soundandpicture.com: Inspiration is all around for those who know how to look… or listen. But who knew that a nuclear reactor could be a source of both inspiration and instrumentation? Before starting the score on HBO’s Chernobyl miniseries, award-winning composer Hildur Guðnadóttir decided to visit the decommissioned Lithuania power plant where the show was to be filmed, in order to discover the space’s character and tone. She was joined by field recordist Chris Watson, whose recordings there became the raw material for Guðnadóttir’s musique concrète approach to the score.
2 comments:
As an inspiring score composer for film and television, I can't help but be excited by Hildur Guðnadóttir's new project in HBO's 'Chernobyl'. Her live recording of sounds and textures at the actual Chernobyl disaster site is amazing in itself. The fact that she took those recorded sounds and incorporated their qualities into her score for the television series is crazy innovative. I was so interested by the Q&A article that I listened to some of the score on Youtube. 'Vichnaya Pamyat' is the name of the fourth song in the collection, and it features a Ukrainian choir that sings a traditional burial song is hauntingly beautiful. She incorporates the reverb that was prevalent in the bunkers in Chernobyl in the choir's song, making their voices seem ethereal and otherworldly. I absolutely love it. The futuristic soundscape that Guðnadóttir produces was made through such cool analog techniques, such as slowing down the tape of her recordings. In the age of digital processing and synthesizing, it is always so interesting to see sound return to its roots in analog manipulation. Though reading this article side-tracked me for a full hour and a half, I wouldn't have it any other way. Hildur Guðnadóttir is a rare breed of female composers in film, and I can't wait to (hopefully) join them.
Film scoring has long held a special place in my heart, at the intersection of music, visual art, and often, technology. I am fascinated by those who create an auditory world to accent the one on the screen and the process they take to imagine and implement ideas such as the one outlined in the article. It is a film scorer’s job to augment the mood of the filmed piece and add another dimension to the action, but I have never heard of a composer taking samples from the filming location and incorporating those into the score. In fact, the only classical instrument used on the Chernobyl score is voice; the rest of the music is created by sampled recordings from the filming location, a decommissioned power plant. Film scorers in particular seem to be constantly pushing the boundaries of instrumental music, and perhaps this is a glimpse of a new era of soundtracks, in which the music comes directly from the world of the story itself, instead of being added on to it.
-Bridget Doherty
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