was not common amongst my colleagues. I naïvely thought that anybody composed music could speak the language of music in real time as I did. In 2011 I discovered this was not the case.
How did you find your way into the world of scoring for film and television?
During the Vietnam war, I miraculously ended up as Composer in Residence for the United States Army Band. A great opportunity in which I composed some of my best concert music, still performed today. When I left the Army in October 1969 I was under contract to Columbia Pictures screen gems, the music publishing company that Carole king and all the great songwriters of the. It was there that my first movie assignment came about “The Stoolie”, directed by John Avildson and starring Jackie Mason. It’s a very sweet score, that I released under the title “My First Film Score”, check it out it’s available everywhere. Later when I came to Motown, they had me start scoring pictures that they were connected with that led to my general career in movies and television, including such projects as the Fame series for NBC, shot at MGM.
You can boast proudly that you were a part of the legendary Berry Gordy’s far-famed Motown Records. Can you talk a little about how you landed at Motown?
This was truly one of the most wonderful and off-the-wall experiences I’ve ever had. I’ve come to believe that everything in life I have I’ve been given and everything I don’t have is been kept for me to I’m ready to have it. Berry Gordy discovering me was a gift that changed my life. I had been working in New York doing everything from arranging record dates, scoring commercials, the the occasional documentary and started doing a lot of work for ABC television which culminated in my creating music package for the ABC morning show A.M. America, which proceeded Good Morning America. Berry Gordy fell in love with the theme, and I was asked to create a record version of the theme. In those days they gave you enough money to record three sides in a recording session and expected me to turn in three sides. I did a wonderful be side called Southern comfort and then I decided to create something that pleased me, having already fulfilled the requirements of the Motown agreement. I recorded Reves de Jeune Fille (Dreams Of A Young Girl) , the very jazz influenced European sounding record. Berry loved it, and the next thing I knew I was an artist and producer on Motown records.
Who inspires you musically?
Truly life is the ultimate inspiration. My musical influences are all of the greats in the near greats, whether it’s Bach, Stravinsky or Rachmaninoff, Leonard Bernstein or Aaron Copland, Richard Rogers or Burt Bacharach or Jimmy Webb, I love great melodies, and I love great music.
You’re celebrated for your conducting of Master Classes that span the globe from Poland to Las Vegas. Can you explain what the Master Classes are all about and how you first became involved in conducting them?
I served for 30 years on the board of directors of the California State Summer School for the Arts, the summer program for talented high school students. During each summer session I would do a Masterclass. I first I used to talk about music and film which I thought most people are interested in and which was how I was earning a living. The artistic director of the school happened to be aware of my ability to create in real time and suggested that would be a more subject to delve into with students. Select switch my focus to the creative process which is the mainstay of my master classes. While you can’t teach a gift, I was able to understand the technical requirements for what I do, and I can communicate those requirements which are essentially developing the vocabulary of your art, and the means to deliver the vocabulary of your art through your instrument. These principles can help anyone get closer to their own creativity, and their ability to access that creativity in real time.
On the heels of the November release of your latest single, can we look forward to an EP or LP release from you in 2024?
I am a huge Leonard Bernstein fan. His influences are all over my early concert works, which you can hear if you listen to William Goldstein in Concert. With the release of the upcoming film, Maestro, I am planning on releasing a homage to Mr. Bernstein, who is clearly one of my spiritual fathers.
You’re partnered with a major influencer, Jeremy Fragrance. Can you explain to readers what this partnership is all about?
An entrepreneur who I’ve known for many years developed a fragrance company. He has a fragrance it is doing very well on the international market. Is aware that I create musical portraits based upon three notes picked by the subject on the piano. He came to me idea of hiring a film crew, revealing to me as the cameras are rolling the scent of his new fragrance, and filming my immediate musical response to that fragrance. The results were fantastic. We recorded two pieces based on two fragrances. The main fragrance resulted in a piece called “he Sound of Fragrance”, the video of my creating this piece is wonderful to behold everything will be public on November 17!
In the wake of all of this amazing music which you have been releasing, what does your performing schedule look like in the coming weeks and months?
My requests to perform live come sporadically, usually without much warning, and are sometimes spectacular. You must check out the 65 minute score, created and 65 minutes at last November’s Black nights Festival in Tallinn Estonia. I don’t know of anyone having such a performance. Due to the unique nature of my performances I have not yet found a dedicated classical artist manager, or jazz artist manager, to get me involved on a regular basis with festivals and performances. If there’s someone out there who’s interested, feel free to be in touch… 🙂
