Music Composed by William Ross

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  When William Ross sat down to watch and discuss the new Hallmark Hall of Fame movie Away & Back with its filmmakers, there was a fleeting moment in one scene that passed with little comment or instruction on whether to even score it. The camera pans from the movie's young tomboy protagonist (Frankie), whose father is reading to her in bed, to a framed portrait of Frankie's family that includes her late mother. "After I got into writing the score," says Ross, "I thought that was the most important scene in the movie. It was the chance to take a couple little notes and say: This is what this story is about."
  Ross was tapping into the unspoken, emotional core under the eggshell of the movie's plot, which follows a widower (Jack, played by Jason Lee) and his three children. A trumpeter swan makes its home on the family's farm, then dies in an accident—leaving behind a nest full of vulnerable cygnet eggs. Young Frankie is determined to protect and raise them. When a prickly ornithologist (Minka Kelly) comes along to look after the eggs, personalities clash, and buried emotions bubble to the surface.
  "I felt the swans and the scenery were only a backdrop for what the heart of the story was," says Ross. "It was really the depth of sadness that had struck this family with the death of the mother. What was going on with the swans reflected what was going on inside Frankie and her family, and the story is really Frankie's attempt to make herself and her family whole again."
  Ross scored that brief, early scene with a piano motif that he then sprinkled "like a spice" throughout the score to solidify the movie's rich, emotional subtext. This motif is patiently delivered by strings at the discovery of the "Orphan Eggs," and traced by lone violins in "Meeting Ginny." Variations are cast in a melancholy mood when "Ginny Has to Go," and the motif receives its lengthiest performance in the sadness of "Please Don't Call"—serving as a constant reminder of the woman whose death caused the cracks in this family's heart.

  Representing the swan's catalyzing and healing presence, Ross wrote a kind of call for wood flute. Solo ethnic wind instruments warble all through the score, heralding the "Main Titles," mourning over the mother's motif in "Mother Swan Dies," and soaring with the hatched cygnets in "Games, Take-off, Flight!". Complementing the story's rustic wilderness setting, the composer painted from a bucolic palette that emphasized plucked string instruments like guitar, dulcimer, zither, and autoharp. Strings provide warmth or accent sadness as need be, supporting the score's featured instruments.
  Frankie is given a stouthearted, leapfrogging motif for piano to represent her and the mission she's on. "Her little theme is very Coplandesque," explains Ross. "It's simple and childlike." Buoyant and optimistic in tracks like the "Main Titles" and "Finding a Vet," Frankie's theme is thrust into danger in the score's latter dramatic tracks like "Frankie is Gone" and "Wrong Trail," with minor-key accompaniment and worried strings.
  Light comedic moments are supplied in the form of slide guitar and mischievous marimbas ("An Unwelcomed Visitor," "Burying the Power Line"). But for Ross, it all comes back to that moment we see Frankie's mother in the photograph. "That represents the whole of what's going on in this film," he says. "There's a pull to try and be whole, and the tension that comes from that pull, I thought, was a nice place where music could help." With that on its mind, the score's prevailing character is gentle and earthy—accompanying a wounded family and their fragile charge with sympathy and heart.

Tim Greiving

"I’ll never forget the day I first heard William Ross’ score for 'Away & Back.' As he played us that early batch of cues, I thought that he’d crawled into the film and wrote his music from inside the movie. The score was so organic to the images on screen, it made you believe that the film and the music must have been put together in tandem.

William Ross was an absolute joy to work with. From day one, his enthusiasm for this film was unbridled, surpassed only by his talent.”

~ Jeff Bleckner, Director

Music Composed by William Ross

Additional Music
Jerome Leroy
Music Programming
Mary Webster
Performed by
The Macedonian Radio Symphonic Orchestra,
F.A.M.E.’S. Project, Skopje (Macedonia)
Conductor
Oleg Kondratenko
Recording Engineer
Giorgi Hristovski
Pro Tools Engineer
Boban Apostolov
Stage Managers
Riste Trajkovski
Evtim Ristov
Music Preparation
Dave Hage (Dakota Music Services)
Score Mixer
Matt Ward
Mixed at
Momentum RLP Studios, Santa Monica
Score Coordinator
Mary Webster
Scoring Assistants
Aaron Shuman
Ben MacDougall
Justin Thompson
Anne-Kathrin Dern
Score Produced by
William Ross & Jerome Leroy
Mastered by
Patricia Sullivan, Bernie Grundman Mastering,
Hollywood
Album Art Direction by
Javier Burgos

"The swans and the scenery are only a backdrop for what the heart of the story is: the depth of sadness that has struck this family with the death of the mother, and the possibility of a rebirth. That's where I thought the music could help and soar."

~ William Ross

When a family of swans makes their home on the Peterson farm, it’s love at first sight for 10-year-old daughter Frankie. But along comes no-nonsense ornithologist Ginny Newsom, who rushes in to “save” the majestic birds. For Frankie’s dad Jack, it’s dislike at first sight when he encounters pushy, know-it-all Ginny. Frankie and her brothers are anything but neutral observers as they watch the initial hostility between their widowed father and the strong-willed Ginny transform into something else. Could that be romance in the air?

Directed by Jeff Bleckner, Hallmark Hall of Fame's Away & Back is produced by Andrew Gottlieb and stars Jason Lee and Minka Kelly. Music by William Ross. Away and Back, from Hallmark Hall of Fame premieres on the Hallmark Channel on January 25, 2015.

Hallmark Channel: Away & Back

www.williamrossmusic.com

William Ross is a prolific award-winning composer and arranger whose work has spanned feature films, the recording industry and television. He has composed music for such films as The Tale of Despereaux, A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas, Touchback, Ladder 49, Tuck Everlasting, and My Dog Skip. He also adapted and conducted the score to Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

His work in television includes the scores to Hallmark Hall of Fame’s Away & Back, One Christmas Eve and In My Dreams, Lifetime’s Steel Magnolias, the critically acclaimed mini series Me and My Shadows, Life With Judy Garland, as well as the Emmy-winning music for the Tiny Toon Adventures’ episode “Fields of Honey.”

Mr. Ross has arranged music for a remarkable list of artists including Barbra Streisand, Celine Dion, Josh Groban, Andrea Bocelli, Michael Buble, Idina Menzel, Stevie Wonder, Mary J. Blige, Kenny G., Sting, Seal, Quincy Jones, Aretha Franklin, Rod Stewart, Bette Midler, Barry Manilow, David Foster, Mariah Carey, and Whitney Houston, to mention just a few. The records on which he has worked have sold over 250 million copies combined in the United States.

He has served as Music Director and Conductor for many artists and occasions, including Barbra Streisand’s historic 2006, 2007 and 2012 concert tours, and the 79th Academy Awards ceremony in 2007, for which he received his second Emmy Award. He reprised this role three times, for the 83rd, 85th, and 86th Academy Awards.

His arrangements have been featured in many films and include such hits as Andrea Bocelli’s “God Bless Us Everyone” from Disney’s A Christmas Carol, Celine Dion’s Grammy-winning “My Heart Will Go On,” from the motion picture Titanic; “Believe,” sung by Josh Groban in the film The Polar Express; “The Prayer” with Andrea Bocelli and Celine Dion from Quest for Camelot, for which he received a Grammy nomination; and the Academy Award Nominated song “Run To You” sung by Whitney Houston in The Bodyguard.

Arrangements by Mr. Ross have been a part of the opening ceremonies of several Super Bowls along with the opening and/or closing ceremonies of the Olympic Games in Calgary (1988), Atlanta (1996), Salt Lake City (2002), Torino (2006), Vancouver (2010) and Sochi (2014). He was awarded an Emmy Award in 2009 for Outstanding Original Music for his work on the song “Hugh Jackman Opening Number,” featured during the 81st Academy Awards ceremony.

Mr. Ross is the recipient of four Emmy Awards, two BMI Film Music Awards and was nominated for an Annie Award and two Grammy Awards.

Acknowledgments

William Ross would like to thank Brent Shields, Cameron Johann, Jeff Bleckner, Andrew Gottlieb and Pam Fitzgerald; Cheryl Tiano and the Gorfaine-Schwartz Agency; Oleg Kondratenko, Aude Nassieu Maupas and Laurent Koppitz; Dave Hage, Matt Ward, Mary Webster, Courtney Blooding, and the whole Momentum RLP team.