Inside the Music with Oscar-winning composer Rachel Portman

Rachel Portman is a British composer acclaimed for her film scores and concert works. She was the first woman to win an Academy Award for Best Original Score (for Emma) and has written more than 100 scores for film, television, and theatre. Following the premiere of her latest work, "The Gathering Tree," at the Last Night of the Proms, we spoke with Rachel about her earliest memories of music, her creative process, breaking barriers in the industry, and more.

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Interview with Rachel Portman

Sheet Music Direct ("S"): Firstly, can you tell us your first memory of music as a child?

Rachel Portman ("R"): It's such a strange one. My first musical memory is sitting under the ironing board while my mum was ironing and listening to Listen with Mother. Its theme tune was Fauré's "Berceuse" from the Dolly Suite. It's my first memory of being conscious of what I was doing, which I think is what first memories are. And I love that music. It's very tender and childlike.

S: And who were your personal musical inspirations growing up?

R: They were really the records that we had in the house. I suppose it was mostly Bach and Brahms. I was introduced to Ravel when I was about 15 or 16. Those are probably the big pillars of real influence for me. Because I was studying music for A-level, you had to study Bach chorales, and figured bass and reharmonise different Bach chorale melodies. I did just that for two years, constantly again and again, and it's had a huge effect on me. I think Bach, more than anyone. And with Ravel, the first piece of music of his that I heard and was profoundly moved by was his "Tombeau de Couperin." I was 15, nearly 16 and I'd never had music completely arrest me in that way. I remember it so well.

S: So your new work, "The Gathering Tree" just had its premiere at the Last Night of the Proms recently. Firstly, can you tell us the inspiration behind that piece?

R: I was asked to write a piece that celebrates who we are as a nation right now. It wasn't an exact brief like that, but those were the loose parameters. I really thought about how I wanted to take a bird's eye view, and invited the poet Nick Drake with whom I've collaborated before to work on it together. We went for walks. We often go for walks in Regent's Park and walk and talk and mull ideas over. We came up with the idea of something gathering, and actually, if you think about it, the Proms concerts are a gathering of an extraordinarily huge number of people with a love of music. And they're strangers really. So this idea of strangers coming together and singing together is the foundation of it, which Nick did so beautifully. The inspiration is how we're made up of each other's lives and each other's stories and we come together, and singing is a part of that too. I love that it's about people singing together who are actually singing anyway. And it seems to have touched a lot of people.

S: That's lovely. Can you tell us what it's like experiencing the premiere of something you've composed, especially in such an iconic setting? Do you get nervous?

R: Well, I wasn't nervous when it was being performed because I'd heard it in rehearsal and was thrilled by the way the singers and orchestra performed it. But my nerves on first listening would always be self critical, in the sense of — is what I've done good enough? It's always about that for me. Performance nerves are totally different. But actually being there to hear it on the night was really exciting. But it's also kind of unreal. You can't experience it fresh because you've got self imposed judgments coming in the whole time. I was excited for those around me. I went to a choral rehearsal with piano, and I was sitting there with all these people at Maida Vale Studios. There were, I don’t know, maybe 150 singers, singing it through and it was so beautiful. It was incredibly moving for me to hear it because they were literally birthing it. That was a few weeks before the premiere at the Royal Albert Hall, and it was really great. But it's a funny thing listening to your music in a concert hall. When I've heard pieces of mine performed again and again, it's always totally different. You feel different things and of course, performers play things differently.

My nerves on first listening would always be self critical, in the sense of — is what I've done good enough?"

S: And is "The Gathering Tree" part of an upcoming album?

R: It's actually not, but I am working on a new album which is the follow up to ask the river. The sheet music for several of the pieces is already available, and I'm particularly excited for people to be able to play "Eventide," as I've had so much lovely feedback about that piece.

S: Fantastic. Do you have a set writing process or does it change from project to project?

R: Yes. I basically clear the decks to get to my piano as early as I can in the morning. That's the main thing. To not get tangled up in emails and my phone. But get there because that's the most precious part of the day for me. So doing a long morning of writing, lunch, then walking the dog. And later on in the afternoon other musical tasks like orchestration, that kind of thing. But answering emails and phone calls and stuff like that I push to the end of the day. It's also really good to park things after a certain chunk of writing time. Park them and come back to them the next day because you look at them and then you think, "OK, I know how to solve that," or "That didn't quite work," or "Actually, I'm happy with that." Things always mature between day one and day two, and it's good to have a break in the middle.

S: I'm sure you've been asked about this many times, but you made history in 1996 for being the first female composer to win an Academy Award for your score for the film Emma — that must have been a proud moment?

R: It was incredible. It was unreal. Totally unexpected. You get to be part of this extraordinary thing that is the Oscars, and it opened so many doors for me film-wise, and at a time when there really weren't any women writing music for substantial big films. And, I was suddenly trusted with writing big film scores. But the event itself was incredible and so exciting. There's this wall of photographers when you leave the stage after your acceptance speech and you're sort of swept up into this movie stardom when you really don't have anything to do with it, and you're used to being completely anonymous. It's a real privilege and I realize it's very subjective how these awards get nominated - it's a bit of a lottery how you get to win one. But, oh my goodness, talk about luck!

You get to be part of this extraordinary thing that is the Oscars, and it opened so many doors for me film-wise, and at a time when there really weren't any women writing music for substantial big films."

S: I'd say you make your own luck. So obviously this was nearly 30 years ago now. Do you find there are more women in the world of film music today?

R: The doors are opening a lot more for women now. There's still a way to go, but it's really changed over the course of time. There are more and more female composers training, and rising up through the considerable number of postgraduate film courses, but also in concert music as well. In concert work, more and more women are being featured and played on the radio and commissioned.

S: That's great to hear. Is there anything you've worked on that you particularly loved, that maybe didn't get the recognition you feel it deserved?

R: About 12 years ago, I did the music for a film called Never Let Me Go, and I loved working on that film. It's based on Kazuo Ishiguro's book of the same name. I loved working on that score. And actually, there's quite a lot of interest in the score but unfortunately the film, which is brilliant, is a really difficult subject. It's the sort of film that film students study because it's so good, but people didn't flock to see it because it was hard. Often, if you do a film score, you can be tied to the success of the film.

S: So aside from your own work, do you have a favorite film score or soundtrack?

R: Not really, no, it tends to change and move. I mean, I thought John Williams' score for Schindler's List was excellent. I admire him hugely as a composer. I think he's extraordinary, along with many others. I'm also very fond of Elmer Bernstein's score for To Kill a Mockingbird. I find that moving and charming.

S: Fantastic! Thanks so much for your time today, Rachel.

R: Thank you so much. Very good to talk to you.

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