My tastes went all over the place, from Strauss to Mahler. I was never a big Wagner or Tchaikovsky fan. Benjamin Britten, Tallis, all the early English Medieval music, Prokofiev, some Russian composers, mostly the people that were the colorists, the French.

James Horner

Categorized in : Never Place People Music

I'm a fanatic about Irish music. I love its moody, modal and timeless quality. I'm different from some other composers, because I don't look at this as just a job. I think of music as art.

jobs art thinking

I am a musicologist, a doctor of music. Therefore I listened to, studied and analysed a lot of music. I also enjoy metaphors, the art of quoting and of cycles.

doctors metaphor art

I'm sure that I was influenced by Goldsmith's large orchestral scores when I started out, and that was because the people who employed me wanted that kind of sound. I wasn't in a position to say, 'Go to Hell!'

kind sound people

I think very abstractly when I'm writing. Then, as the project moves on, it becomes more like sculpting.

project like think writing

To me, writing and composing are much more like painting, about colors and brushes; I don't use a computer when I write, and I don't use a piano. I'm at a desk writing, and it's very broad strokes and notes as colors on a palette.

colors me painting writing

You have to make an audience experience with the ears as well as... by James Horner

You have to make an audience experience with the ears as well as their eyes.

eyes you audience experience

When I do a film score, I am basically nothing more than a fancy pencil for hire. I don't own any of the music when I am - it belongs to the film company - and likewise, when I am done, even if I come up with something astounding that I may want to revisit... in the world of film composition, you can't do that.

i-am you music world

The music's job is to get the audience so involved that they forg... by James Horner

The music's job is to get the audience so involved that they forget how the movie turns out.

how job music forget

I tend to write it and then let go emotionally. by James Horner

I tend to write it and then let go emotionally.

let-go then write go

I'm used to working with the director and producer, and that's my... by James Horner

I'm used to working with the director and producer, and that's my relationship. It's very simple.

producer director simple relationship

The sound world that I created for 'Avatar' had to be very different, really, than anything I ever created before. There is also three hours of music.

music three sound world

I don't use a computer in writing at all. I'm sort of old-fashion... by James Horner

I don't use a computer in writing at all. I'm sort of old-fashioned about it.

old-fashioned about use writing

I think people hire me for the slightly weird angle that I bring. Part of the trick is keeping it sort of simple; you have to give the impression of not that much music playing when there's really a lot.

me you music simple