Gramophone – September 2019

26 GRAMOPHONE SEPTEMBER 2019 gramophone.co.uk

COMPOSING FILM MUSIC

AlexNorthwascommissionedtocomposethescorefor
StanleyKubrick’s2001:ASpaceOdyssey(1968)onlytohavehis
musicthrownoutinthefinalstagesoftheproduction,with
Kubrickoptingtousethepre-existingworksbyStraussand
otherswhichhehadbeenusingasa‘temp’score.AsKubrick
explained:‘Whenyouareeditingafilm,it’sveryhelpfultobe
abletotryoutdifferentpiecesofmusictoseehowtheywork
withthescene...Well,withalittlemorecareandthought,
thesetemporarytrackscanbecomethefinalscore.’North
onlydiscoveredthathismusichadnotbeenusedinthemovie
whenheattendedtheNewYorkpremiereofthefilm.

STAYINGPOSITIVEANDINSPIRED
Forthisandmanyotherreasons,filmcomposersneedtobe
skilfulpoliticians,abletopersuade,tocollaborate,topushtheir
egototheside,tosticktotellingthestory,andtohelpthe
directordeliverhisorhervision.Andtheyhavetolivewiththe
possibilitythateventhebestcomposersmay,atonestageor
another,getfired.

Withallofthesedeadlinesandpressures,howdofilm
composersstayinspired?‘Everyscorestartswithablankpage,’
saysWallfisch,‘butIfeellikeeachthree-tofour-monthperiod
workingonaparticularfilmscoregivesmethatmuchmoreto
sayonthenextone.It’stheconstantcollaborationwithother
artistsandalwaysputtingthestoryfirstthatIthinkforcesyou
constantlytoupyourgameasacomposer.’
Wallfisch’sapproachtofilmmusicshouldreassureusallthat
thecraftoffilmcomposition,practisedbycomposersformany
decades(bySteiner,Korngold,Herrmann,Morricone,Williams

Inspiteofdizzyingtechnologicaladvances

andthespeedofmodernfilm-making,

filmcompositionisstillverymuchalive

RECOMMENDEDLISTENING

Fivecontemporaryilmscoreswithstand-outmoments

LudwigGöransson:BlackPanther– ‘Wakanda’

ThefusionofBaabaMaal’sgloriousvoicewithAfrican

talkingdrumsanda fullsymphonyorchestraepitomises

borderlessilmscoringwhereeverythingispossible.The

scorewonanAcademyAwardthisyear,andrightlyso.

BenjaminWallisch:Shazam!– ‘SHAZAM!’

ThisisJohnWilliams’sSupermanscoreonsteroids–

anastonishinglyvisceralpieceoforchestration,and

deliciouslyover-the-top.Therecordingisconducted

bythecomposerhimself.

HansZimmer:TheDarkKnight– ‘Whysoserious?’

Manyweeksofnoiseandsoundmanipulationled

HollywoodcomposerHansZimmertotheapparently

simplesolutionofleshingouttheJoker’scharacter

witha singletone.Butwhata tone.

ThomasNewman:Wall-E– ‘2815AD’

ThomasNewmanusesrealmusiciansthroughouthis

compositionalprocess,invitingplayersintohisstudio

tobuilduplayersofdierentliverecordingsinorderto

createanalmostthree-dimensionaleect.

TomHolkenberg:MortalEngines– ‘LondonSuiteinC’

Hybridscoringparexcellence.Listentohowthesounds

oftherealorchestralinstrumentsaretransformedand

blendedwithsounddesignbyHolkenbergafterthe

recordingsessions.Thisisthecomposerasproducer.

andmore),is,inspiteofdizzyingtechnologicaladvancesandthe

speedofmodernfilm-making,stillverymuchalive.AsWallfisch

says,‘Itstartswithhoursofstruggleinadarkenedroomtocome

upwithstuff,andendswithcollaboratingwiththemostimportant

peopleintheprocess:themusicianswhobringitalltolife.’

Although Wallisch has his musicians wearing headphones with a click track during a recording session, occasionally he experiments by turning the click track o

PHOTOGRAPHY:

B EALOVEGA