Renowned for his music on shows such as BBC’s ‘Sherlock’ and multiple James Bond movies, composer David Arnold has also worked on musical projects for the stage. Along the way he’s picked up top awards including a Grammy, an Ivor Novello, an Emmy and multiple BAFTA nominations. We caught up with the music maestro to talk collaborations, film scores and career highlights, as well as his upcoming showcase in the North West.

 

You’re performing some of your work in the region alongside the Manchester Camerata Symphony Orchestra this month. What can people expect?

You feel like doing a greatest hits thing suggests everything is over. What’s nice about it though, is we go from the first thing I did – ‘The Young Americans’ and a song called ‘Playing Dead’ which I did with Bjork – right up to ‘Sherlock’ and everything in between. I’m hoping I can come back in 10 years and do more, just as long as I’m still working and people care.

 

How has the show come about? Does it just seem like a good time to reflect on your work so far?

I always think that when I’m not writing I’m wasting time, but somebody asked if I’d do a concert.

I did one last year at the Royal Festival Hall in London and we had a great time. People were saying ‘why aren’t you playing anywhere else?’ so we’re doing more. It’s not to promote film or TV; it’s purely for the pleasure of watching an orchestra and playing music at an amazing venue.

 

People recognise your music from films or TV. Have you had to re-work it a lot for a live performance?

We tried to find stuff that’s representative of the films. We’re not using visuals and projections because it’s like having a TV on in the pub; no matter who you’re with, everyone ends up turning around to watch it. I’d like people to pay attention to the orchestra, they’re brilliant musicians.

Hopefully it’s going to be fun more than anything, but in terms of re-jigging we’re not doing some of the electronic stuff in the films. It’s more of an acoustic set up, so with stuff from films like the Bonds and ‘Independence Day’, and also ‘Sherlock’ stuff, the whole thing is more of an unplugged version.

 

You’ve worked on music for films and TV to theatre. Does each medium offer a different challenge?

Ultimately, the job remains the same regardless of the moving images in front of you. For instance, I might do a $10m movie, then the next day a $100m movie, and the pressure that comes with spending more money on a film is rather large but the job effectively remains the same. I have to find musical solutions to a problem put in front of me when the film plays and that has never really changed.

How does the process of making a soundtrack actually work? Does seeing the film provide all the inspiration for the music?

The most informed thing you’ll ever do is watch the film and that will present problems that need sorting. You can sort them alongside the director and producers with discussions like ‘what do we want it to say?’ and ’what do we want the audience to feel?’, and then you get a sense of what that is.

The tricky bit is writing it because you need to contextualise what this music is going to be and how it’s going to sound. For example, is it going to be rock and roll or orchestral? Is there going to be a big or small orchestra? You have to present these things to people as a solution to the problem and what the film score is going to be, how it sounds and why it sounds like that.

 

As well as having images as an influence, do you have your own musical influences for your work?

Ever since I’ve been writing I’ve been listening to very little, and I think that’s bad. In my kitchen I listen to talking on the radio because I can’t really stand listening to music if I’ve been writing all day.

Sometimes I stick a record on and listen to some new and some old stuff. You don’t want to spend your whole life listening to things you already know, so I’m trying to listen to new things and not do anything other than realise there are people doing amazing things for music and it might be something that inspires you to do something yourself.

 

You’ve worked with lots of influential artists yourself though, like Massive Attack and Bjork. Is there anyone you’d still like to work with?

There are genre creators and innovators of all sorts of rules, it’s very exciting. The interesting thing about film is that it’s mostly conventional at times, and it’s a convention borne out of the fear of being different because different might mean countless box office failures. It’s a security blanket and there’s nothing wrong with that but you can’t stretch your wings as far as you may wish to.

I understand those restrictions are there and that’s a big part of the challenge to write the music, but you feel when you work with someone who is, I guess, purer in the way they create, perceive and perform, that you want to up your game. I wouldn’t want to play anything that I wouldn’t want to show to people I admire, so I try to keep those people in mind when I’m writing in the hope of not embarrassing myself if they ever walked in.

 

In terms of your work, are there any new directions you’d like to go in?

I wouldn’t go and see a horror film as I think it’s more often teenagers who enjoy those, but I’d do one because I’ve never done one, or a country and western. I like a good tragedy; the darker keys, the approach to the melody, the yearning and the pain. I like all of those things but I’d never really choose to see one – I tend to edge towards sillier films because I don’t want to think about things too much. It comes down to work mostly, because I have to analyse a lot of things. I like films that let me vegetate in front of the TV and then I don’t think about them again, it’s slightly meditative.

 

Looking back on your work, do you have a standout career moment?

I always think of these things retrospectively because when you’re there it never really feels standout, it feels normal. The opening for the first ever film I did was good, and I think winning a Grammy was good but it didn’t feel like anything out of the ordinary at the time. I was recording with Iggy Pop the day after! I went in a limo to the Grammys, won and then rang my mum and dad and told them – I remember that distinctly.