Hey folks, Harry here... Geek fave Howard Shore is such a busy man, but takes time out of scoring on HISTORY OF VIOLENCE and KING KONG to speak at Julliard. Awesome! What'd he talk about and say? Well, we don't have it all, but here's Ishmael with his memories...

Dear Harry,

I went to three great movie events here in NYC recently and wondered if you?d be interested in any of them: Tribeca screening of "Night Watch," discussion with Howard Shore, and discussion/screening of Moolaade with the director, Ousmane Sembene.

Howard Shore discussion, The Juilliard School, April 25, 2005

As a budding composer, I was thrilled to meet the greatest film composer ever, Howard Shore. He?s a very understated, modest man; when asked about the difference between something he did and something Wagner did, he said, "Well, I?m Canadian." He spoke about his new opera, Wagner, LOTR, The Aviator, History of Violence, and Kong.

--The opera version of "The Fly"

When asked how on earth the transformation into The Fly will be represented on stage, he smiled and said, "That?s David?s problem." He elaborated to say that the transformation begins in earnest in the second act, and he?s only written the first act so far. He seems excited about the project; as he observed, "Most opera plots are B-Movie material anyway."

--Wagner

Unsurprisingly, Shore is in awe of Wagner. Shore mentioned how he quoted "Die Walküre" at the end of ROTK, but other than that, he just borrowed the idea of using motifs (short themes) to tell an epic story. He saw "Die Walküre" at the Met recently (so did I; it was awesome) and was floored by how effective and fresh it remains 129 years after its first performance.

--The Aviator

He spoke about the technical issues involved with writing for a movie set in a specific period with large quantities of music actually written in that period (Artie Shaw, Benny Goodman, etc.). He was thrilled to work with someone who knows as much about music as Scorsese.

--Lord of the Rings

He stressed the importance of finding someone early on to collaborate with (he?s been working with David Cronenberg for 27 years). He loves the fact that Cronenberg gave him so much leeway and so many opportunities to flex different kinds of compositional muscle over their eleven films together. He surprised us by saying that if you look carefully at all those eleven films, you?ll find styles and ideas that later "blossomed" in LOTR.

--Kong He?s working on the music now. I was hoping to hear scoops on what he?s seen, but no dice. The interesting thing I learned is that he often writes without even having seen what he?s writing to. Later, he?ll look at the film and adjust what he?s written.

--History of Violence

He just saw the film and is working with Cronenberg to prepare it for Cannes. He said that when he saw the first reel, Cronenberg had put too much music in, so he actually asked him to cut some and he did! Usually it?s the other way around. I can?t wait to hear this score (and of course, see the movie) on September 30.

Ishmael