Tonight’s the night, Outlanders! Are ye ready to watch? Je suis prest!
As you settle in for the STARZ Season Two Outlander premier (in my case with a glass of whisky, my “Damsels Don’t Distress” T-shirt and Fraser plaid throw blanket), keep your ears open too.
The show’s opening score, while true to season one, has a new arrangement. And it’s awesome. It’s also due to composer Bear McCreary.
Fans know him from the haunting and tender melodies in Outlander and Black Sails. But did you know he’s also responsible for the memorable accompaniments to Battlestar Galactica? Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D? Walking Dead?
As TV story telling enters what some are calling a “new Golden Age,” so too are the soundtracks. In this new HITFIX feature interview, McCreary recounts his early childhood music development rich with piano lessons and scales, anecdotes from various projects, working with family and lessons learned from his mentor, famed composer Elmer Bernstein; some of those lessons learned posthumously. Oh, and bagpipes.
At the end of the day, the composer with a reputation for creating punchy, versatile, unusual and prolific scores chalks it up to constantly educating himself musically and creatively and telling the people you love the important stuff.
EXCERPTS:
“My goal is to keep on my toes. I wanna continue to be surprised by the calls that I get and opportunities that I get, and I wanna keep doing unexpected things,”
“The lesson I learned at the end was never withhold good news with the people that you love. If there’s something that might turn out to be a good thing, now there’s certain people that I tell. I don’t wait. I don’t tell the world. But you just realize some people, just tell them even before it becomes real.”
Source: HitFix.com
