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from: June 2, 1998, Vol. 9, Issue 22, p. 23 Hidden Heroes - By Naomi Rabinowitz Copyright (©) 1998, Soap Opera Weekly
OLTL's composer/music producer David Nichtern One Life To Live composer David Nichtern believes that each piece of music he writes is like a "little movie." This philosophy has kept Nichtern inspired throughout his musical career.
"When you hear one of my songs, you wonder what movie it's going along with," he notes. "You think, 'What kind of mood does it evoke?'"
Nichtern's melodies have helped shape many OLTL characters. Their themes - which can be heard on the composer's CD, From Here to Nichternity - have added dimension to the characters' behaviors.
"Ever was written for Bobby Ever's ghost," he explains, "so we had to create something that was kind of mysterious. Obsession was written for Max, when he had a big gambling problem, so we sampled things like glasses clinking and dice rolling."
Nichtern's own theme might be called Virtuoso, since his affinity for music stems from childhood. Surrounded by the sounds of bluegrass and jazz while growing up, the Manhattan native learned to play guitar when he was just 8 years old.
He also fell in love with the theater. His mother, Claire Nichtern, a Tony award-winning Broadway producer, was involved with such shows as Woman of the Year and Jimmy Shine. Though he never actually set foot onstage or in an acting class, Nichtern followed her example and came to understand actors.
"I grew up in a showbiz environment," he says, "and I've always enjoyed hanging out with actors. Actors come to the musicians when they want to have a good time." This became evident when Nichtern played in the pit orchestra of Jimmy Shine. Dustin Hoffman took the time to pal around with Nichtern and the other musicians.
"He was the star," Nichtern says. "But he was also a good piano player. He used to like to come in and sit in with the band."
Nichtern's fascination with acting led him to Hollywood in the '70's, where he switched gears and wrote music for feature films. Most notable is the score he did for the 1989 movie The Big Picture, which starred Kevin Bacon and Martin Short.
Toward the late '70's, the composer returned to the East Coast, where he wrote and arranged, and also played guitar on Maria Muldaur's hit song Midnight at the Oasis. By now a well-known and repected artist, Nichtern worked with many famous musicians and celebrities.
"Stevie Wonder played harmonica on Midnight at the Oasis on our (his and Muldaur's) album, Birds Fly South When Winter Comes," Nichtern says. "Jerry Garcia and I had a string band called the Great American Music Band. I've done quite a few projects with Spinal Tap's Christopher Guest, and I worked on the comedy album with Billy Crystal."
Nichtern's career as a soap composer began through a coincidence when he met OLTL's then-excecutive producer, Linda Gottlieb, in 1991. Gottlieb told him that she wanted to make some changes in the soap's music. He'd never watched a soap, but welcomed the challenge. When he and composer Suzanne Ciani began working together, he found that writing soap music was unlike anything he'd ever done.
"There's a real art to having the music lay with the dialogue and not interfere with it," he says. "It's not like a film where you can sweep back and show a vista. In soaps, they're talking all the time."
Now OLTL's lone composer (Ciani left in '92), Nichtern continues to stretch his wings as a musician. He's recently written music for Jamie Lee Curtis' children's book/cassette Tell me About the Night I was Born, and is performing songs from From Here to Nichternity, at Wilson's Grill and Bar in Manhattan.
Nichtern finds that he not only entertains but makes an impact on people. He chats with fans on his OLTL Web site, www.nudgie.com ("Nudgie's my nickname"), and is thrilled when they want to use his tunes for their weddings.
After working on OLTL for seven years, Nichtern's beomce a fan of soaps, and is proud to be such an integral part of the medium. "The soap world is about people's lives and emotions at a very close-up, intimate level," he says. " We get into the subtle details of people's conversations and lives. Soaps are the closest thing to real-life that there is in a representational medium. that's why people get so attached to the characters and storylines. It's very moving."
Nichtern is scheduled to perform at Wilson's Grill and Bar every Tuesday in June at 9 p.m.
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