Stage & Screen Online

Some of the most fun I have all year is at the World Soundtrack Awards in Ghent, Belgium. It's an event that has grow steadily since it's inception in 2000, part of the Flanders International Film Festival which has been supporting film music for decades. I first went there as host of the BBC Radio 3 show Stage and Screen (where have I heard that name before?) as it boasted many prominent composers as guests. I soon found out why. The composers are always given an incredibly warm welcome and treated like stars, but in a way that never seems false or pretentious; they really mean it. No empty smiles and yes men here - just enthusiasm and devotion. As I got more familiar with the organisers, mostly thanks to the bar across the street from the hotel, Den Turk (the oldest pub in the city), which stays open as long as there are people in there, I was asked whether I might be able to host a concert - which turned out to be a Jerry Goldsmith memorial concert. Many more concerts followed and soon I found myself part of the festival furniture. And so it is this year. I'm hosting a concert of orchestral music by stunning Spanish film composer Alberto Iglesias (The Constant Gardener, all recent Pedro Almodovar films) which promises to be a really special event. And I'm also writing and hosting the World Soundtrack Awards themselves.

So forgive me if I big 'em up.

The awards ceremony is, as always, split in two: first half is the presentation of the awards, second half is live performance of music by 2 guest film composers. The awards nominations are the usual eccentric mix - as voted for by the World Soundtrack Academy. I never know who's going to win and gave up guessing years ago. The audience award is often the most revealing. I never forget Vangelis winning a couple of years back for Alexander - a score that was inept and dull by anyone's standards. But it won most popular score of the year!! What do I know? But the Discovery of the Year award is always worth taking seriously, especially when you see the list of previous winners : Gustavo Santaolalla (who the festival can rightly take credit for 'discovering), Michael Giacchino ('Lost', 'The Incredibles'), Klaus Badelt and Craig Armstrong. Last year's winner, Evanthia Roubitsika, will have her music played during the awards.

I'm particularly looking forward to our guests this year - Mychael Danna and Harry Gregson-Williams, two very contrasting composers who continually produce interesting work. I adored Danna's music in Little Miss Sunshine, but then I adored the movie as a whole. It reminded me of what Jon Brion might have done with it, and that's a great compliment. Harry I've known since he worked on Spy Game in 2001. I've been lucky enough to see both of them working in a studio. My old producer at the BBC, David McGuinness, was also (still is!) a fine pianist, and by coincidence he was asked to play on Danna's Vanity Fair score. At the sessions, we took the opportunity to interview Danna and he was charming, if a little stressed out (the permanent state of a film composer). I will never forget the day I saw Harry at Abbey Road. It was the Spy Game session, on September 11th 2001 and everyone knows what happened that day. Harry's whole crew was American and they were all beside themselves with shock and worry, hardly able to work but professional always. It was a truly difficult situation for Harry, desperately trying to get the music down in an expensive studio. But he took it in his stride and I was impressed by his pragmatism and cool head. Needless to say, the movie's completion was delayed by 6 months anyway, because of it's subject matter.

I know that both composers really will get a kick out hearing their music in concert. All that time spent in dark, air-conditioned studios with no-one but your assistant making coffee, composing can be a lonely business. Sitting with an audience enjoying live music, then getting up on stage to receive applause and adulation - who wouldn't want that?! And the Flemish Radio Orchestra, conducted by the heroic Dirk Brosse (also an experienced film composer), always do the music justice. Dirk's professionalism, dedication, musicality, understanding and enthusiasm are what make the Ghent concerts so special.

Quick story about how composers don't get out much, and how centered and obsessed they have to be. I was visiting Gregson-Williams at his studio, had lunch, chatted, then he took me up to the roof to show me the view. "Enjoy the sunshine and I'll be back in a minute' he said, eager to finish a bit of music he'd been working on. After about 30 mins I went down to the studio to see if everything was OK.

He'd completely forgotten I was there.

World Soundtrack Awards, October 20th 2007, Ghent Belgium.

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