Music from the Far Side of the World: Interview with Christopher Gordon
Christopher Gordon is probably a name not-so-well-known to the Italian audience. But he surely is one of the most talented voices that came out of the film music field during the last decade.
Born in London, Christopher Gordon has spent the majority of his life in Australia. He began working in the Austrialian film music industry during the mid-1980s, first on small-scale TV movies of his own and then undertaking orchestration and conducting duties for other composers like Mario Millo and Roger Mason. 1998 was the break-through year for Christopher Gordon: he composed the exciting score for a made-for-TV version of Moby Dick, produced by the American cable channel Hallmark; the stirring, nautical, adventurous score brought him to the attention also of the (very demanding) American film music fans and critics. Since then, Gordon has built a small, but very high-profile filmography that includes brilliant and very diverse works like On the Beach (2000), Salem's Lot (2004) and the Academy Award-winning film by Peter Weir Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003), where he wrote a very unconventional score in collaboration with Richard Tognetti and Iva Davies. He also collaborated with famed composer Craig Armstrong on the soundtrack for Baz Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge (2001), where he did most of the conducting duties.Christopher Gordon is also a very prolific composer for the concert-hall world. His recent concert commissions include Lightfall for horn and orchestra, commissioned by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and premiered last year by hornist Robert Johnson. He also wrote a Concerto for Bass Trombone and Orchestra, plus various works for chorus, orchestra, soli and chamber groups.
In addition to his film work, Gordon has also written celebratory music for special events that include the Melbourne Commonwealth Games in 2006, the Sydney Harbour Millennium Celebrations, the Australian Centenary of Federation celebration and the 2003 Rugby World Cup.
2009 has seen Gordon returning to the film music scene after a hiatus of several years. He composed amusing and thrilling scores for another two high-profile films that have been only recently released in Europe and United States: the atypical horror Daybreakers (starring Ethan Hawke and Sam Neill) and the much-acclaimed biopic Mao's Last Dancer, directed by Bruce Beresford.
Christopher Gordon is a very talented, remarkable and refined composer that merits lots more attention and respect than he has received from US and European audiences so far (and much more than many overrated Hollywood film composers).
ColonneSonore.net: Christopher, thank you very much for accepting to be interviewed by ColonneSonore.net. First of all, I'd like to ask you about Daybreakers, the latest film you worked on. Can you tell us how you were first involved in this project?
Christopher Gordon: The producer, Chris Brown, called me in mid-2006 to see if I would be interested. At that point the financing was not totally in place. I sent some music and met with Chris and Michael and Peter Spierig. They offered me the job once the film was greenlit but I didn’t actually start work until February 2008, recording mid-March.
CS: How was the collaboration with directors Peter and Michael Spierig? Which were their first indications/suggestions about the role of the music in the film?
CG: Peter and Michael are very talented and laid back in their collaborating. It was a great pleasure working with them. We initially talked about having music that was quite dark but heroic and they very much wanted to have a choir, particularly during the subsider execution scene.
CS: This score struck me as being very melodic and thematic. This isn't the norm for horror/thriller movies--these kind of films are generally accompanied by atmospheric, sound-design scores. Daybreakers has a kind of melancholic, lyrical aspect that is quite unique. Was that something you and the directors envisioned since the beginning?
CG: The brothers are great film music fans and wanted an orchestral score rather than something more ambient. I don’t remember the melancholic aspect being discussed at the start; I think that was something that came as I reacted to the film. But they certainly wanted melody to be a part of the score rather than sound-design music.
CS: The score has a very strong thematic development. The score works wonderfully also as a stand-alone listening experience. Could you explain how the various themes are presented and developed throughout the score?
CG: The vampires struck me as being like addicts, where there are short term benefits to the addiction but in the long term there is self-destruction and consequently an underlying desperation and unease to their plight. The vampires main theme is based on an octatonic scale that creeps up and falls back down again unable to escape from itself, with the different voices and instruments going at different speeds. This creates a kind of psychological haze that the vampires existed in. You can hear this music on “Nightfall” on the album.
The vampires have a second theme that is more tragic and is actually sympathetic to their situation. If they don’t get their regular fix of blood they descend into the living hell of being a subsider. You can hear this at the very beginning of “Immolation” and in the choral sections of “In the Sun”.
The humans, of course, are being “mined” out of existence and those few that are left are refugees, running from extinction. So their music is quite sad, a plea for help (second half of “On the Run”).
There is also a warmer theme for the humans that is heard when Ethan Hawke and the others arrive at the winery. It is a place of safety and community and expresses their hope of survival (“The Winery and the Café”).
There are a handful of other themes for the blood farm, the army, the sun, and the fermentation tank. I think you are right, that all this adds up to a rather melancholy situation and the music reflects that. But I think this was something that became apparent to me as I prepared my themes rather than being discussed at the outset. I am always interested in looking at the deeper emotions and subtexts to see what can be brought forward by the music.
CS: Daybreakers also has some very interesting textural/orchestration choices: other than a big symphony orchestra, you used a choir ensemble (Cantillation), a slight dash of electronic textures and a whole battery of pounding percussions. Can you tell us how you brought all these elements on the table and their function into the score?
CG: I attached different instrumental colours to various character groups and situations to the point that the colours almost become dramatic motives in themselves. The choir is exclusively a vampire colour. The pounding drums that you mention represent the brutal vampire army. There is a low pulsing electronic idea that goes with the humans being chased.
The violins only appear when it is safe to go out into the sun which means that most of the score is without violins. Instead a large contingent of violas, cellos and contrabasses make up the string section. Even when the violins are first introduced in “Fermentation Tank” they are in their low register with the violas taking the top line; the violins don’t come to the fore until “Resurrection”. This gives a shape to the whole film of [going from] dark to light.
CS: I found the percussion parts particularly engaging, because it seemed to me you tried to take an all-acoustic, "written" approach to a kind of scoring which is usually relegated to drum-machines and synthesizers...especially for action or chase sequences...
CG: Yes, every hit was written out. There are 36 independent percussion parts in those sections which made the score very tiny to read once you included the orchestra! I did want a barbaric, primal sound for the vampire army and felt that real instruments in a big studio would have an overpowering impact. We set up all the instruments around the room as though we really did have 36 performers. Then the four (later in the day it was just two) percussionists moved around the studio overdubbing each layer. I believe there is some footage of the session on the dvd’s music featurette.
CS: The End Credits suite ("Daybreak") is a fantastic piece of music which stands beautifully on its own and shows a terrific, all-out symphonic development of the main thematic material heard throughout the whole score. This piece recalled me the way John Williams usually recaps all the themes and motifs in his own film scores, while also giving a straightforward musical presentation. Do you think in "pure" musical terms while writing a film score, viewing it as an opportunity to conceive a piece of music that could have the same dignity of a concert hall piece?
CG: You won’t be surprised that I hold John Williams in the highest regard and his ability to both enrich the film and to compose music that works on its on terms is something that I aspire to. Actually I think most films benefit immensely when a composer takes that approach; or at least those films that require a lot of music, like Daybreakers did. That said, when the film turns left the music must also, even if it means missing out on a great musical moment, so the end credits offer a good opportunity to play out the film’s score in purely musical terms. It’s always the last thing I compose before the recording sessions so, after a few weeks of working on the film, the themes are in my blood, so to speak, and I write the end credits very quickly.
CS: It seems that contemporary film music, especially the score for big genre movies (sci-fi, horror, action etc.), is no longer the fertile ground for big thematic and musically developed scores. How difficult is to find a way to express musical ideas into these kind of films while also satisfying directors and producers' requests?
CG: Ultimately, I think it is the film that tells you what is needed. If it works, everyone is happy, whether you are using a melodic or more textural approach. Both Daybreakers and Salem’s Lot used a combination as required by the film. Ward 13 (a wonderful short claymation film I scored for director Peter Cornwell) on the other hand, was very thematic rather than textural because it is really an adventure film in a horror setting.
Every film seems to have one scene that is musically unclear and in Daybreakers it was the bloodfest in the last ten minutes. We found that it could not afford to have too much of an action hero score, as we had originally discussed; instead it needed to retain a certain coldness and hardness. Thematic action hero music tends to be saying, “this is fun, this is an adventure”, whereas Daybreakers needed a brutal reality in its final minutes. You can hear the original action music on “Spreading the Cure” on the soundtrack album.
CS: Let's talk a bit about Mao's Last Dancer. The film is a big hit in Australia and you received a lot of accolades and attention for this beautiful score. How were you involved in this project?
CG: I was at a function in July 2007 and Bruce Beresford came across the room, introduced me to producer Jane Scott, and offered me the job. It was quite unexpected.
CS: How was the collaboration with director Bruce Beresford? He's known to be a very musical director.
CG: Bruce is a great director with a very refined touch. He has an expansive listener’s knowledge and appreciation of classical music and is also known as an opera director. This meant we had a common language and it was very easy for us to converse about the score.
CS: The score features authentic Chinese writing in terms of harmonic/melodic structure and orchestrational choices. Did you have to do specific research?
CG: Not particularly. These days music from other countries is not as foreign to Western ears as was the case even a few decades ago. Chinese music is something we come across regularly. So it was really, like any orchestrator, just a case of finding out the idiosyncrasies of the instruments such as range and tuning of strings, and then writing from the heart.
CS: The score is equally divided in traditional dramatic scoring and diegetic (or "source") music you had to specifically write for ballet sequences. How did you approach it? Was it difficult to balance these two sides of the composition?
CG: Most of my source music for Mao’s Last Dancer was written after reading the script before shooting began which made it easier to compose the stand-alone music. It is hard to put into words what the difference is but I was very concerned that the source music that I composed sounded like it existed in its own right and not sound composed for film. I think it is true to say that nine times out of ten when we hear a piece of music by itself we can tell if it was written for film or if it was written as pure music. It is not a question of value or quality so much as the motivation of the music. This subject leads to a whole topic of discussion about filmmakers use of music in films and how different aesthetics exist between various directors. [Steven] Spielberg, [Peter] Weir and [Quentin] Tarantino are all known for their use of music in films and yet have quite varied ideas about its role. Wouldn’t it be interesting to hear them discuss it together?
CS: Did you personally choose the diegetic classical music pieces that appear in the score? Did you also had to arrange/revise them?
CG: The repertoire pieces were chosen by Bruce and the choreographer, Graeme Murphy. Swan Lake and Giselle I had to edit before recording them to fit the pieces to the requirements of the film. Don Quixote I orchestrated completely from the rehearsal piano score and Giselle was partially re-orchestrated to make the edits flow. The Mozart and Gershwin piano pieces are [presented] as written by the composers. All of these pieces were recorded specifically for the film. Only [Stravinsky's] The Rite of Spring, a Chinese pop song and the disco pieces were licensed pre-existing recordings. However, the choice of [Pierre] Boulez and the Cleveland Orchestra’s performance of The Rite was mine; it is a recording I have known and loved since I was a teenager.
CS: There are a couple of really terrific dance pieces you wrote: one is "Dance of Longing", which has some achingly beautiful violin solos; the other is "Free Dance", which is something like a cross between Bartòk and Leonard Bernstein.
CG: “Dance of Longing” was the one piece of pseudo-source music that was written to the edited picture. Originally the sequence was filmed to the Rachmaninoff piano “Prelude in Bm” but during post-production the scene needed to be shortened and intercut with another scene and the Rachmaninoff could not survive with dignity. So Bruce asked me to compose a piece and, after trying out an idea for a piano trio, I suddenly remembered a sketch I had composed some years ago that was sitting in a draw. It only took some minor adjustments to make it appropriate for the film and the whole piece is on the album played beautifully by violinist Michael Dauth. The piano trio is now a sketch in a draw; perhaps it will surface in another film one day!
“Free Dance” was one of the earliest pieces I composed for Mao’s Last Dancer. It’s purpose was to present a culture clash; [a kind] of brash America being heard for the first time in conservative Beijing. Although it is very rhythmical, it is quite difficult to find the beat because the patterns are constantly being offset against each other. It was very touching that the musicians involved were getting together and rehearsing the piece on their own time in the days before the recording. I think that is unheard of, but their hard work shows and I am very grateful to them.
CS: Again, the score ends with a beautiful summation/resolution of the main thematic ideas ("Village Dance and Finale")--you seem to really love to close the curtain with a lush symphonic pieces! Your score to Moby Dick also comes to mind...
CG: I do relish the chance to compose bold, symphonic adventure music. Moby Dick was a rare opportunity to do that and I was lucky because it was my first major assignment. My music for the Melbourne Commonwealth Games in 2006 was also in that forthright vein. I hope very much that a film comes my way that requires a big adventurous orchestral score because it is a style that I feel very at home in.
But with Mao’s Last Dancer I thought it was important not to have a big “Hollywood” score as this is the story of peasant boy, so I limited myself essentially to ethnic instruments and strings in China and piano and strings in America. I could see that there were a number of big musical moments already in the film, what with Giselle, my own “Madame’s Model Ballet”, Don Quixote and ultimately The Rite of Spring. Perhaps if those pieces were not there I would have taken a different approach to scoring the film. As it is, I felt it best to hold off until the very end of the film; by this stage we have “earned” the indulgence, if you like, of an all-stops out, sweeping musical moment. This is the only time that a full orchestra is utilized in the underscore.
CS: You always divided your music career equally into music for films and concert-hall compositions. This is something a lot of composers try to do, some with great success and others with great frustration. How important is it for you to have a balanced artistic life?
CG: Yes, a balanced life is what it is about. I love the immediacy of film, the discipline of working fast and of hearing the music only days after it has been composed. I love storytelling and helping the film to unfold in a well-shaped structure. There really is a sense of magic to the way music can lift a scene whether it is the Spielberg, Weir or Tarantino approach! However, music is always an accompaniment to the film, whereas concert music is the complete artwork. That means that the composer is responsible for the tiniest detail, for the internal drive of the piece, up to the overall structure. So the challenges and creative opportunities are very different to film. I find that the skills and disciplines of concert composition improve my film techniques and vice versa.
CS: Last year you premiered a Horn Concerto commissioned by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra (Lightfall for Horn and Orchestra). You also kept a blog to tell your own experience about it. This is something really rare--I mean, to many composers the moment of the writing is their own "secret garden", so to speak. Instead you spoke very candidly about your own methods, visions, inspirations. Can you tell us a bit more about this experience?
CG: Each year music students in New South Wales secondary schools study the works that are performed by the Sydney Symphony in their Meet the Music series. That includes any new works being premiered. The trouble was that Lightfall for Horn and Orchestra wasn’t going to be written by the time the school year started, so I thought it might be interesting for students, as well as the general audience, if I kept a warts-and-all blog on the process of composition. I don’t think it has ever been done before, so it is quite unique. It is somewhat revealing and I felt rather vulnerable at times, but many people have told me that they gained a lot from it. Perhaps most importantly, I had my own personal breakthrough which possibly only came about because I worked through issues within the blog. You can visit it at www.hornconcerto.net.
CS: Who are the composers you admire the most, both in film and concert-hall?
CG: If you are asking about living composers then, in the concert hall, John Adams, John Corigliano, Peteris Vasks, Kalevi Aho, Osvaldo Golijov and Kaija Saariaho are of constant interest and inspiration to me, while in the film world Alberto Iglesias, Marco Beltrami and, as mentioned, John Williams, along with many others, always fascinate me.
CS: Did you listen to your own music after you're finished with the job? Or do you prefer to move on and look at what's ahead?
Ha! I used to when I first started recording. It was such a remarkable thing to hear one’s scribbles turned into sound. These days I tend to move on to the next project.
CS: Speaking about what's ahead, what can you tell us about your future projects?
CG: There is a picture that will feature music even more that Mao’s Last Dancer did but I am unable to name it as it is not yet confirmed. And there are a couple of other projects on the table. Concert-wise, I have a major work for flute and piano and am also discussing a symphonic work and a stage work.
CS: Christopher, thank you very, very much for the time you gave to ColonneSonore.net. Thanks for your beautiful music!
CG: Thank you for having me. I have enjoyed the talk. All the best for the future.
Thanks to T.J. Shushereba (ICM Artists Management) and David Coscina for their help in setting up the interview. A very special thanks to Christopher Gordon for his kindness.
Links:
http://www.christophergordon.net
http://www.hornconcerto.net