Award-winning composer David Arnold has been added to the line-up for the Music Show, which is RDS-bound on October 3 and 4.

Arnold has scored five consecutive James Bond movies starting with 1999’s The World Is Not Enough; won a ‘Best Instrumental Composition Written For A Motion Picture’ Grammy for Independence Day; collaborated with the likes of Kaiser Chiefs, Massive Attack, Chris Cornell, Shirley Manson, Pulp and Bjork; and is currently working on 2010’s The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader.

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Variety.com asked Harry Gregson-Williams, who served as composer for both The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Prince Caspian.  What he said about Narnia really shows the humility of the man.  I hope to one day get a proper interview with him.

Here, he recounts a memorable moment in his life as a composer:

“The hush as I picked up my baton before the first note of the concert I did with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra (a suite from ‘The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’). That was totally thrilling and also incredibly alarming. What in heaven’s name am I doing here? I’m a film composer, not a concert composer. It was fantastic.”

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If the music of Narnia has captured your attention, and you enjoy symphonic music, or have become a fan of Harry Gregson-Williams, you’ll want to check out the score for X-Men Origins: Wolverine.  Harry Gregson-Williams was the composer for both The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Prince Caspian.  He won’t be working on The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, though, as that is going to be composed by David Arnold.

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Just after the release of THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: PRINCE CASPIAN, composer Harry Gregson-Williams shares about his return to Narnia, his feelings about moving on from the franchise, what he’s doing with up-and-coming-composers like David Buckley and Stephen Barton at his Wavecrest Studios, and his upcoming projects which include X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

CC: Outside of the relocation, what would say your biggest challenge was musically on PRINCE CASPIAN?

HARRY GREGSON-WILLIAMS: My biggest challenge was to embrace Andrew (Adamson’s) notion that I should bring forward themes from the first movie. Of course, there are a number of new themes that I had to write, but the real conundrum for me was figuring out just how much of the thematic content I was going to bring with me from the last movie. It’s strange not starting from square-one. I actually worried about this quite a bit, so what I ended up doing was to push all of that to one side and write Prince Caspian’s theme and the cue for the first 8-minutes of the film. I knew this piece would have no reference to the previous movie, so this was good for me because it made me feel as though I was on a fresh musical journey.

CC: Would you say that, at least in some ways, it is more difficult in doing a sequel?

HARRY GREGSON-WILLIAMS: Yes. I would say that. I don’t know what David Arnold would say when one does Bond movie after Bond movie. Perhaps intellectually it’s not so difficult for him because what would a Bond movie be without ((hums James Bond theme)) – because you just need those John Barry moments. But somehow he is able to make the scores feel fresh. So for me, once I could see the arc of the story that I’d be able to follow, it all became much clearer.

CC: David Arnold is the composer taking the reigns, as it were, for the franchise…..How does it feel? Is it easy to cut the chord and say, “I’ve done my part and so whatever he does, great!”

HARRY GREGSON-WILLIAMS: I think if Andrew Adamson was directing the next movie and I hadn’t been asked to do it, then I don’t think I could help myself from feeling extremely disappointed.

Check out the full interview here!

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Animated Views’ Jeremie Noyer e-mailed us to tell us that his newest Caspian article is online: an interview with Narnia composer Harry Gregson-Williams. Here’s the summary from the top of the article, followed by a link to the rest!

For any film music buff, Harry Gregson-Williams is no stranger. We owe him such notable scores for all three Shreks, Gone Baby Gone, Chicken Run, Man on Fire, Flushed Away, Domino, Phone Booth, Bridget Jones: The Age of Reason, Enemy of the State, Antz and Kingdom of Heaven, among others. Such impressive credits that prove his being as comfortable in live action as in animation to provide elegant, smooth and at the same time strong scores.

Born December 13 1961, Gregson-Williams began his career as a music teacher at the Amesbury School in Hindhead, Surrey, England, then at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, where he had been a pupil, and also for a short period in both Egypt and Africa, thus experimenting music as a universal language, before stepping into film music.

Prince Caspian is his fifth collaboration with director Andrew Adamson after composing the scores for his Academy Award-winning Shrek (co-composed with John Powell), the hit sequels Shrek 2 and Shrek the Third, and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, for which he collected Golden Globe and Grammy nominations for his score. From the delicate and otherworldly notes of an electric violin to the stabs of a furious, full orchestra, let him be your guide through the sounds of Narnia…

Harry Gregson-Williams: Scoring the Return to Narnia!

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For the 2005 movie “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” composer Harry Gregson-Williams was given an ambitious task: Write the score for a movie where the good guy is a talking lion who is a literary allusion to Jesus, the bad guy is a candy-toting wicked witch and the whole action is set in a fantasy world entombed in winter that children access via a wardrobe.

Gregson-Williams delivered, earning Golden Globe and Grammy nominations for the film’s score.

In late 2007, he received a new assignment from Disney: Can you do all that again?

Scoring “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian,” the sequel to the original hit that arrives in theaters May 16, was daunting, Gregson-Williams admits. But in an industry where sequels are the studios’ bread and butter, composers often are pushed to expand their vision and find new themes in their previous works.

For “Caspian,” it was a matter of picking up some of the underlying themes in the first film and expanding upon others from the new one. “A composer is one own’s harshest critic,” Gregson-Williams says. “I thought, ‘I’ll take that scene and develop it,’ and ‘I don’t think I’ll bring that scene with me.”‘

Gregson-Williams says he had the benefit of “Caspian” taking place in a vastly different Narnia from “Wardrobe” — one that is ravaged by chaos and war. “Narnia is not quite so beautiful and snow-laden,” he said. “The place is a wreck when the children arrive there.”

As a result, the score is more foreboding and imposing than the one for “Narnia,” in which Gregson-Williams tried to express the Pevensie children’s glee in finding an alternative world.

In addition, he has two new major characters to introduce musically: the titular hero, Prince Caspian, and the tyrannical Lord Miraz. “Prince Caspian is being pursued from almost the start of the film,” he said. “The tone of the movie is more urgent, dark, driving.”

Read the rest at Reuters

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Mark Griskey is fast becoming one of the premier composers that video game companies call when they require original music for movie-based titles. Take last year, for example. In addition to completing the co-written / co-produced score for The Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End and recording with the Skywalker Symphony Orchestra for his original score to LucasArts’ first next-gen title, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, Griskey also composed and recorded his original score for Disney/Walden Media’s The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian video game to coincide with the movie.

Scheduled for release on May 15th, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian video game is the sequel to The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, which are both developed by Traveller’s Tales and scored by Mark Griskey. A long time fan of the C.S. Lewis novels which the games and movies are based on, he is clearly delighted to be associated with the franchise. “I am a huge fan of fantasy literature in general, and the Narnia series has always been one of my favorites,” he affirms.

”The music style for this game was similar to what I did for The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, but darker and less whimsical. Disney asked for a darker score from the beginning and it made perfect sense to me because the Caspian story was definitely darker than The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.”

See pictures and read more at Music4games.net

Thanks to Music4games for the link!

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Tommy Pearson wrote in to invite you all to visit Stage and Screen Online (www.stageandscreenonline.com). They have just posted a 22 minute audio exclusive interview with director Andrew Adamson and composer Harry Gregson-Williams. Recorded at the scoring sessions for Prince Caspian, they discuss in detail the new movie as well as their other collaborations – the first Narnia movie and the Shrek series. It’s an entertaining look into an outstanding creative partnership.

Director Andrew Adamson and composer Harry Gregson-Williams meet Tommy Pearson at Abbey Road studios in London during the sessions for the second Chronicles of Narnia film, Prince Caspian.

Click here to visit Stage and Screen Online to listen to the interview!

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ScoringSessions.com travels across the globe to bring you an exclusive in-depth look at the scoring sessions for Harry Gregson-Williams’ highly anticipated score to The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. Recorded at the world-famous Abbey Road Studios, they’ve got a lot of photos for you, so come check it out!

Since last December, composer Harry Gregson-Williams has been hard at work in London, writing his score to the upcoming Walt Disney Pictures/Walden Media’s feature film The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. The film adaptation is the next chapter in the saga by C.S. Lewis, and takes place after the events in 2005’s The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Directed by Andrew Adamson (who directed the first film), with a screenplay by Adamson, Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, the movie follows the four Pevensie children as they are called back to Narnia to help Prince Caspian (Ben Barnes) defeat the forces that are plotting against him.

Gregson-Williams began recording his score in late January, where a cycle of writing/recording/mixing took place. This approach allowed him to work with the filmmakers as the edits in the film changed. At the beginning of March there were three days of scoring, and ScoringSessions.com had an opportunity to travel across the globe to attend them at the world-famous Abbey Road Studios, in London, England.

The music for Prince Caspian follows the style that Gregson-Williams established for the first film, but due to the nature of this sequel, it’s a bit darker and more aggressive. New themes have been written, and some old familiar themes from the first film also make appearances.

Visit ScoringSessions.com for all the awesome pictures and the rest of the story!

Thanks to Dan Goldwasser for the report!

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During the latest Film Music Festival, organised by the International Film Festival Flanders Ghent, [Main Titles] had the chance to talk to composer David Arnold, just a few hours before he would be handed over a World Soundtrack Award for Best Original Song, obviously that is You Know My Name for Casino Royale.

With a cup of coffee, seated at a table too small for 3 people, [Main Titles] talked about the recent Godzilla release, his career, and even clothes (though, the last is not included in this interview).

Main Titles: Godzilla was one of your last big scores. It made kind of a trilogy with ID4 and Stargate and now fans wait for a new “big one” to arrive. Something has definitely changed since Godzilla.

David Arnold: I wasn’t really offered this sort of films anymore and I am not sure why that was. I am not sure why I got offered the ones I did get offered; the third Narnia film, which was supposed to be immediately after the next Bond, would be a chance to go back to more traditional fantasy style scores that I haven’t done for quite a long time.

The one thing I love about those things is that there are no rules. Nothing is actually real, you don’t actually have to worry about having a responsibility to truthfulness in a real sense; it’s just about how to make the film’s feeling and heighten the film’s effectiveness. You’re not telling a true story. It’s not like Amazing Grace which was a film about something that really happened, a film that has actually affected real people… A giant talking lion (in Narnia) is not the same sense of responsibility.

Obviously you’re respectful of the material and of the certain amount of truth there still is in the film you have to be honest with. I am really looking forward to it though, it’s been such a long time since I last done this sort of thing, I am interested to see how I write now, it is a long time ago.

Read the rest at Main Titles

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