Interview
with Oscar & Emmy
Award-winning Composer Fred Karlin
on September 19, 2000
Mr. Fred Karlin is an Oscar and Emmy-winning composer, who has scored over 150 motion pictures and television projects. Nominated four times for the Academy Award, he won the Oscar for Best Song for his composition For All We Know in the motion picture Lovers and Other Strangers starring Dianne Keaton. For All We Know was recorded by The Carpenters and received a Gold Record.
I: Let's talk about the extraordinary benefit concert 'One World ... of peace through music'? How did The Peace Seeker come about?
F. Karlin: When I got the second notebook of poems, the poem that leaped out at me was a longer work, called Silent Tears. Because we are talking about Her poetry, it's so wonderful, and also it had such a bearing on the concert and on my piece, (I will) read a few lines from one of the poems within Silent Tears. This is the first thing you hear in my piece. You hear an actor come onstage and say, "Once upon a time, A true peace lover wandered around the many worlds in search of eternal happiness. She walked over the face of the Earth, the suns, the moon, and the clouds. At last she found: That it was all the while hidden in her very heart." And I thought right away, oh, well, this is wonderful, because there is a major theme here. You know, what we are all looking for is right there inside us. And then I realized that many of Her poems talked in very strong metaphorical language about a person trying to reach his (her) inner Self.
I: So, basically, when you received all the poetry, you went through it and you chose the ones that you felt you wanted to work with and that brought across the message.
FK: Yes, I had to figure out a message that would be consistent with both Her philosophy and mine. It took about eight months. The most difficult time was the first two months working off the script, the libretto, as it were. And then writing it, orchestrating it, was wonderful. I loved it. It got me very deeply into my music. And since I do so many different things, it was particularly exciting for me to be able to stretch out and spend that kind of time on something that was so art oriented and so message oriented.
I: Right. What are your thoughts on The Supreme Master Ching Hai, now that you have performed this piece and know Her music and poetry?
FK: I find Her an extraordinary person. The kind of time and love that She gives to all of Her humanitarian efforts and Her artistic efforts is really remarkable and unusual; not that many people have the combination of instincts and impulses that She does. And the poems continued to get deeper as I worked with them. They not only remained deep, but they continued to get more multi-dimensional. I just found myself feeling privileged
to be able to work with Her through these poems. I didn't get to collaborate with Her, but I felt like it was a true collaboration.I: Are you satisfied with The Peace Seeker and how it came out?
FK: Yes, very much so. Of course, you're always wanting to do the next piece. And what it did for me was made me realize that this kind of work must be a part of my life from now on. Because it's a way that I can give just as when I teach and write my books; I feel like I'm really contributing to the lives of other people. And of course, music can do that, too. Look at how we all respond to Beethoven's Ninth Symphony so many decades later.
I: What's it like at the moment when the audience has applauded and you've finished the piece? What's that like?
FK: Well it is very exciting. But you know after a 40-minute performance, there are so many other emotions that flood through you. I had a lot of pride for all the people who performed with me; I just felt that they all did so well. And that's a heavy emotion. I mean, I felt a lot from that and then, you know, Supreme Master was there. And that was, as I said, an honor. And I could see Her from where we were, and it seemed like She was enjoying it. She was bouncing up and down during the heavy rock piece and that pleased me a lot. Because after all, She wrote the poems, and you know, was a collaborator, even though we weren't working together, and so you obviously, you want that person to be happy too, and She seemed like She was. All these things were going on at the same time. It was very nice.
I: How do you feel about Supreme Master's poetry?
FK: I think She's very good. And these poems all seemed to have been written in the early to mid-seventies, as near as I could guess, but that may not be so. I never saw any dates on any of them, or very few of them; there were a few that had those dates. And so if that's so, I don't know what She would write now, but I know it would be different, whatever it is, because they were very personal, a lot of them. These poems that I described that discuss the internal struggles and how difficult it is to come to be one with the Supreme Being above, who's created everything, and with the Supreme Being inside each of us. That must have been a personal trial that She was going though at that time. These are very emotional and very personal poems and very fine, for that reason. They're all very real. So I'm interested in seeing what She would do now because the subject would be different. She's passed through those tests and I think they'd be equally fascinating; they'd be beautiful.
FK: I'd like to thank Her for everything involved with the concert and Her work, Her worldwide work, which is ongoing and which does so much for so many people. As I just said, I think that She's unique and remarkable and has so much to give, which She is giving. Some people have a lot to give but they don't. And others try, but they don't have a lot to give. And that's very admirable, but She has both, and that's very unique, and the fact that She is able to do that is a great gift to me and to everyone. I'm grateful.
I: Thank you so much, Mr. Fred Karlin.
FK: My pleasure.
