"He wanted the music to not only represent the dark aspects but celebrate the artist and the exuberance of his work," says Beal.
Pollock was, famously, a jazz fan. So, first inclinations were for a jazz score. "But then Ed decided he wanted the music to have compositional structure, to better understand Pollock's work. He wanted a classical sound from Europe, but given an American twist."
Beal was an ideal candidate. A native of San Francisco, he was schooled in jazz and orchestral composition at Eastman, where he graduated in 1985. He won an unprecedented 11 student awards from Down Beat magazine for trumpet, composition and arrangement.
His Pollock score carries the melody on strings and features no jazz improvisation. Upbeat jazz-flavored rhythms, though, propel it.
Beal relished scoring the painting scenes.

"Ed had the right spirit. We talked about concepts, motion and rhythm. The painting scenes were mini-ballets in a way." He hoped to convey the joy of creation without getting sentimental. "When I got it right, I jumped up and down. "I think joy is one of the most difficult emotions to express in music. It's extremely cliched in Hollywood films. I'm proud that this music expresses joy without manipulation."
After graduating from Eastman, Beal moved to New York City and then Southern California. Though he still writes, performs and records jazz, orchestral compositions and film music dominate his schedule.

Beal has scored miniseries, including Tom Hanks' From the Earth to the Moon, and several feature films, including Cheap Shots, produced in Rochester in 1992. More recent scores include the forthcoming Impostor composed with his friend, Mark Isham, for director Gary Fleder, and Gentleman's Game with Gary Sinise. On his most recent album, Alternate Route, Beal plays trumpet with the Berkeley (Calif.) Symphony Orchestra and the Metropole Orchestra of the Netherlands on two self-penned suites.
Up next is a suite for the Prism Brass Quintet for the Corning Corp.'s 150th anniversary and a piece for the Ying String Quartet and pianist Elinor Freer, inspired by the paintings of Rochester's Linda Q. Corman.
Beal has recorded with his wife, Joan, a soprano he met at Eastman. The two have a 6-year-old son, Henry, and live in rural Agoura, near Malibu.

Beal sees Pollock opening doors.
"It's just beginning to happen. People are calling," he says. "My motto in Hollywood is to find the smart people and work with them. ... L.A., for all its faults, is the future." One of those smart people was Ed Harris. "I knew out of all the notes that can be played and all the instruments that can play them, there ultimately would be a score for Pollock," Harris says about Beal's music.
"I knew I would know inside me if it was right. It is."