Horner

Web posted on: Wednesday, August 26, 1998 5:50:09 PM

From Correspondent Steve Wright

LONDON (CNN) -- Composer James Horner is glad that his symphony album, released this week, is so tightly tied to a major motion picture that its title is "Back to Titanic" and the cover features two rather well-known, wind-blown young movie stars.

Horner, whose past ouevres include the original "Titanic" soundtrack, as well as those for "Courage Under Fire" and "Spitfire Grill," thinks such collaborations between the music and film world may be the wave of the future in classical music.

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"I come out of the classical world, and I've got to say for me, writing serious classical music -- writing a requiem or a mass or something -- is just absurd in this day and age," Horner told CNN's World Beat. "No one is going to see it, and no one is going to pay for it. And no one is going to buy the requisite time, and the musicians' union is not going to let you record for free. ... It's just impossible."

But for "Back to Titanic," Horner conducts the London Symphony Orchestra at Air Studios.

The album, released as Paramount begins spending some $50 million to promote the home video debut of the blockbuster movie, reprises and expands on two symphonic themes from the original movie soundtrack, which sold 25 million copies.

Horner said the new work consists of "Titanic Suite," which should take the listener "out of 1998, back in time." He gave the musicians "18 minutes to cast this spell."

Horner's music helped "Titanic" sail

The other expanded theme, "Epilogue: The Deep and Timeless Sea," Horner said, "really encapsulates the whole thing."

Horner believes "Back to Titanic" is better musically than the soundtrack, and he's supported in that belief by Sissel, the Norwegian vocalist who performs on both. "I feel like this is more music than the film, you know what I mean," she said.

Does Horner really think that film tie-ins might be "the new home of classical music"?

"Writing for film ... the downside is that you work for an employer, and you have to pay homage to who you're working for," Horner said.

"The upside is that if you're clever, you can write some wonderful music and get it heard and performed by marvelous musicians -- where you could never get that in a million years writing a serious piece."