Compare & Contrast: Khachaturian vs. Elfman

When I was a child, my father would often pound out Aram Khachaturian's "Sabre Dance" on the piano and I would dance frantically around the living room to the insane beat. It seems a likely bet that my father was familiar with Ed Sullivan's using the song during featured side show acts (like plate spinners). I so loved this dancing game that I must have seemed a real side show ham myself (some would say nothing's changed.) As I danced, I suspect I was angling for something like this:



Strangely, it was only this morning that I was struck by the reason I am such a fan of Danny Elfman's score to the Pee-Wee Herman movies: one of the primary themes in Pee Wee's films is an obvious homage to "Sabre Dance"; happily, it's a suitable homage without being an outright ripoff of the Armenian composer. I adore Pee-Wee on many levels and he obviously speaks to the child in me apart from the music, but Elfman nailed that childlike stance when he composed "The Breakfast Machine" for Pee-Wee's Big Adventure. It's like Khachaturian on steroids, with a full orchestra stomping around the house until finally it whirls you, exhausted, into a corner.