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Nick
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Joined: 05 Jun 2003
Posts: 2341
Location: Canada
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 Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2008 4:09 pm Post subject: "Matrix" composer Don Davis on working with Horner |
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July 2000 interview:
http://movies.ign.com/articles/035/035895p1.html
Relevant text:
| Quote: | KENNETH PLUME: Well, I did want to touch on that. At the same time you've been working as a composer, you've still been doing orchestration with a lot of different composers and, I'm assuming, a lot of different personalities. In what atmosphere is the working relationship best for you when it comes to working with a composer?
DON DAVIS: I do a lot better with composers I respect than with composers I don't respect.
PLUME: What garners your respect or lack of it?
DAVIS: What garners my respect is the technique and the level of expertise that the composer demonstrates. When I've worked for James Horner, it's always a thrill, because this guy's brilliant. This guy knows how to write music. These aren't guys who are going to rely on the orchestrator to make it sound good, because he knows what sounds good. The same thing with Randy Newman. When I'm working with composers of this caliber, I'm going to learn something from them. When an orchestrator is working for a composer who really doesn't have the technique or the expertise to be in the position that he's in, the composer tends to lean on the orchestrator and expect him to make it sound good and if it doesn't sound good, those composers tend to blame the orchestrator in front of everybody in order to find a scapegoat. Those are very uncomfortable positions, but I've thankfully avoided them. If you look at the list of the composers I've worked with, I think it reflects that.
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PLUME: To get back to the list, tell me more about working with James Horner.
DAVIS: He's earned his position in the film scoring community, and there's no question for me that he's one of the most knowledgeable and capable composers who ever scored films. It was always great when I was working for Horner, because he'd go over a sketch and say, "This string passage here, you could probably treat it like Tchaikovsky did in his 4th Symphony, but maybe we should go with more of a Shostakovitch approach." If I said, "But what about the way Holst handled the strings in the second movement of The Planets?" And he'd say, "Well, that's a little bit too direct for this." You can talk to him about music, and he's heard it and he knows what it's about. The same with Randy, we had discussions like that.
PLUME: So it's nice to have that depth of understanding
DAVIS: It's amazing to have that depth.
PLUME: Do you find that it's hard to find?
DAVIS: It's getting rare.
PLUME: On a side note to Horner, you worked with him on Titanic. There was a very famous rift between Horner and James Cameron after Aliens Was any residual of that evident in what you observed between Horner and Cameron on Titanic? It was originally a falling out based on their differing views on the music for Aliens, wasn't it?
DAVIS: No, I think it was a little more than that. It was music too, but Jim Cameron is a very tough guy to work for. Actually, I gained a lot of respect for Horner during Titanic, because Horner was accommodating Cameron in ways that I thought a composer the stature of Horner had no reason to accommodate anyone. He completely handled the situation with absolute humility and professionalism. I don't think there are very many composers who would have acquiesced to Jim Cameron the way Horner did. Horner gave Jim exactly what he wanted. I think there are some people who think that the Titanic score may be overly simplistic, or some people object to the Celtic nature of it, or whatever, but I can tell you that if any other composer had scored that picture, Jim would have fired him and at least four other composers before he got what he wanted. Horner was determined that that would not happen,and it didn't happen and I think it was the best score that Jim would ever allow into that picture. For that reason, I think he deserves all the Academy Awards and accolades that he got.
PLUME: I think that's a perspective that not very many people saw in that.
DAVIS: Well, you kind-of had to be there to see it. I mean, it was magnificent.
PLUME: It was surprising to a lot of people that Horner would even work with Cameron again after Aliens
DAVIS: I can't really say, because I wasn't there all that much. I would go to Horner's place, pick up the sketches, he'd talk me through them, I'd do them, and I was done. I do know that I made a lot of extra money on that show, because the picture kept changing and Cameron kept making changes, and as the sketches changed, they kept coming back to me to change the orchestration and I'd get more money. That was just fine as far as I was concerned. Through that process, I could see that he was accommodating this director He was really bending over backwards to do everything that Jim wanted him to do. I couldn't picture a composer of the stature of John Williams doing that, well, maybe he would but there gets to be a point when it's too much.
PLUME: Isn't it the job of the composer to conform to the director's view of the film? What line is there that demarcates when it's not worth the hassle?
DAVIS: There are situations where directors give composers directives just to give them directives Just to show "who's boss in this room."
PLUME: Is it the film version of busy work?
DAVIS: Sure Go outside and dig a 20-foot hole and then fill it up again. Composers, whether they are or not, certainly like to view themselves as being creative and having a contribution to make to the process. There are some personalities, fortunately they are few, that seem to want to negate that. There's a point where it becomes too much of an insult to bear. If a composer is very highly successful and James Horner certainly is, that means that he has to take less of that kind of abuse than a composer who is not of that stature. From my limited vantage point, it seemed like changes were coming in just for the sake of changes to come in, and I was wondering as I was picking up these changed sketches why Horner was going to such lengths to make this guy happy. Once the film came out, I understood perfectly. That's another tribute to James Horner, because he has not only an amazing visceral insight into what a film needs musically, but he knows how these situations work and he knows when to do something and when not to do something. You've got to hand it to the guy. |
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karim
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Joined: 21 May 2003
Posts: 1045
Location: Hamburg, Germany
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| Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2008 9:17 am Post subject: |
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| cool, thanks nick. i wonder where you find this stuff. google? |
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Nick
Shriner
Joined: 05 Jun 2003
Posts: 2341
Location: Canada
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| Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2008 9:26 am Post subject: |
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Truthfully, it's mostly by accident.
Yesterday I was searching for high-end audio reviews (surprisingly, a lot of Horner's recordings with Shawn Murphy are considered audiophile quality, even though most film music fans don't like the way he mixes music) and that IGN interview was one of the results on, yes, google.
I rarely seek out these things intentionally. 
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Etienne
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Joined: 21 May 2003
Posts: 655
Location: France
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| Posted: Thu Feb 14, 2008 7:20 am Post subject: |
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First thing I learn here: Davis worked on Titanic.  |
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Nick
Shriner
Joined: 05 Jun 2003
Posts: 2341
Location: Canada
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| Posted: Thu Feb 14, 2008 8:21 am Post subject: |
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It's not common knowledge?
It's in the credits of the Titanic album:
"Orchestrations by James Horner"
"Additional Orchestrations by Don Davis"
If I recall (again, by reading the liner notes) it was the last film they worked on, but was probably the fifth overall, I don't remember. Virtually every film since then for the next two or three years featured composer J.A.C. Redford as co-orchestrator, and for piano/synth-intensive scores like "A Beautiful Mind", Randy Kerber (keyboard player/programmer) co-orchestrated some scores.
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Jeremy
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Joined: 23 Jun 2003
Posts: 419
Location: Ohio
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| Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2008 6:23 pm Post subject: |
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Great article, nonetheless... I did not realize that Don Davis worked on Titanic with Horner (bad observational skills right here!  ) It's neat to see someone's opinion of Horner's music who's actually worked with the guy! Especially with how positive Don's comments were about the Maestro!
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Nancy
Horner Maven
Joined: 17 Oct 2003
Posts: 87
Location: Reaching for the light
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| Posted: Sat Feb 16, 2008 12:03 am Post subject: |
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Thank you, I loved this interview.
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I am the one star that keeps burning so brightly,
It is the last light to fade into the rising sun...
-Josh Groban, Remember, music by someone we all know and love |
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karim
Shriner
Joined: 21 May 2003
Posts: 1045
Location: Hamburg, Germany
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| Posted: Sun Feb 17, 2008 9:18 am Post subject: |
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| hi nancy, glad to see you´re still around ... |
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