AN INTERVIEW WITH COMPOSER, SERGIO MOURE de OTEYZA.

 

 

 

There has been a double album FILM MUSIC WORKS released recently, did you select the cues that went onto this compilation?

Yes, I made a meticulous selection of the most representative themes of each soundtrack that is included in the compilation, as well as including Documentary themes that until now had not been edited.

 

Your music for me personally is always so melodic and has a great appeal and attraction, at what age would you say that you became interested in music of any kind and do you come from a family background that is musical at all?

I recognized that I was interested in music for as long as I can remember,, my parents were very much music lovers and also movie goers, they loved music by great composers and the movies of famous directors. I am the first musician in my family and I have always been clear about my vocation.

 

Was writing music for the cinema a career that you were always focused upon doing?

 

 

Yes, I was always clear that I wanted to compose and specifically write film soundtracks. The worlds of music and image fascinate me and being able to bring them together in one discipline was my great aspiration.

 

Where did you study music and what areas did you study or concentrate upon?

I studied at Aula de Música Moderna y Jazz in Barcelona, which belonged to the centres that Berklee College of Music of Boston has all over the world. I studied composition and I became interested very early in Film Scoring.

How did you get your first scoring assignment?

 

My first assignment was received from the director Joaquín Oristrell for the film UNCONSCIOUS a comedy set at the beginning of the 20th century in Barcelona. Joaquin presented me only the first lines of the script of the film and I went wildly to compose musical ideas, he liked them and made the film. I have a great memory of that first experience.

When scoring a movie, how many times do you like to see it before you began to put together any ideas about the style of music or where music should be placed to best serve the picture?
I like to work a lot on the script, it is at that moment reading it where I start to raise the type of orchestration and where I also usually write a musical theme of about 8 or 10 minutes in which I put the first ideas that this story suggests to me.

LOBOS DE ARGA was a movie that became very popular and your score too is renowned. how did you become involved on the movie, and what size orchestra did you utilize for the score?
LOBOS DE ARGA was my second project after A GOOD MAN with a director with whom I like to work, Juan Martínez Moreno, the approach was a lot of fun, with an aesthetic similar to the Kramer films of the fifties. I used a large format symphony orchestra and the recording took place for a week at the Radio Studios in Sofia, Bulgaria.

 

Are, there any composer contemporary or classical that you would say influenced you or inspired you?

 

I am a great lover of the music of Mahler, Beethoven or Bach, and I suppose that at a subconscious or emotional level they have to influence me. Among the contemporaries I adore among others the music of Krzysztof Penderecki.

 

 

 

You have collaborated with director, Miguel Angel Vivas on a few projects, does he have any involvement in what style of music that is employed on his movies?
Miguel is a very creative director who gives great importance to the music in his films, he leaves me a lot of freedom when it comes to work, and he likes that the music that I compose is emotionally involved with what he is telling through the script or the images, it is very demanding and I think that demand makes it very exciting.

 

 

Do you conduct and orchestrate all your film scores, or are there occasions when this is not possible because of schedules etc?
I always rely on the help of the conductor Alfons Reverté in my recordings, I think it is important for a professional director to direct my scores since I like to be directing the recording from the control booth with extended scores and viewing the images of the movie.

 

 

Do you like to work in a set routine on a movie, by this I mean do you start at the opening titles and work through to the end credits?
Yes, the truth is that I like to follow the order of the script and of the montage, I believe that in this way the music coherently follows the emotional arc that marks the film.

 

 

EL CUERPO contains a wonderfully vibrant and richly dark and melodious score, how much time were you given to compose the music for he movie, and how many players did you have performing it?
Thanks, I wrote the score over three months and it was also like in LOBOS DE ARGA a large-format orchestra, there were almost 90 performers and it was also recorded at the Sofia Radio Studios.

You have scored motion pictures and worked on shorts and tv series, is it more difficult to write for a short as opposed to a full-length movie?
No, I think it is more complex to compose the soundtrack of a feature film, Although I am very meticulous when working on short films and I dedicate the necessary time to them so that I am satisfied with the end result.

What would you say are the main differences between scoring TV and Motion pictures?
Today there is very little difference, they are making really good productions for television and the only difference you find with the cinema is that they are divided into chapters. In the case of Spain, formerly there was little budget to work with orchestra in the productions for television, but this has now changed and now the producers appreciate the great difference a soundtrack can make to a project with the necessary means.

 

 

Have you encountered the TEMP TRACK on any of your scoring assignments, if so do you find this helpful or distracting?
I find it useful to know what are the musical preferences of the director, although I think it is usually harmful because during the whole montage of the film the director lived with this music applied to their images and then it can demand a great effort from the film maker when he has to get used to the new musical themes composed specifically for the movie.

 

 

 

SEIS HERMANAS, is a TV series and I think I am correct when I say that you have scored over 250 episodes since 2015, for a series as long running as this do you ever re-use cues from previous episodes and what is the working schedule like for a long running series?
Yes, I know that 250 episodes are marked in IMDB, but they were really 465 episodes. for this series as it was broadcast daily,. It really does not give time to compose and synchronize all the music with the image, I composed a kind of musical file of about four Hours of duration that I was editing and applying to the different scenes, were two years of intense but very exciting work.

 

What do you think is the job of music in film?
Music in the cinema has to provide clarity, emphasize, sublimate, be an element more than the director has to tell the film, always has to be at the service of the script and the story that is being told, so that its presence in the sequences in which it must be justified and reasoned, emerge from the context.

LA JAURIA, is a film you have been asked to score, when do you think we will be able to see this and will there be a soundtrack release?

LA JAURIA is a feature film directed by Carlos Martín Ferrera, with whom I worked for years on a TV-Movie called CODE 60. It is a genre film with a really original premise, I hope it will be released at the end of the year. I’m also working at the moment in another thriller directed by Pedro C. Alonso entitled “FEEDBACK”, which is produced by the same producers of “EXTINCTION”, Jaume Collet Serra and the Spanish company Vaca Films, has an international casting, Paul Anderson (Peaky Blinders), Eddie Marsan, Alexis Rodney and Ivana Baquero. I also hope that it will be released at the end of this year and that its soundtrack will be released.

When working out your musical ideas, what do you use, ie piano, pencil and manuscript or a more technical method?
When making the music of the movies I use piano, also stringed instruments like guitars, bass, mandolins, and I have scores and movie sequences open on my computer.

 

Have you ever given a concert of your film and TV music, if not would this be something that you would be interested in doing?

Yes, on many occasions, the most recent at the San Sebastian Film Festival, where the Orchestra of Euskadi, interpreted the suite of the soundtrack of LOBOS DE ARGA, also recently, the Orquesta de la Televisión Española RTVE, performed a suite of EL CUERPO in the Monumental Theatre of Madrid.

 

My thanks to the composer for his time and also for his patience.

SERGIO MOURE de OTEYZA, FILM MUSIC WORKS 2005-2017.

 

Sergio Moure de Oteyza has been writing music for TV and film since the mid-1990, s. During this time the composer has built up a reputation for creating melodic and haunting scores that support and enhance the images on screen. Recently the composer has compiled a double compact disc of his Film Music Works-2005-2017, this is in my opinion a highly entertaining and rewarding listen, it is not only filled to overflowing with some of the most luscious and mesmerising themes, but it also contains some beautifully dark and dramatic musical moments, which although at times are foreboding and slightly sinister still hold the listeners attention via the vibrant thematic qualities that they possess. The compilation comprises of selections from ten scores all of which are varied and attractive. The collection opens with four selections from LOBOS SUCUIOS (THE DIRTY WOLVES).

 

This gripping drama was released in 2015, directed by Simon Cassal, the story is set in Spain in 1944, Nazi military who are working closely with Franco’s forces have taken control of a wolfram mine, their aim is to manufacture weapons. The mine is worked by political captives and labourers from the are in which the mine is located. The prisoners hatch a plan to seize the wolfram and send it to the allied forces so that they can use it on the Nazi’s. However, they know that they cannot do this alone, so they enlist the aid of a local miner and a single Mother, Manuela. She is given the job of getting information from the German Commander, who has become fond of her. The composers score underlines and punctuates the tense and apprehensive atmosphere of the storyline, heightening the uncertainty of what the prisoners intend to do, but it also works well as an enhancement to the beautiful forest scenery in which the movie is set, and also the theme for MANUELA, which is a delicate and tender piano solo. The music for the movies more quieter moments is poignant and emotive, at times becoming lush sounding with strings accompanying solo piano that purveys a fragile but at the same time dark aura. There are also some interesting percussive moments within the score, these can be heard in track number three on the compilation, THE PLOT, with the composer combining both percussion with sinister strings that are embellished by a rather threatening sounding guitar.

 

The next selection of themes are taken from the 2015, horror/Sc-fi movie EXTINCTION, the music here is for the most part of a dark and virulent sounding variety, but the composer again still infuses touches of melodious passages, adding little nuances that are attractively inviting and a welcome respite within a score that is predominately action orientated, the orchestration on this work is interesting, the composer utilizing the string section to great effect on occasion. THE SEIGE is a fast-paced piece from the offset with swirling strings driving forward aided by percussion and timpani, with underlying brass making its presence felt via its ominous sounding support. I think the highlight cue from this score must be track number eight on the compilation, A NEW HOME is an almost celestial sounding piece with voices and strings, setting the scene for a highly emotional composition, which can be likened to an adagio that has operatic leanings. The next two tracks are taken from the 2013 movie SOMOS GENTA HONRADA (HERES THE DEAL), a comedy starring Miguel Angel Blanca and Juan Cruz, it was directed by filmmaker, Alejandro Marzoa, being a comedy the music here is more light and of an easy going nature, at times the lilting guitar, and the use of female solo voice evoked memories of the music of composers such as De Angelis and Morricone, except it has a more contemporary style within it.

TESIS SOBRE UN HOMICIDIO (2013) is represented next with three cues, the composer fusing both symphonic with synthetic  sounds and colours to achieve a knife edge atmospheric score, which compliments and supports the movies plot throughout, it is a richly dark and somewhat disturbing sound that we experience with this score, Directed by Herman Goldfrid, it focuses upon Roberto Bermudez who is a specialist in criminal law, he is convinced that one of his students is responsible for a brutal homicide, which he thinks warrants an investigation, but it is an investigation that Bermudez becomes obsessed with. The composer creates a musical accompaniment for the central character and underpins the action with a soundtrack that is for the most downbeat and understated a style that works wonderfully.

 

Music from the 2012 mystery/thriller EL CUERPO (THE BODY) is next and in my humble opinion I think that this is one of the composers finest scores, its mysterious musical elements mix with a style that is romantic and darkly vibrant, this for me just says masterful scoring, it is up there with scores such as BASIC INSTINCT and BODYHEAT, it oozes charism and class and has a mesmeric quality. FINAL is a cue that brings together many of the thematic parts of the score, an overture of sorts I suppose, it is just gloriously sophisticated and attractive. THE GAZE OF THE STONES is the final selection from EL CUERPO, a vocal which too is filled with sophistication and refinement, the female vocalist Paula Sendim Santiro, being superbly supported by a down beat accompaniment which comprises of strings and laid-back percussion. One word to describe this, SUPERB.

 

 

The remainder of the first disc comprises of selections from the 2012 Spanish drama, TODO ES SILENCIO and the 2012 thriller RETORNOS, both scores are filled to overflowing with shadowy musical passages, that are affective as well as being affecting, but again the composer creates some beautiful moments along the way, in TODO ES SILENCIO particularly, there is a Barry-esque style present at times. But both works include nice piano work and utilization of the string and wood sections.

 

The second disc opens with LOBOS DE ARGA (GAME OF WEREWOLVES). This is my absolute favourite score by Sergio Moure, it is just crammed full of everything a good horror/comedy/thriller score should have. Dark pounding piano, horns that rasp and growl, choir, female wordless voice, percussion that booms out and strings that are sinewy and strident, driving timpani and just about everything else. So, it’s good, well I certainly think so. One thing wrong with the selections from this movie, there are not enough of them on the compilation, so that’s why I brought the whole soundtrack, which is also available. The remainder of this compilation is excellent, it is a film music fans dream come true, each section from the respective movies are outstanding, it is a compilation that I know once purchased will be returned to so many times, I urge you to buy this because your collection will poorer without it. The other movies represented are SECUESTRADOS, UN BUEN HOMBRE, INCONSCIENTES, MAYON VOLCANO, TIME ROJAK, RAILWAY TO HEAVEN, LA BATALLA DESCONOCIDA, IGUANA HUNTER and ABSENT. Just go buy it, A.S.A.P.