Elliot Goldenthal was born on May 2nd, 1954 in Brooklyn, New York. At the Manhattan School of Music he studied privately with Aaron Copland and John Corigliano, who had an indisputable influence on his work. “He supported me in trying to find my individual voice,” the composer admits. “As is the case with many great teachers, he didn’t impose his techniques on me, but really encouraged me to find my own style.”
Over the past fifteen years Elliot Goldenthal has composed an impressive list of unique and memorable scores for an even more impressive range of films. His work is often so challenging and complex, sometimes even just as pounding as restrained that it’s hard to believe he doesn’t go over every single note more than once. The composer argues nonetheless that that is not always the case. “The first idea is usually the best idea, I have to say. More often than not I go back to that, although there are times where I do indeed revise and sculpt the ideas that are in my head. Of course one should never forget that I’m simply responding to programmatic or visual factors. The complexity of my work largely depends upon the material I’m presented with.” As far as his favourite approach to scoring goes, he doesn’t have one. “I enjoy writing for big orchestras, but that doesn’t preclude me from writing for small ensembles as well. I like the variety, I guess. I like writing for chamber ensembles, electronic apparatus, homemade instruments, solo guitar. If I have to pick a favourite instrument, however, I would go for the erase and pencil.”
From a very early age Elliot Goldenthal was eager to explore the possibilities that cinema had to offer. “It’s such a young art and there are still so many things that people haven’t experimented with or simply accomplished yet. That’s why I enjoy working on films that have different layers of reality. I like to be surprised. It’s also one of the reasons I don’t have a favourite genre to work in.” His affection for composing music for films springs from his love for drama, he says. “If one has a love for drama then I think working in cinema comes as natural as working in theater, opera or ballet.” Not surprisingly Elliot Goldenthal has worked in theatre quite a lot as well. Not only has he written incidental music for William Shakespeare’s The Tempest, The Taming of the Shrew, and Titus Andronicus, he also co-created the original musical Liberty’s Taken with David Suehsdorf and his wife Julie Taymor, with whom he also worked on the acclaimed motion picture “Titus” and “Frida”. “The major difference between theatre and cinema is that in cinema you often get involved in projects that have got nothing to do with your – let’s say – original style of music. You get excited about these projects because you can never really tell what the outcome will be. Whereas in ballet and theatre you usually gravitate towards the things you’re most comfortable in. Most of the time you even choose the projects yourself. Needless to say that doesn’t make my scores less personal or invigorating than the things I do for theatre. It just requires a different approach.”
So far Elliot Goldenthal can look back on an almost unblemished career in writing music for film. “Going chronologically, I’m very fond of the music I wrote for ‘Drugstore Cowboy’, because it’s very unusual. Even the instruments I worked with on that were quite unusual, like the didgeridoo and several home-made devices and electronic samples. I’m also very proud of the score for ‘Alien 3’, some of which was stolen from me and used in the Dutch film ‘Karakter’. I never got any credit or money for that, but I guess that proves that I’m not the only one who liked it [laughs]. Furthermore I enjoyed working on a small baseball film called ‘Cobb’ for which I didn’t write your typical sports score. Then there are of course the films I did with Neil Jordan: ‘Interview with the Vampire’, ‘Michael Collins’, ‘In Dreams’, and especially ‘The Butcher Boy’. If you look at any of these scores you will see they are all very different. I guess Neil Jordan brings out the best in me, apart from my wife of course whose work I like very much.” The composer has no trouble mentioning most of the things he has done. “The few films that I left out were usually action films where the music had to compete with sound effects and didn’t have the intimacy that it should’ve had. Naturally you talk about this with the director beforehand. I explained to Neil Jordan for example that if you have three big explosions, you can put sound effects on the first two, but by the third one people will already have becomes tired of the sound effect, so maybe he should consider achieving the same thing with music. Fortunately he agreed so at times the music in that particular film was featured as opposed to explosions and fire. I guess this shows that it is imperative to have these conversations with your collaborator.”
Many would argue that the score written by Elliot Goldenthal often transcend the films they were written for. Meant as a compliment, the composer remarks that that’s completely beside the point. “I don’t mean to transcend. I mean it to fit in, to work in harmony with the film. If it actually does transcend then I’m not doing my job right.” Having already worked on more than twenty films he nevertheless refrains from answering what particular aspect of a production inspires him most in terms of making his work fit in so perfectly. “I get my inspiration from the director, the script, the production design, the performances, the editing, the photograph, everything really. There are so many different things to notice and get inspiration from that there is no simple answer as to what inspires me the most. I think it’s fair to say there’s a new set of variables each time around.”
Most of Elliot Goldenthal’s scores are available on CD, apart from the music he wrote for Joel Schumacher’s “Batman and Robin”, a clear-cut case of great music, horrible film. “I had spent a great deal of time working on that album, especially adding all the new themes that weren’t in the third instalment. We had a great 45-minute album but in the end the production company decided not to release it and go with a commercial album with stuff that had nothing to do with the film. The decision wasn’t based on the box office of the film because an album is usually planned beforehand so that it hits the stores on the film’s release. There was just a lot of politics and money involved. That bothered me a lot, although I’m probably not the one who suffered most from it. I guess the people who were waiting for it and are still waiting for it are the ones who regret that decision the most.” As far as the actual film is concerned, the composer says he has always been interested in myths and mythic figures. “At the same time however I thought it would be interesting to get involved in disposable culture, writing something that is lasting for something that is meant to be disposed of. In many respects it’s an Andy Warhol-type philosophy.”
Listening to the music he wrote for “Sphere”, “Alien 3” and “Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within”, arguably one of the most surprising things he’s done, it’s fair to say that to a certain extent Elliot Goldenthal explores the same themes and techniques every now and then. “I wouldn’t call that revisiting, mind you. Every composer basically has that trait. Every artist simply has his own fingerprints, his own vocabulary. In a good way Philip Glass has been writing the same music for the last thirty years and he’s still on top of his game. Just listen to the score he wrote for Martin Scorsese’s ‘Kundun’, simply beautiful.” The composer adds that he would have loved to do the music for “Kundun” if Glass hasn’t been around. “‘Citizen Kane’ also ranks high on my list, although Bernard Herrmann did an amazing job of course. Not surprisingly all films I would have loved to do the music for already have terrific scores written by great composers. In many respects all the great films had impeccably beautiful scores, I would have to say. The music, the cinematography, the editing, the acting, the key elements really are all essential to making a film. If one of those things falls flat, it generally disrupts the experience.”
So how does Elliot Goldenthal collaborate with a director to make sure his music contributes to the sum of all key elements? “If it’s a first time, I think it’s a good idea to sit down and have a very relaxed conversation about what his expectations are and what he thinks about music in general. Then you get to know his earlier work to get a sense of his vision as a director and to find out how you can contribute to that vision. Finally you come up with your own concept of the music and present it to the director to see if you’re on the same page. If it doesn’t seem right at that spot I think it’s best to move on. A lot of times a direct or doesn’t really know what the music should sound like, so he gives you hints as to what he’s looking for. If he’s looking for something sympathetic I show him some examples of films that have that type of quality or I let him listen to samples of my earlier work in that particular field.”
Elliot Goldenthal has nothing but fond memories of his trip to Ghent. “I think it’s a magnificent festival. Almost every aspect of it appeals to me. Not only do they honour composers and bring their music to the attention of the general public, they also screen provocative or unusual films. On a personal level, the festival staff get very involved with the artists and the guests. They make sure that you are treated with a great deal of personal attention in order to make you feel welcome and comfortable. I honestly had a great time over there.”