Omnia Ad Dei Gloriam (Les The Least Straightens The Lord) - Music and Text by Gerald Fried

CTD88147

BSX DIGITAL presents a premiere release of music written by the great Gerald Fried (STAR TREK, THE MAN FROM U.NC.L.E., ROOTS), a jazz/baroque cantata composed at the height of his composing career in 1966. At a time when he was at his most prolific, he began putting increasing energy into his own creative work, which would include this cantata and other concert works based on themes he had written for popular television shows.

OMNIA AD DEI GLORIAM, also known as LES THE LEAST STRAIGHTENS THE LORD brings the legend of the wise fool to life as never before in the form of a jazzy comic oratorio originally conceived for the Los Angeles Music Festival in 1966. OMNIA AD DEI GLORIAM follows Les the Least, considered the least of the lesser angels, who can’t seem to do anything properly, not even the simple heavenly task of greasing the Lord’s lightning bolts. But when the Lord gets fed up with humanity and turns Earth over to Satan, it’s up to Les to save the day. Horrified, Les goes down to earth to prove to the Lord that there truly is value down there. Of course, he totally messes up but somehow his innocence gets the better of Satan and he earns the respect of the Lord. 

Structured like Bach's perennial favorite, the St. Matthew Passion, OMNIA AD DEI GLORIAM is a comic, musically inventive alternative to the traditional holiday oratorio repertoire.

Born February 1928 in the Bronx, Gerald Fried’s interest in music found its first fruition at the High School of Music & Art in New York City. He attended The Juilliard School of Music as an oboe major, graduating in 1945. Among his earliest friends was a bright kid named Stanley Kubrick. The two of them used to hang around Greenwich Village and talk about their budding interests, Fried’s in classical music and Kubrick’s in filmmaking. Their interests merged when Kubrick began filming DAY OF THE FIGHT, an 18-minute short about boxing. Knowing Fried was a music major, Kubrick asked him if he could write the score for his boxing picture. Fried agreed, then spent months going to the movies to learn how film scores worked, there being no schools or courses on film music in those days. Fried wrote an effective score, and Kubrick sold the film to RKO Pathé. Fried rejoined Kubrick to score four more of his films, including THE KILLING and PATHS TO GLORY, where the young filmmaker first gained his reputation.

After the success of THE KILLING in 1956, Kubrick moved to Los Angeles, shortly followed by Fried, who was immediately hired to compose and arrange music for several films, including THE VAMPIRE, THE RETURN OF DRACULA, MACHINE GUN KELLY and I, MOBSTER, I BURY THE LIVING, and TIMBUKTU (1959). By the 1960s, Fried moved into television, scoring episodes of such seminal shows of the decade as GILLIGAN’S ISLAND, THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E., MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE and STAR TREK. By the 1970s Fried was composing music for numerous made-for-TV movies. His best-known score of the decade was for the 1977 miniseries ROOTS, which he took over scoring when Quincy Jones fell behind and was unable to meet the broadcast deadline for the eight-hour miniseries. Both Jones and Fried won Emmy Awards for their musical efforts on the series. During the ‘80s, Fried continued to compose music for television series, movies, and documentaries, and an occasional feature film. These are just two of the many magnificent scores Fried wrote throughout his career. The composer passed away on February 17, 2023 at the age of 95. His work remains a testament to his talent and dedication to the art of composition and he is remembered as a key figure in the evolution of music for film and television.

BSX Digital presents the premiere release of OMNIA AD DEI GLORIAM, featuring music and text by Gerald Fried. The music has been mastered by James Nelson at Digital Outland.

Part One: Heaven and Earth / Part Two: The Cafe

Total time: 59:21