Film score fans all over the world were shocked at the sudden death of composer James Horner in June of last year. His output was ramping up, with two concert works having just premiered, and after a small sabbatical he soared back on the silver screen with the sublime score for Wolf Totem in the first half of 2015. The shock was of course even greater for his small team of close collaborators, including arranger Simon Franglen, who first worked with Horner on Titanic in 1997. Since re-teaming for Avatar in 1999, Franglen had worked with Horner on virtually every project, providing electronic textures, arrangements and additional music as needed. Horner had a number of projects lined up when he died, including three Avatar-sequels, Mel Gibson’s Hacksaw Ridge, the Matt Damon-picture The Great Wall, and Harald Zwart’s Norwegian movie 12th Man. First up though, was The Magnificent, a remake of the 1960 western directed by John Sturges with an iconic score by Elmer Bernstein. The original was in turn a Hollywood-spin on Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai from 1954. The poster of the 2016 version of The Magnificent Seven The remake is directed by Antoine Fuqua, whom Horner just had collaborated with on Southpaw. Starring in the picture is Chris Pratt and Denzel Washington, in what is a thrilling and entertaining movie, which I am sure audiences will enjoy, and reportedly more resembling Kurosawa’s original than John Sturges’ version from 1960. James Horner’s final themes Horner decided to get a head start on the project. The week after visiting and conducting music from Titanic, Braveheart and Wolf Totem in Stavanger, he met with Franglen and Simon Rhodes, his trusted engineer over almost 20 years, to start working on themes for the western remake. “In the Spring of 2015, as we finished the score to “Southpaw”, director Antoine Fuqua and James were engaged in discussions about “Magnificent Seven”. James knew he’d have to write a score that related to Elmer Bernstein’s, but he also knew that the film scoring language of that older film wouldn’t work in a more modern 21st Century film. We met in London and he excitedly started working on themes while Antoine was beginning to film. He flew back to Los Angeles and we spoke many times over the coming week and then one day the terrible new arrived. In the weeks following, I couldn’t allow James’ themes to just disappear and with the whole Horner team’s blessing, Simon Rhodes and I finished arranging the London themes so they could at least be presented to Antoine. A few weeks later, I was on the set of “Magnificent Seven” playing the music to Antoine, who was deeply moved. At the end of the meeting, Antoine asked me to complete the score and from then it was nine months until our final mix. It was a labour of love for everyone involved and I hope you can hear that in the music.”, says Simon Franglen. James Horner at the Titanic Live premiere in Royal Albert Hall, two months before his death. Photo: Svein Jarle Bamle The musical colors of The Magnificent Seven In interviews with the composer, the notion of colors in a score was always a very important factor for Horner, even before thinking about themes he would come up with a color palette of instrumental colors that would paint the story he was telling and this project was no different. “Simon Rhodes and I spent the week in London having exactly these sort of discussions with James. I have to highlight in bright lights, with a supertrooper flood, Simon’s amazing work, writer, arranger, mixer, engineer; legend!”, Franglen explains. Movies evolve from pre-production until they end up on the big screen. The score is no different and has to reflect the style and mood of the movie. For Franglen and his team the next challenge was now to lock down the final colors of the score, based on the discussions with Horner and, most importantly, the input of director Antoine Fuqua. “Scores evolve as directors puts together their temp music track. It allows them to get a feel for how they’d like the music to work, where the music should be placed and so on. Obviously as a composer your job is to bring different ideas to the table and also translate the director’s ideas into a musical reality; this was no different. Antoine wanted to reference some of James’ earlier Americana works ¬– Thunderheart and Legends of The Fall in particular, and this I think you can hear clearly. Other elements evolved during the writing; Bogue’s theme and the disgruntled banjo, the using of bowed bass stringed instruments such as Guitarrons was something that developed as I was looking for non-synthetic ways of getting a contemporary rhythmic approach” Thematic music in a modern context Many contemporary scores seem to rely less on thematic development and musical storytelling, instead using music purely for propulsive means. The Magnificent Seven has it all. Propulsive rythms as well as soaring themes, demonstrating that a thematic approach still can work well even in the textural expectations of modern movies. Says Franglen: “The themes cover the emotions that are needed within the score; an epic heroic theme – Seven Riders, the Rose Creek pastoral theme which opens the movie and its minor robust martial variation – Lighting the Fuse, Bogue’s theme – primary and snake-like – used in variations whenever there’s a baddy doing bad things, and several others that provide colours using leitmotifs – the Echoplex-like trumpet and voice echoes, the Baritone Guitar Twangs and so on. The film is set in the 19th century. A synth based score would have been anathema to the sense of period that Antoine wanted. He was shooting on film with locked cameras rather than shaky digital. On the other hand, he wanted a robust, aggressive nature and was more interested in textures in several places rather than strong thematic work throughout. My solution was to use natural instruments to replace the chuggomatic synths that would have normally taken those roles. We used a lot of bowed low stringed instruments and Tony Hinnigan’s wind work as ostinato drivers. The drums were generally a lot less hyped and over-processed, again a more natural vibe. Yes, we were still trying to get a 21st century feel with the layers and the mix, but with a classic film heart. You need cinemascope in a western and that involves big themes, big sweeping strings and horns, and a large orchestra.» Simon Franglen in his studio working on The Magnificent Seven The original movie has one of the most iconic western themes ever written, composed by legendary composer Elmer Bernstein. In the new version, Horner and Franglen respectfully nods to the original theme, without ever stating it outright save for one occurrence. However, the underlying rhythm is used to great effect as underscore for Horner’s new heroic theme. “James always wanted that reference, he publicly admired Elmer Bernstein as one of the greats of film composing. Keeping a classical western edge and finding ways to remember the master was very much part of [our] initial thoughts”, he tells Allegretto. «The Danger Motif became the Voldemort of scoring» The fact that the score still feels like a James Horner score is a testament to the tremendous effort by Simon Franglen, Simon Rhodes, orchestrators and conductors Carl Johnson and JAC Redford, and Joe E. Rand. Horner’s career spanned over 30 years. His style was always immediately evident in his music and over the years he was not afraid of expanding on ideas or styles he had previously explored. Some of these stylistic traits also make welcome appearances where suited in this score, while of course the score also has fingerprints of Franglen and the rest of the team’s work, which adds new flavors to the mix. “We would only have used these if it made sense. In this case, we used several of these colors in the demo suite. Combined with Antoine’s temping with Thunderheart and Legends of the Fall meant that those were always part of the palette. In terms of my style, I suspect I’ve given the score a more contemporary edge, a little more syncopation but ultimately the score was driven by the film’s needs, not James’ or mine.» One motif in particular has for years been the source of much controversy and debate among film music fans. In many Horner-scores a four note motif often appears in perilous or dangerous situations, therefore being known simply as The Danger Motif. It makes a final, appropriate appearance in The Magnificent Seven as well. “The Danger Motif was right for the score at that moment, so I am glad that we have been able to give it its final outing. There are many composers with their own repeated trademarks, minor triad woodwinds, rising triplet trumpets, four repeating chords going minor/major/major/minor for instance, but somehow The Danger Motif became the Voldemort of scoring for film score buffs, which I think is a testament to its effectiveness.” The road ahead The Magnificent Seven is finished and now in cinemas worldwide. For Simon Franglen the schedule has not been less busy. In addition to completing The Magnificent Seven, he recently collaborated on Terrence Malick’s Voyage of Time, which recently was released. He also revealed what was next on his agenda. “I’ve worked at the creative coal face of the most complex film scores from start to finish. It has given me the experience to make even the most challenging of projects fun. I love scoring films; it’s a joy to be able to do this job. My immediate concern is delivering and mixing a huge immersive symphonic suite for an installation at the top of the Shanghai Tower; four orchestras, a choir and many other elements in a three dimensional array with 260 loudspeakers on the 126th floor. The coming year will be busy and there are some truly amazing projects coming up” In closing he also praised his teammates that collaborated in letting James Horner’s music narrate a big screen story for audiences around the world one final time. “The whole team are really close friends and have such experience and credits that make even the most difficult of projects flow like water. It is an honor to work with these people!” We all look forward to hearing what each of these talented musicians have in store for the future. In the meantime, we can enjoy James Horner’s final ride into the sunset.
