BY LILY BRYANT
In 1957, Nevil Shute’s post-apocalyptic novel On the Beach depicted the aftermath of a disastrous world-wide nuclear war, as a handful of survivors await the inevitable spread of toxic radiation and are forced to contemplate their impending doom (cheery, right?). The story is tragic, haunting, and even (scarily) relevant.
More than 60 years later, the National Capital Orchestra, along with the Canberra Choral Society, are bringing the story back to life.
This month will see the Australian premiere of Christopher Gordon’s orchestral suite from his acclaimed score to the 2000 remake of the film On the Beach. Christopher is a prolific film composer, with credits for film and television works such as Mao’s Last Dancer (2009) , Ladies in Black (2018), and Moby Dick (1998), all with award-winning scores.
Leading up to the NCO’s performance of his work (alongside Ralph Vaughan Williams’ A Sea Symphony), Christopher talks with us about the process of creating a score that reflects such an evocative story, and what it’s like to have a work premiered decades after its composition.
The television film On the Beach is a remake of Stanley Kramer’s 1959 version, originally scored by Ernest Gold. Were there any aspects of Gold’s film score that you considered during the composition process?
I still haven’t seen the 1959 film or heard the score. Apparently Ernest Gold covered the film with variations of Waltzing Matilda; I don’t think I could survive that. I haven’t read Nevil Shute’s book either.
A composer needs to react to the drama and ideas as they are presented in the film they are working on; it is the film that informs the composer what music is needed, not some external viewpoint. The book and the 1959 film will be different in emphasis and structure, and so require a different approach to the storytelling.
The 2000 remake of the film was set five years in the future. Did you aim to capture this in your score? Would your approach differ if you were asked to compose for the same film set five years from today?
The era had very little, probably no, influence on the score. This is a post-apocalyptic story that, in essence, could really happen: that after a nuclear war, the radiation kills off all remaining life. Melbourne, being one of the last cities to succumb to the burial cloud, is aware of the inevitable end some months in advance. How do people face that? What intense joys do they experience, knowing no one will ever experience them again? For me, it was this paradox – a story of new love blooming as humanity finally wipes itself out – that was so powerful in David Williamson’s script. I feature a solo cello in the score, and was very lucky to have David Pereira playing.
The NCO will be premiering the adapted film score in Australia nearly 20 years after the film’s release. What kind of new perspective do you believe this brings to the work? What goes into crafting an orchestral concert piece out of a film score?
My score for On the Beach is the sort of music that lends itself to being heard away from the picture. Many films in the last 20-or-so years do not allow that possibility because the dominant aesthetic is for soundscaping, an approach that often works well with the picture but is usually uninteresting away from it; though there are plenty of exceptions, of course. I simply had to find a structure suitable for listening, fashioning the music into a four-movement suite.
On the Beach is a made-for-television film. Is there a particular approach that goes into scoring works that sit somewhere between being a TV show and being a film?
Composing for a television picture like On the Beach is really no different to scoring a long feature film. It is the story and characters that dictate the music. Mercifully, I did not have to worry about ad breaks in this production!
You’ve composed award-winning scores for a number of high-profile international films. Is there any advice you have for emerging composers looking to find similar success in film scoring?
Keep making music away from film, whatever your tastes are. Keep exploring new cultures and new ways of thinking about music. Be positive in your interactions with filmmakers. Hang in there; for most of us it is a long, bumpy career path.
See Leonard Weiss conduct the National Capital Orchestra with Canberra Choral Society, as they perform Christopher Gordon’s work among the program in Behold, the Sea, Llewellyn Hall, 7.30pm April 13.
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