Have you been inspired by the work of Ennio Morricone, Nino Rota, Giorgio Moroder and other Italian composers for film? Can you tell us a little about composers or works that you particularly like?
I personally love Ennio Morricone and Nino Rota’s work and of course I know their music very well, though I do not know whether I have been influenced by them.
Nino Rota’s strong melodies are very appealing. The nobility and the melancholy in the melodies of his scores for Romeo and Juliet, The Godfather and numerous other movies are truly wonderful.
As for Ennio Morricone, the first time I heard of him was when he created music for ‘Macaroni Westerns’ (Spaghetti Westerns). While his music has something very catchy, I think it also has a strong classical backbone. To make music for the cinema I think we need both entertainment and artistry, but he has both in a good way. I respect him a lot and really love his music for Cinema Paradiso.
You have often worked with Miyazaki Hayao and Kitano Takeshi, whose films are widely shown abroad. Does the fact that your music will be heard by many foreign listeners influence your compositions in any way? Also would you please briefly describe your working relationship with each director? Is one very particular about the film’s score and the other not?
Basically, most of my music is for Japanese cinema, but when I compose film music I constantly try to work at a ‘world level’, thinking that people from all over the world will be watching the film with my music. For example, I’m concerned about the reactions of foreign musicians who watch the film to how I use the orchestra and instruments. I always create music from an objective point of view. How the world will react to this point of view is an important consideration for me as I compose music.
Naturally I compose music after reading the screenplay but if I can respect the director’s wishes while keeping one step ahead of his vision I am doing a good job. Even in that case, I of course need to understand what the director thinks and wants from the standpoint of film’s contents – that’s basic. So I try to communicate with him as much as possible.
I consider music to be the most fictional thing about the film. By that I mean in the real world you cannot hear music when you talk about love or when you are sad and cry but you can hear music in a movie. Music is the phoniest thing in a fictional film, so it is in fact the most cinematic thing in a film.
Of course in film music, there is ‘diegetic music’ such as background music at a coffee shop, and there is ‘non-diegetic music’ that is referred to as so-called ‘film music.’ By using them well selectively, the movie itself will become three-dimensional. The best film music is that which deeply expresses the intent of the film.
Your work on Departures (Okuribito), is especially well known to Italian audiences since the film was distributed widely in Italy by a company, Tucker Film, associated with the Udine Far East Film Festival organization. Since the subject matter was unusual did you find the film unusually challenging to score? How did you deal with those challenges?
In Departures, the protagonist is ex-cellist. Since the protagonist plays the cello in the film, I composed the theme song first, which was unusual for me. Since the keyword of the whole film is ‘cellist,’ the music was also written mainly for the cello ensemble. Basically I composed the music based on the cello ensemble, but without any violin or viola (if with a bit of contrabass). This way I could express the cello’s specific strengths and weaknesses and its very human-like singing sound.
This film deals with a very Oriental theme and culture, that is, viewing the corpse after it has been made up. It is not a blockbuster movie, but when I started composing the music I was convinced the film would be absolutely world-class. So when it was awarded the best Foreign Language Film Oscar by the American Academy, I thought was only natural [laughs]. I think the film has something universal such as the Oriental aesthetics that foreign people can feel and respond to.
In musical terms, I tried to match the film’s Oriental aesthetics with the Western form of the cello ensemble, but it was not so difficult. I was very lucky that I could create the music smoothly without any problems relative to my composing work as a whole. It’s is a film that I like very much.
You have worked with filmmakers in Asia but not in Europe or Hollywood to date. Do you have any interest in doing so? Are there any filmmakers in Italy or elsewhere outside Japan you particularly want to work with?
I do not have anyone specific in mind, but I would of course like to work with those who are creative and try new things . Regardless of whether they are famous or not I would like to support those types of directors and I would be happy to work with them.
You have said you often listen to classical music for study and inspiration. Why classical music particularly? Which composers are your favorites?
Recently I’ve not only been listening to classical music, but have also been working actively as a classical conductor. By conducting classical music by composers such as Beethoven and Shostakovich I can look at the score as a composer. I can also study what the composer really wanted to create from a composer’s point of view as I conduct the music in rehearsal and perform it in front of an audience with the orchestra.
I am influenced by classical music in many ways, such as how to write chords and deal with woodwind instruments through actual experience.
I myself write minimal music and conduct it as a composer, so I try to have a loving feeling for contemporary music and make opportunities to play it as much as possible. I have a sense of mission about conducting and playing contemporary music.
I personally like Brahms. I also like the modern composer Arvo Pärt and innovative American composers like Nico Myuri, and John Adams.
The entry point for your music for many listeners is of course your film work, but you have released CDs of non-film music as well. Which of these albums are you most happy with? Does this non-film work give you a creative outlet that helps your film work?
I had previously been involved with minimal music before I started composing film music. My base is still minimal music. So I have to say my favorite album to date would be Minima_Rhythm. This album is the culmination of the minimal music I composed in the past and it was recorded superbly with the London Symphony Orchestra so I really like it.
The fact that my base is in minimal music has naturally affected my film music. To express various scenes in a film I of course use melodious music but I also use a lot of minimalist approaches. In that sense I think of myself as a minimalist ultimately.
You are at a point in your career where you can pick and choose your projects. What are your criteria for accepting – or rejecting?
Basically I consider myself very lucky when someone asks me to work with them. So I take good opportunities as much as I can if my schedule permits.
I want to constantly take on new challenges so I am not picky in that sense. I’m excited when I work on something new so I try to take as many such opportunities as I can unless something unexpected happens.
You have been doing this a long time. How do you refresh your imagination? Is it getting harder – or do you feel you want to keep doing it forever?
Of course I would like to keep composing my entire life. As a composer, I’ve been occupied mainly by film music for a long time, but in recent years I’ve devoted more energy to composing my own music, conducting orchestras and taking opportunities to play modern music, not the same famous classical music pieces that are always played at every classical concert to boost audience attendance. I also think it is important to engage in various musical activities – not only composing music but also making opportunities to present new music to audiences.
In that sense I am finding it harder every year to balance those activities with composing music. But I am always working on balancing my input for study and my output for composing. I try to have different experiences to get fresh ideas from a variety of music and to be inspired by various ways of thinking. I only think about how to keep going on this way my entire life.
Mark Schilling