Local composer hears success calling

By Heather Milo Acorn Staff Writer

Bob Selvin

A person looking to escape the surly bonds of suburban life for the ethereal reaches of high art need look no further than Thousand Oaks. That’s where the music from Bob Selvin’s new ballet will soon be performed.

Selvin, a music teacher who has worked for CBS, NBC, Disney and Fox as a composer/arranger/studio musician, is looking forward to the musical premiere of his work at 8 p.m. on Fri., Jan. 17 in the Fred Kavli Theatre at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza.

The show runs less than 60 minutes. It will be performed by a 63-piece orchestra conducted by Elmer Ramsey. Tickets at $37, $27 and $18 are available through the Civic Arts Plaza box office. Call (805) 449-2787 for tickets and information.

Currently living in Calabasas, Selvin attended school in Thousand Oaks.

"It’s quite an undertaking for me," he said of "Heaven and Hell," which was written as a ballet but as yet is still only an orchestral piece. Selvin is searching for a choreographer to help give the piece a complete life. "It’s very ambitious to get a new piece off the ground," he said.

"Heaven and Hell" is his first major symphony, though he has been writing musical arrangements since he was 11 years old.

From concept to performance, "Heaven and Hell" has been four to five years in the making. The piece begins with the world in chaos. Themes begin bubbling through the turmoil, with the hero’s melody developing first, and then the other melodies emerge.

The first third of the ballet is devoted to depicting the formation of different beings on Earth: images of reptiles, lagoons and fog prevail.

"It develops an atmosphere," said Selvin. A violin solo tells the story of the appearance of warm-blooded creatures. Melodies run from an idyllic, pastoral scene to the fight for dominance between a human and animals. The human comes out on top, with his theme playing as the major melody to denote his success.

Conflict comes into the scene with a battalion of drums in the second third of the performance. "Here we are introduced to the devil and his demons," said Selvin. The music turns heavy and, while not necessarily ugly, certainly very dark. "Evil can be seductive and beautiful," said Selvin of the antagonist’s appearance.

The next scene is a harmonious one of the Garden of Eden. The devil immediately gives chase to the hero, and here is where dramatic turns of music take place. There is a sudden blast of sound where the devil jumps out and attacks the human, designed to be quite startling. A drum solo, barbaric and somewhat scary, depicts the drama of the scene.

The human is dragged to a dungeon and placed in shackles. An angel flies through an upper window and touches the shackles so they disintegrate and the human rejoices in his freedom from the bonds of hell.

The last section of the performance is a celebration of total freedom to eternity. "The end is the beginning of forever," Selvin said.

The biblical overtones of the story, while they act as a vehicle for drama, weren’t necessarily Selvin’s first aim in creating the ballet. "I’m not an incredibly religious person," he said. "It just happened."

Selvin credits the true origins of "Heaven and Hell" to the inspiration of his mother, who first heard the melody he was working on and told him it would make an excellent orchestral piece.

"Why don’t you write it?" she suggested to him, he said. Selvin dedicated the piece to his mother, Gerelda Selvin, who passed away three months ago. A supporter of the arts herself, Gerelda got to hear a recorded session of the finished piece, though Selvin had hoped she would be able to witness its public premiere.

The show will also include a performance of Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony, Tchaikovsky being much admired by Selvin.

In comparing the two pieces, Selvin said that "Heaven and Hell" is similar to Tchaikovsky’s work from the Romantic period, and also similar to the works of Rokmananov. Selvin said that when someone writes a new piece, they’re often trying to do things never done before, but people might not find certain new elements beautiful because they’re not accustomed to them in the same way they’re familiar with classical music.

There’s a little bit of such new effort in Selvin’s composition, though most of it is reminiscent of the Romantic period. "There are some lush, romantic, beautiful sections," he said.