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A Note from the Composer The opportunity to write music for Brideshead Revisited was daunting, but it promised much; the film version was obviously quite...

A Note from the Composer

The opportunity to write music for Brideshead Revisited was daunting, but it promised much; the film version was obviously quite different from the Granada television adaptation, and the music clearly would have to find its own distinct voice.

Left alone with the book and early edited scenes, I began to explore what sort of music could work, developing dozens of ideas, seeking possible ways to go. The search for the heart of a score is often so elusive - threading together themes or related motifs can sometimes fixate one like a sudoku puzzle: if this theme represents that, then we must hear it at this point, or at that point etc. In 'A crock of gold,' to take one example, the motif sufficiently binds Sebastian and Charles together, while later working ironically when Sebastian becomes disillusioned. Other themes developed quite organically. For example, the 'Memory' theme evolved as a central idea, unspooling at key points, particularly at shifts in time; I wanted Sebastian's theme to be pure and artless, and the solo piano seemed to convey this; 'Venice' had to reflect the escape from Brideshead, and became imbued with a Mediterranean spirit.

A chance arose to work with the BBC Philharmonic within its busy schedule, and although this meant reducing the final writing period to three weeks, from picture lock to the first recording session, the tight deadline seemed worth it. In the usual process of things, one needs time to develop the music with the director, to pursue the ripe material and to flush out the themes, initially tantalising, that will not necessarily be capable of running the course. So the main object became to record as much and as many variations of the music as possible, in the time we had, to allow plenty of options for later editing and manipulation during the final dub at Pinewood.

At the recording sessions in Manchester it was a joy to hear the conductor Terry Davies steer the orchestra through the material, particularly as the entire score was recorded without click tracks.

Of course, the tight deadline meant that music was still being delivered to the very last minute, from myself to orchestrators to music copyists, all of whom made it possible to pull the project together. Some of the later cues I had to revise in the hotel in Manchester - 'Rex,' for example, was the result of a particularly long night.

I was thrilled to have an opportunity to work with Chandos - a label whose philosophy I have always liked, and whose CDs of Philip Lane's fine film score reconstructions I have particularly admired. Hearing the recording of Richard Rodney Bennett's glorious music for Lady Caroline Lamb while I was driving forced me to steer off the road and sit mesmerised 'till it had finished. I know that to release a 'non historical' film score is somewhat of a departure for the label, but I hope that Brideshead Revisited can somehow exist as a Chandos product, and perhaps open up the way for future film music collaborations.

© 2008 Adrian Johnston

Disc 1

Brideshead Revisited (more info)


1. Sebastian - 2:11
2. Memory - 1:42
3. Guilt - 1:50
4. Oxford - 1:56
5. A crock of gold - 1:21
6. Arcadia - 1:44
7. Gravely injured - 0:38
8. That first visit - 2:21
9. Faith - 2:18
10. Wise old wine - 3:17
11. Venice - 1:57
12. The Lido - 2:38
13. Carnival - 2:05
14. Desire - 2:02
15. Contra mundum - 1:23
16. Mid-Atlantic jungle - 2:53
17. Between dreaming and waking - 1:44
18. Orphans of the storm - 0:57
19. Rex - 2:05
20. Near escape - 2:19
21. The end of our day - 1:34
22. Clouds gathered - 2:08
23. A small red flame - 1:37
24. Always summer - 2:27

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