Thank you very much Roque, it´s been so nice to be able to interview you here, in your office.
My pleasure.
So, you initiated your musical studies at the age of 11 but when did you decide to work for the cinema?
Difficult question. I remember two films that marked my life. Both from John Williams, his music being the one people really feel close to their hearts, very deep inside them. You know, you can like many composers´ work, Goldsmith or anyone else, but without a doubt the musical mind of Williams has this special power to actually talk to the listener. I remember watching "Close Encounters on the Third Kind" and "E.T" and I was constantly saying to myself: "Oh my God! What is this?!” At that time, around 14, I was obsessed with classical music, something which started around the age of 11 when I started studying. Before that there was nothing, I was your typical county loutish (laughs).... and thanks to the music I let go and evolved…
Was it your father´s decision?
No! They had me punished for something (laughs) and they decided that they were going to take this loutish to have some musical education to see if it did anything good to me. My father was a musical enough man, member of the old and gone Municipal Band of Jumilla. At a point they tried to create a new school and form another band, with those old musicians teaching their children and trying to pass on their passion for music. My father was one of them. Truth is I that I didn´t always know I wanted to be a composer, at least at the very beginning You see, I have always been a performer mainly. Saxophone had always been my whole life and I spent so many hours studying in order to be a professional performer. At the age of 18 I was accepted at the position of the major Musical Sergeant in the Navy Band and as soon as I got in there I started attending tests and exams at the Conservatory.....
Where does your great passion for Jazz and brass come from?
When I was 14 I began making arrangements for a Big Band, where almost all of us were young. At that time I was listening to the music of Glenn Miller, Duke Ellington, etc and was basically making adaptations of that music. I was listening off from the cassette, heard everything by ear and wrote that stuff for trumpets, saxophones, trombones...all kinds of brass instruments. I remember organizing various concerts for New Year Parties, Dances. It was very amusing and rewarding. At that time I also began getting interested in swing music. When I came to Madrid I was lucky enough to study with the Maestro Pedro Iturralde, a great jazz composer and performer. Funny thing is that he never actually wanted to teach jazz, his position in the conservatory having nothing to do with jazz, and you already knew while in there that when you talk him about this stuff, he was "jazz? Not here! eh!!" (Making a voice imitation), but I always kept telling him confidentially “Come on Pedro, come on! Teach me some new scales, a few, a little! "(laughter). Of course he accepted and showed me some ideas and techniques that I tried to assimilate myself. Later on I learned jazz harmony with Felix Sántos, the best guitarist I ever got to know, and it basically then when I decided that I needed to learn even more about this genre. Finally, the place where I completely discovered jazz music was Berklee.
After your days in the Conservatories of Murcia and Madrid, you gained a scholarship for Boston. How was the experience of Berklee?, the contact with that big musical world and the magical world of cinema?
Truth is that if I was to recall all the experiences I had throughout my life, I would have enough material to write a book already! While I studied saxophone very much I also studied harmony, counterpoint, fugue, composition and piano. I wanted to be composer and that was where I began paying attention to the compositional style I wanted to follow. For example, before I did all the exercises of harmony and counterpoint I had, in the bus on my way to the Conservatory. I was an expert in taking out the notebook and writing the right notes there. So sure thing is that I had great experiences in the Conservatories of Spain and learned a lot there as well, but when I arrived at Berklee, I really touched the sky. What I am now, I owe it to a very large degree (60 % at least) to Berklee. In there, I entered into a direct bonding with the world of cinema. They had me composing for short movies, for television, end credit titles...., also I learned to handle these (Roque show us some of his technical equipment), wonderful tools that have revolutionized the process of composition throughout the years. The machines have evolved so much that nowadays you can completely recreate the sound of an orchestra at your own place. However, I don´t always work with those, in fact I always want to record the final score with a real orchestra, no matter what. On the jazz matter however, I quickly got in direct touch with people in Berklee. I instantly placed myself in the Bullring and I encountered two miuras [dangerous kind of Spanish bulls]: jazz and cinema. Each one of those studies lasts 4 years but I successfully completed them both in 2 years. I remember I had no sleep during those years. I was completely hidden away and buried deep in my world.
The Beca [Spanish Cultural Money Support – scholarship] however only lasted for two years...
Yes of course. I decided what lessons and subjects I could study on my own and which ones required a teacher, that did it for me!
How is the process of making an original score, Roque?
A process where you look like Santa Gema! (Laughter). It´s a very hazy process, one which always depends entirely on your relation to the director. In Spain the director is the one that marks the rules. Everyone attached to the project becomes what he wants him to be. Various propositions and ideas are always on the table, but the final decision always turns around the director. So, my first step is to find the themes, to locate what kind of these the film needs, usually referred to characters or situations. Once I have made my mind about that – and it can get quite tricky and difficult - the rest usually goes along easily ´cause if you have good, working themes to base your score up, you have the actual key for the score. Right after that you turn to instrumentation and arrangements to create the suitable colour and musical character for the film.
Do you work with those themes with the script or do you prefer to actually wait for some film / image drafts?
You can think about it and get some ideas with the script only, but you really have to bring that in terms with the image in the end ´cause no matter how much times you might have read the script, the film won’t necessarily strictly follow the script, and then you´re clearly in trouble. In addition, with the film you make up your mind about rhythm and tempi ´cause sometimes you get a brilliant idea during the script readings and then it actually works with the images as well but this doesn´t always happen. For example, with the "The Machinist", while Brad (the director) edited the movie, I composed a series of themes that I sent to him. He truly liked that stuff but once you put them with the pictures It just didn´t work, it just took the film to another level that the director didn´t want so they were instantly off.
When you returned to Spain, you met with the director Emilio Martinez Lazaro, through the Spanish actor Gabino Diego. “Carreteras Secundarias" came off like – even if you don´t actually like the popular characterization of your music as such – Bernard Herrmann…
True but at that time I didn´t know who he was and neither his music......
....the question comes because "Secondary roads" seems to us like a tribute to the American school of film music and its sound in general, due to your experience in Berklee....
(He smiles). You know, in each film I score, I write the music I feel that moment, what comes out of my heart and I never thing about sounding in a specific way or launching particular references, ranging all the way from "Carreteras Secundarias" up to "Isi/Disi 2" which I´ve just finished. I limit myself to just seat at the piano and think about the story and the characters. When doing "Carreteras Secundarias", I was thinking about trips in a car, the relation between a father and his son, harshness but also tender, touching moments as well. The key is the colour, the tone. And with "Carreteras Secundarias" I looked up to some 70´s films like "Take the money and run" (hums the melody). I don´t have a problem with assuming some references, as long as they´re there, and real. As a composer, I have gone through many phases and some very eclectic tastes; from a fervent passion for classic music to rock and heavy-metal.....I´m fan of AC/DC, Scorpions and Iron Maiden in fact. I´ve also had my time as a Pink Floyd fanatic and the same goes for jazz, or even flamenco. But when I was 28 and made "Carreteras Secundarias " I only knew that a man called Bernard Herrmann made many films for Alfred Hitchcock and when I read what critics had to say, that I was clearly "influenced by Herrmann", I said to myself "wow, I must really listen to his stuff!” (laughter). So one day I bought some Herrmann compilation.
I admit Herrmann´s music is very, very good but it´s not the music that would enrich me in any way. Why? Because it´s like the music I´m writing today. I believe in coincidences and this is a clear-cut example of such. There are different ways to see, feel and understand harmony, the melody.... (He approaches to the piano and plays a little improvisational piece, along with a certain cadence). This is my way to conceive the music and its sounds like Herrmann indeed, but this is how I feel music as well! (laughter)....
....Herrmann as well could be – in his turn - influenced by other classic composers...
Possibly the same that influenced me: Ravel, Debussy, Stravinski, Prokofiev....those were my teachers. It´s possible that we have reached to similar musical conclusions, but again, it´s the music that I feel.
With Emilio you repeat in the noir film, "La Voz de su Amo". What do you remember about this elegant work?
It was a work where I could actually write the themes long before they passed the final edit to me. Emilio liked them from the very beginning. He is a person with a great musical taste. He knows very well what he wants and what it works for him. I have huge trust in him, because he has an enormous intuition. “La Voz de su Amo” was a very important film for him, since it was supposed to be a change of registry in his filmography and I was very careful with the music so it rightfully represented all the images. I truly consider this as the first score where I actually fitted myself tremendously in the image, you know, looking for the perfect “fusion” while simultaneously maintaining my musical identity. If you remember, it was a delayed and troubled production and with all those edits I didn´t know what was going to happen next, what was going to be altered. However I remember I was very happy with the final work as I tried hard to respect the images and was truly elegant throughout the development of the story.
You collaborative relationship with Emilio continues with the success of musical comedies "The other side of the bed" and "Both sides of the bed". It´s interesting that for the first film you only wrote original score and the songs were produced by Bernardo Fuster and Luís Mendo, nevertheless for the second you got to do all the work under a completely orchestral approaching.
It was a producers´ decision. They decided – along with Emilio - that it would be better if I managed all the musical aspects of for the second film. For "The other side of the bed" I had to fit in with the songs that were already adapted by Fuster and Mendo. I felt the obligation to make my music follow and not be too outside or spectacular, for continuity reasons with the already written material. But for "Both sides of the bed", Emilio and I decided to give it a touch of a musical comedy, a theatrical treatment with orchestra, big band, choirs....
Was it funny to work with the actors of the film?
Really Funny!
Any anecdotes you want to share?
(Smiling). Good, I remember them seating in front of me, hoping to be called one by one for the auditions, they were so shy. These poor men defended themselves up to the final moments, as hard as they could! (laughter) ´cause only Lucia [ Jiménez ], had previous experience as a singer. I thought that my work had to try and forget how their singing capabilities were and search for the best way to make them feel them comfortable enough to sing and ultimately, deliver.. If Willy [ Guillermo Toledo ] was out of tune (laughter), I had to find the “point” where it felt more comfortable for him: with a rap, for example. So I ended up making arrangements that obtained that he sang his song in a very different way from what we initially planned but in a better way, according to his own voice and abilities.
The anecdote is that while they initially came to me with the fear and agony drawn on their faces, after their song, they returned to their seat very happy, thinking about a future career as popular singers, or even stars! (laughter).At the end of every season they were calling me just to say and hear that their part (each one of them) was the best part of the whole film.
About your work in the "Torrente Trilogy”, we couldn´t help ourselves but to notice the contrast between you music and the freaky, dirty characters and surreal situations; something we usually notice in your works for comedy, as well as films like “La Comunidad”, “Muertos de Risa”, “El Robo Más Grande Jamás Contado” o “Isi/Disi”. Do you believe that this contrast between the mood / tone of the music and the images on screen is something powerful and useful indeed?
Of course I do. There are various examples of say, American comedies with serious symphonic music on top; in this way the composer tries to obtain the effect and create the illusion of a serious story. The result is usually very delighting, i.e. having the audience laughing and enjoying themselves even more with this contrast between the music and images helping turn the whole into a more ridiculous situation, a funnier one. I was always talking with Alex de la Iglesia o Santiago Segura in my studio that we must always go around in serious way. It´s necessary to think like we actually are those real characters, real persons in those real situations. He is not trying to create those laughing outbursts; he actually lives and he, himself, is taking part into this whole, along with his own motivations and in a specific, personal way. This “acting”, the fact that he puts himself into the place of each and every character in the movie, is the reason the audience´s laughing. The characters are not comedians, the situations and things that happen are what´s actually funny. For example in "Isi/Disi 2", Disi falls in love and while the audience might actually laugh about this fact and about things that happen to Disi because of it, I composed a particularly romantic theme which Is even sweeter and more….romantic than the Isi one I composed for the first film. I take myself very seriously when it comes to the feelings of the characters and in the comedy, the contrast of the music with the images, always makes things funnier, I am convinced about this. If we see a dangerous scene for example, I try to go the thriller way with my music ´cause that´s what the characters feel at the moment: fear and it´s a wholly different thing is if the viewer is actually perceiving that. What they want to do is laugh, but if you want to create that contrast, you must score the scene in a very serious way.
How is to work with Santiago Segura?
Santiago is a very serious and professional person, you see, he´s very serious about his work. Another guy I really enjoy working with very much
is director Daniel Monzón, or Alex de la Iglesia. They are always laughing but Santiago is very serious, which doesn´t keep you from enjoying you work with him in any way however. All these directors let me be very creative, be myself. They supply the basic guidelines and suggestions, but they always let me go my way after that and they respect my work very much. If something doesn´t convince them, they won´t suggest a direct alternation; rather they make suggestions on what I could introduce into those very pieces, but in a very respectful way towards me and my job. I greatly appreciate them and I believe it´s vice-versa as well.
Alex, for example, decided he wanted to work with you after watching "Torrente: El Brazo Tonto de la Ley"...
Indeed.
With “Muertos de Risa”, the musical approach you took sounds like a circus fanfare, very close to the Nino Rota collaboration with Fellini...
It was the first film we made together. Alex is very enthusiastic about the world of cinema, like Guillermo del Toro is as well, since their childhood when they would be walking across hills with their cameras on. Alex
told me that in the three films he made before that, he had no saying or control on the music whatsoever so he wasn´t satisfied with the ending result for “Acción Mutante” and “El Día de la Bestia” but I don´t
know any more details about that, nor the reason. He confessed me he wants to re-work and re-edit those films with original music written by me. When we finished "Muertos de Risa" he told me that he was very happy because he has just found one composer for his whole life! In this specific project he wants the music to burst through the cinema. We had a very big orchestra but nevertheless, the main titles (hums it for us) were done with only eight musicians....
... the part which remember us the films of Fellini.....
That´s true indeed. It was a specific request from Alex, so I went through different stuff from Rota at the time in order to get into that mood and its essence and so the influence and musical reference here is very clear. But in the following scenes, like the police arriving at the Television station, were much grandiloquent. You see, my relation with Alex is like when you´re with a very pretty girlfriend (laughter). At first, you go very fast with her but after that things are calmer but with the same passion.
I believe that everything that we have been doing together later on is better. I hear "Muertos de Risa" and I am not convinced or sure about some points, because Alex insisted on doing something very heavy. "La Comunidad" is even odder and then comes "800 Balas", a more moderate work, mainly because it has different things to offer, but I think our best work together is "Crimen Ferpecto", where we managed to get the music to with the image perfectly.
We believe that your musical personality is clearly pictured and represented in the cinematic work of of Alex de la Iglesia and Carlos Saura…It seems like a musical nexus in “Muertos de Risa”, “La Comunidad” and “Crimen Ferpecto”, all of them having to do with violence
and black humour; a style that we find that allows you to be particularly creative…
Yeah, that´s without a doubt true indeed. I would say call that evolution. We always try to sound a little odd and weird, but always going over other solutions as well.
Alex, within his personal universe possibly, feels even more tenderness towards his characters´ personalities every time, like for example, when it comes to Willy Toledo in "Crimen Ferpecto". His calmness influences the music...
Yes…that´s it (laughter).
With La Comunidad” you had your first problems when it comes to composing against the clock, i.e. scheduling conflicts, with all those projects running at the same time ("The Girl of Rio" for example). How did it go throughout "La Comunidad"? Is it true that you composed some themes while you were reading the script?
Up to "La Comunidad” I, was always working with a certain way and from
that point onwards, I learned how to work with a wholly different one. There is a flexion point there. For "La Comunidad”, I sat at the piano, trying to find some inspiration via a certain way that was not after long modelling along with the images the images, resulting however to a dispersed work that I consider to be intuitive, without being theme-centred per se. But I only had four weeks to come up with the score, so I decided
to get up all the main themes going first. So I came up with the main theme while walking down the street to my Studio. While I was under pressure at the time, this theme came up to me as I associated a specific melody to my fast walk at those moments (He show us how, while walking towards the desk and then he played it on the piano). All the themes emerged from concrete ideas, a few notes than were developed further onwards into very clear and concise themes. Then I applied fusion of colour and melody to the characters and the stuff they were going through.
"800 Balas" is your more atypical collaboration with De la Iglesia. We like to describe it as a Soundtrack of Genres.Tributes to Western, from the Italian to Copland, but there are some intimate moments there as well, some comedy elements or even action music and dramatic war stuff…
You are right, that was the initial idea. "800 Balas" is a mixture of all the elements you mentioned before. At the beginning, Alex wanted to
Fly away from the western, although it was inevitable to fall into eventually…
.....yeah, although it´s both music and a film about the spectacle, not so much of a western itself…
Sure, that´s the idea. Within that history there was dramatic background, and also action, like the police assault, and this stuff has nothing to do with Westerns. Nevertheless, during the town siege, there´s some background of western references. We tried to connect the characters reality and their worlds with the sense of the spectacle and I believe we got it correctly in the end. There were so many different things, mixed in that work. In addition, it contains one of my all-time favourite themes which can be used for westerns but also for dramas (he goes at the piano and plays the main theme from "800 Balas").
Now, we´d love to talk about your relationship with Carlos Saura. Your first work with him is "Goya in Burdeos". A truly great work, if I may add. At the beginning of the project Lalo Schifrin was going to score or it, already hading collaborated with Saura before, in "Tango". You were initially contacted so you would compose the period themes and arrange the Boccherini piece.... how did you finally get to score the whole?
I knew Saura through Andrés Vicente Gómez. It was a a Lalo
Schifrin´s project, as you said, indeed. Andrés called me and proposed that I could make the period themes, since Lalo Schifrin was abroad and it would be very pricy if he had to also write that stuff and they need those pieces before the film´s shooting. Lalo also had some problems with his schedule. A few months back, I had read that Saura would shoot this film so I thought it would be just great if I could score it... so, when they offered me the job I was so enchanted and excited that I instantly accepted to do it. I already knew Andrés from “Torrente” and “La Pareja
Perfecta” so I asked him if there was any chance to score the whole film, but he told me Lalo was already aboard. Then when I went to the set to meet Saura, he told me about the film, the fandango of Boccherini. I arranged that one and when he heard what I do, he absolutely loved it. I only did the arrangement, but fate was with me ´cause at around that time they found out they didn´t have a very good understanding going on between Lalo and Saura, so they decided to contract another composer who could bring them a symphonic approach to the whole. They liked me work, and offered the complete score to me. He showed me some pieces from “Tango” composed by Lalo, and I told him I could write music in that symphonic and dramatic style as well. He then showed me the “War Disaster Sequence” and I wrote the music for it...
... "Los desastres de la guerra" are one of your greatest themes, ever......
Yes, I think so as well. I began with a small piece and then it was extended enough for the film. At the beginning the piece was running at a mere four minutes, and the final version was eight. It enchanted him and told me: “Go Ahead!”. It was possibly the simplest theme I ever wrote with a very simple beginning of just three notes (playing it at the piano).....
... it doesn´t sound a lot like Roque, but then the theme acquires a lot of emotional power, through its majestic colour.....
Yeah, the reason about that is the actual development of the theme, but the main core is just those three notes. The rest is only about adding more instruments. The “box” emerges (humming the theme), the piano suggests another line, but flutes and trumpets follow obsessively those three notes. The important thing was those 3 notes. If you have a good theme, it´s essential to underline and express it, you know stick to it.
The cinema of Saura is so visual and powerful that allows you to be very creative.
Of course. I´m always grateful to score a Carlos Saura´s film and when I finish it, I love to take "Isi/Disi" to. I need to change registry. You know, each one of those is like a son for you. What happens with Carlos Saura is that my works for him always have something different. They are not limited to be just film music; in fact, you can almost say they are not it.
Like with Alex, the cinema of Saura has allowed you to develop a certain musical personality of your own. Your music for his films has a connecting point we like to call "the Mediterranean": music from several countries, all echoing their culture…Christian, Sephardi, Muslim, thes flamenco....
You know, at some time of my life, I had a great interest in ethnic music. I studied the Sephardic music, Spanish old music..... and Saura has allowed me to explore It further. The certain thing is that I have had luck over the years and with my works as many directors have requested me different things and I could experiment and learn through it, I´ve been always enchanted with all of them. So, maybe that connecting point you speak about, really exists.
"Salomé" was conceived like a ballet....
Yes, it was a ballet. But the film was made while the ballet was being developed. The film was born along with the ballet.
How was the experience with "Iberia", your approach to Albéniz?
Difficult. It´s very complicated to join together so diverse personalities and I´ll always remember it like a not so pleasant work for me, but not having anything to do with my relation and with the film´s team. It´s something personal. I didn´t feel absolutely complete, although I enjoyed being with Saura again and working with him. I enjoyed working in the arrangements and adaptations of the Albéniz works however. I have a great passion as to taking some already existing music then totally destroying it (laughter). Seriously, what I really enjoyed was working for “Los Dos Lados de la Cama”, working with the sounds, mainly with the credit song when all the characters sing in the same tune (Roque sings and play at the piano this song) (laughter).
So, departing from your relationship with Saura, we find "No Somos Nadie". it´s another fantastic work, where you tried to set a sweet counterpoint between the music and the images: the religion and the swindle. How do you remember this work and your relationship with the director and actor Jordi Mollá?
Very intense. Jordi is very mystical and one of most intelligent people I´ve ever came to know. He is very special and he has a different vision of things, plus he´s a wonderful actor. My most intimate theme was written for "No Somos Nadie" (he plays it at the piano). Jordi requested some melancholic music that would leave us an off-beat feeling. The film could have easily be a commercial success because the script was great and based on a popular subject matter; however, he preferred to reflect the internal emotions: the violence, the solitude, the failure, the triumph. I remember it was very hard to come up with that theme. Jordi gave a listen to all the themes I wrote for him, and said that that music didn´t make him feel bad enough. But then I finally I got it. I remember him hearing the theme for the first time while I played at the piano. Seated with his hand in his face and when I finished he opened his eyes and his facial expression was totally transformed. He felt very sad and upset, as he wanted it to be. That music really reflects that situation where you see the world with your innocent eyes as a child and come too realize how much things have changed, how different you are. I remember thinking about that stuff when I was five, seeing myself, the loss of the childhood innocence, your life under the control of the egoism, the envy. I recognize myself and see me crying when I hear this theme. Jordi still goes around thanking me for it. He says now he has found himself another theme to cry with because up until that moment, he already cried with Ennio Morricone´s theme for “Cinema Paradiso” (laughter).
"The Machinist" brought international recognition to you. Aside from a certain “Herrmann” approach, the music sounds like a tribute to Rozsa´s “Spellbound”, a film sharing a similar musical line with the use of theremin. One of your works where you not only described what was going on in the picture very well but also accurately transferred to music the inner universe of the characters.
Indeed, I believe that this is some of my music that aims more at the characters´ feelings and inner selves indeed. All the themes are associated to Trevor Reznik [ Christian Bale ], appealing his solitude and paranoia. The use of theremin was a Brad Anderson´s idea. I hadn´t thought about it, I was working towards something more abstract, unreal. In the beginning, I wrote some particularly contemporary music which Brad really liked, some 12—note stuff. But when we “found” the theremin, I constructed a very slow theme for it, with long notes. Brad is particularly perfectionist when it comes to music; all the details must be in the right place and order and he has very good instinct as to where to fit what. I remember he actually placed one of my pieces in a different part of the movie which – as an idea when I first heard about – didn´t excite me at all but when I saw the film I thought: “He´s very clever, this is the correct place for the music..." (laughter).
How did you get this project?
It was a Filmax [Spanish Company] co-production. Antonia Nava, the leader of the Filmax “Army” was preparing "El Laverinto Kovak” and the director, my friend Daniel Monzón, wanted me to write the score. Antonia went to see "800 Balas" and she liked it very much, so she called over to have a meeting and talk about "The Machinist". I gave them some cd´s which Brad heard and wanted me for the job. Later on, Jaume Balagueró, who´s was a great fan of “La Voz de su Amo”, gave The Machinist" a listen and also called me to score "Fragile".
"Fragile" seems like the place where you could finally apply some of those contemporary ideas.....
Yes, there were moments where I used that style.....
A horror film, where you played around with elements associated to children´s innocence and some intense, atmospheric and mysterious thriller music. How was it to have your encounter with a horror film, musically speaking?
I had a great desire to score for a film like this. I love "Fragile", a film that didn´t have a very good acceptance although I still don´t know why!
It was very rewarding but also hard to work with Jaume. He is also very conscientious with music; he likes the music to greatly respect the image. So It was hard enough for me. The less complicated were the moments of fear ´cause that is pure genre. I tried not to listen anything at the time so I wouldn´t be influenced by others. I looked out for many strings´ effects so I would recreate the fear in a different way, something you don´t usually hear in those films. I loved the themes for the girl and Maggie. All the music goes all the way up towards the end the themes are constantly hidden and suggested up until their full-blown finish when they emerge in and through the dramatic end.
Which brings us to “Alatriste”, quite a controversial project. How did you get to score this?
I received a call which offered the project to me. I said to them I´d be charmed to do it but they needed me immediately. However, It was impossible for me, because at that time I was immersed in the creation of "El Laberinto Kovak ", so I proposed them to wait a few weeks until would finish my score for Daniel Monzón´s film. They agreed and then they invited me to watch the film with the director, Agustín Diaz Yanes. He was very clear and he gave me complete creative freedom right from the beginning, except in a concrete point: He wanted the Spanish known theme for "La Madrugá" to be in the final sequence. I watched that stuff and I didn´t like it. I think it doesn´t work, and I´m still thinking the same up to this day.
The ending of the film has been particularly criticized indeed, mainly for using this popular theme from the Spanish Holly Week....
All my eagerness was working in the way of trying to convince him to reject that idea, but I just couldn´t do it...There was even an intense moment when I refused to use this theme, but in the end there was no way. I believed that it´s a mistake because like the fact that the film seems a little slow at some points, the ending is even slowed with that music on. For me that was the Epic moment of the film, with those soldiers, raw men holding and resisting up until their very end.
But you wrote a theme for that sequence, "Cuenta lo que Fuímos", which is included in the disc.
Yeah, that´s what I did I played it to Agustín and he decided we have to record it. The liked it for sure but during post-production Agustín and the producers decided return to their initial idea.
"Alatriste" basically reflects the fall of the Grand Spanish Empire. The very Captain reflects, in his personality, the symptoms of a very depressive time for the country. It´s like if you tried to hide the epic element of the history. How did you came up with the specific score and applied the music to the picture?
We didn´t want anything too epic, since the film didn´t call for it either. We thought it would be “out” of the real story and tone of the film, but I confess that before seeing the film, I had an inspiration and composed a very epic theme for Alatriste [Roque goes to the piano and play a memorable epic theme in the pure tradition of Sword and Adventure Films]…..
...... it´s brilliant Roque, very epic!! [ laughter ].
In reality, when Agustín heard this, he was truly horrified (laughter). When I saw the film I understood why. This first theme was written with the thought of a hero on his horse, fighting with his sword against the evil (laughter). So it was very excessive. [Moves to the piano and plays the version of the theme they ended up using in Alatriste instead]. This one contains more period influences, it´s more intimate. While it still contains some epic elements as well, this is heroic not in the way of the triumphant hero but in the way of low-key, downcast hero.
How did you get to the brilliant love themes?
Agustín wanted the music to have a deep Spanish touch. At the beginning, the love theme for Alatriste and María was going to be a wholly different one [plays a truly gorgeous melody at the piano], but in the end, we decided to stick to what you now here in the finished movie, still maintaining the Spanish flavour.
The theme of Angelica and Iñigo is modelled after the style of "Goya in Burdeos", with a disturbing but suggestive tone. It´s like an exquisite curse from which Iñigo can´t escape.
Can we say that "Alatriste" moves along the same lines as the scores we heard in your works with Carlos Saura? The same Spanish touch, the use of similar instrumentation (the marine tube appears in "Buñuel y la Mesa del Rey Salomón ")....
Yeah, maybe. Of course I didn´t think of it while I was composing, but seeing things now back and from distance, we can see a certain similarity in approach, arrangements and instrumentation indeed. Panderos, guitars, the use of the Chalomeau, are things that I have already done with Saura in "Buñuel" or "Salomé", the difference here though, is that I use this instrumentation in a wholly new approach and way.
After the first cd release, you changed the front cd cover with a 2nd edition of it. What´s the reason for this?
It was a Viggo Mortensen´s decision, not mine. He didn´t like his photo in the first cover so we removed it. It was nothing dramatic.
Would you like to score “Alatriste” like a series of films (there are 5 books) so you can further develop new themes and the lot with each new film?
That´s something that can be done only in Hollywood. Here, we could never get Viggo for more than one film. Santiago Segura with “Torrente” could do it, but a project like “Alatriste” requires a much larger budget. I feel what the critics are saying about the dispersed storyline, specially if you are a fan of the Arturo Pérez Reverte´s Books, but I believe the script isn´t badly planned, because every scene has a direct relation with one another, despite ranging from different books.
What is the part of the score you are most proud of?
All the scenes with Iñigo and Angelica. Basically because I believe that music narrates perfectly what’s there, describes, intrigues and moves with all that passion.
We´d loved to talk about your new works; in fact, you´ve just finished “El Laberinto Kovak”, How is the music like?
Bernard Herrmann [ laughter ]. I am very happy, because Daniel always brings out hidden aspects of me. The music for the “El Laberinto Kovak” music is very descriptive, very narrative. There are 70 minutes of music for a film of 100. I felt very comfortable during the procedure. It´s a film we could describe easily as "genre".
Your first score with Daniel Monzón was “El Corazón del Guerrero” an epic and adventurous film, how it was that experience?
Brilliant. One of my dreams was to make an adventure film. There, I composed a very epic theme, I used choirs, I enjoyed it very much. I always enjoy working with Daniel, He is similar to Álex de la Iglesia. He thinks that something can be brilliant but at the same time, a little odd. In addition, he´s also very intuitive like Emilio Martínez Lázaro. He´s one of the most intelligent human beings I ever met.
Another project is “Trece Rosas”, a film about the Spanish Civil War, directed by Emilio Martinez Lazaro. Have you begun writing the music yet?
No, still not. I only made them some things that they need for the shootings. A few period songs, band marching music... stuff like that. But I already have some specific ideas in mind about the whole score. When I finish "Carmen," I will be sent them some stuff.
Before we began this interview, you played us some pieces from “Carmen” an ambitious musical that will be released during the next year in Broadway. It sounds great!! Please, tell us more about this project…
For "Carmen" I must orchestrate songs that are already there: 28 songs, for a very big musical running at three hours. It will be quite spectacular I tell you, and it´s directed by Marco Dragone the “Cirque du Soleil”´s director. They send me all the songs with piano and voice, and here is where my work begins.
Aren´t you composing any own themes?
They want me to compose the intermezzos, overture, dance pieces.... The songs are the work of John Ewbank I might compose some additional music, do some more orchestration and things like that…
…the music we heard is immense and grand; there is a great whole difference between this piece you orchestrated and the single with the piano and voice....
This is my work, my part of the project. The premiere will be in September 2007, in Broadway. Before that, a first showing for some special audience will be held in a theatre in Los Angeles, the place where they´ll produce all the work. I must go there as well, for nine weeks in Los Angeles to take care about the final details on the music, according to that audience´s opinion. This first showing is typical in the US, in films, theatre, etc..
How did you get this work?
The producer came to Madrid to know meet people and listen to things. Someone gave him the disc of “Salomé”, and then I received a call and arranged a meeting. He came to my office and here we were speaking about the project. Finally, Marco Dragone (the director) requested my one demo and I was on.
Are you thinking of settling in the USA once and for all?
I don´t think so. I have two small children who need me. I haven´t get the intention of going there for ever. If I receive an interesting request I might consider working on it but only if it´s a great project, I don´t want to sound pedant or selfish but that’s my opinion. I don´t have anything to gain if I am so score only small projects in USA. In Spain I make films with important directors and I´m happy, satisfied and comfortable here.
How the experience of creating your own label was and handling your own music?
I wanted to publish my cd´s for a long time now. I needed a label, time and somebody who could manage it, and I have had the luck to meet Tessi and Ginés my assistants and people of confidence. I primarily don´t want to make money but I also don´t want to lose but I would be very happy if everyone could hear my music. I´m going to release some out of print cds like “Segunda Piel”, “Goya en Burdeos”, “La Comunidad”, “El Corazón del Guerrero” and “Salomé”.
And "Rosario Tijeras", your latest work…
We are currently working on it actually and it will be available in a month or so. I´m not going to distribute it, but it will be in my page. I will send some copies to Juan Ángel Saiz (Owner of Rosebud). Shortly I will release a compilation of my work as well.
Thank you very much Roque for this wonderful interview.
Thank you.
12-november-2006
English edition by DEMETRIS CHRISTODOULIDES
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