Academy Award winning British composer Stephen Warbeck, who has an extensive background in theater music, is greatly skilled at creating film music that is naturally dramatic, poetic, and serene. With his scores for such highly respected and popular films as “Shakespeare in Love” (1998) and “Billy Elliot” (2000), he has earned an admired place in today’s movie industry. With his eccentric score for Philip Kaufman’s film “Quills” (2000), he wove a wide spectrum of abstract textures into a period piece that told a dark, erotic tale of lust and insanity. This score differs greatly from his epic and emotional music for “Captain Corelli’s Mandolin” (2001) and “Charlotte Gray) (2001), displaying well Warbeck’s ability to adapt his musical personality to fit any cinematic environment. You won an Oscar for your “Shakespeare in Love” score. What did this work mean for your career? Having an Academy Award does make a difference in terms of the fact that people who wouldn’t necessarily have thought of approaching you do now. I think that effect is a kind of wave that happens just afterwards and then it all dies down again. Immediately after “Shakespeare in Love”, people would phone me up or phone my agent without actually considering who I am or in what regard if I might be the right composer for this job. Certainly it puts you slightly more in focus in terms of reputation. “Quills” stands out to me as your most creative work. Talk about your choice of colors in this score. One of the exciting things about “Quills” was that Philip Kaufman, the director, continually encouraged me to be more daring and experimental. Philip would tell me to be as eccentric and individual as I wanted to be. So, I agree with you: I think that it resulted in some of the most interesting textures I’ve come up with for a film. What influenced your choir music in “Quills”? Was that original music? That’s original. I think it came from the fact that I wanted counterpoint the rather extreme apparent innocence of those young girls who were taken, and then they’ve no idea what’s in store for them. What do the water sounds and the ethnic percussion symbolize in “Quills”? We were trying to create a landscape of sound that would be indistinguishable from the effects. By using the groans and creeks of the building itself, I wanted to find an abstract palette that wouldn’t be defined by European art music or anything. We made quite a few instruments especially for that film as well. We came up with a variety of strange inventions, like bits of tubing and buckets of water. “Dreamkeeper” is another colorful, diverse work. How challenging was this film for you? That was very challenging. I haven’t seen it yet, so I can’t quite imagine what the whole effect is of the thing in sequence. I saw it in sections when we were working on it, but because it hasn’t been broadcast over here in England yet, I haven’t seen it as a whole. I certainly loved the visual material. I thought it was very bold, and the way it was shot and cut was magnificent. Recording some Native American musicians in the States was also great, because that was literally fed back into the score. The Native American voices sound like they are far away. When we recorded them in the States, they were recorded quite dry, and then, once we mixed them into the score, effects were added so that the music and the voices all became part of the same world. You were originally chosen to score “The Hours”, but two composers later, Philip Glass ends up scoring it. We often hear of the rejected score, but a series of composers seems a bit unusual. Can you tell me how this all took place? I was the first composer, Michael Nyman became the second, and finally, Philip Glass was hired, as you mentioned. Basically, it was one of those things where the director wants one thing and the producer wants another. The problem is that you end up not being able to please either of them because you’re trying to please both. I spent a few months attempting to find a path between them. Then Michael Nyman had a couple of months of the same sort of thing. Then Philip Glass finished it all off. Can you give me a take on your interpretation? I loved the script, and I thought it was very nicely shot. I spoke to Scott Rudin, the producer, and expressed to him my thoughts of a minimalist score. He loved the idea. About two or three months later, I started to think that maybe it didn’t need a minimalist score and, at that stage, the director agreed. But, by then, Scott Rudin had got very set on how that’s how it should be approached. So our ways started to diverge. How do you feel that Philip Glass’s score relates to your first impression of the film, and do you feel it worked well? It’s not that dissimilar, in fact. Although it’s a minimalist score, it has a considerable emotional charge to it. So I’d say it’s a lot less minimal than some of his work and, therefore, probably functions quite well. I have seen mention of a group that you are involved with called The Clippers. What sort of group is this? The Clippers is my band, which I have had for about fifteen years. We play at little jazz clubs in London. We only play about five times a year because it’s quite difficult to get everybody available at the same time. You’re also involved with theater at the Royal Shakespeare Company? I stopped being head of music at the RSC. Because of family commitments and film-work and so on, I didn’t have enough time to do it. But I’m writing a musical, a theater version of Matilda, by Roald Dahl, which was made into a film by Danny DeVito. But this is a theater version.