{"id":62399,"date":"2019-09-17T10:58:33","date_gmt":"2019-09-17T14:58:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=62399"},"modified":"2019-09-17T10:58:33","modified_gmt":"2019-09-17T14:58:33","slug":"feature-deutsche-grammophon-artist-peter-gregson-recomposing-bach-writing-movies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2019\/09\/17\/feature-deutsche-grammophon-artist-peter-gregson-recomposing-bach-writing-movies\/","title":{"rendered":"FEATURE | Deutsche Grammophon Artist Peter Gregson On ReComposing Bach And Writing For The Movies"},"content":{"rendered":"

Scottish cellist and Deutsche Grammophon artist Peter Gregson talks about his rising career as performer and composer, and how both led him to write the score for the new movie ‘Blackbird’.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"'Blackbird'
‘Blackbird’ cast (Photo : Courtesy of Toronto International Film Festival)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Classical musician or composer \u2014<\/span> both are demanding careers that are difficult to launch. Scottish cellist and Deutsche Grammophon artist Peter Gregson<\/a><\/span> has managed to juggle both, with a rising profile in the field of movie music. He came to Toronto recently to attend the world premiere of \u2018Blackbird<\/a>\u2019<\/span> at the Toronto International Film Festival, for which he wrote the original music.<\/p>\n

Directed by Roger Michell, (\u2018My Cousin Rachel\u2019, \u2018Le Week-End\u2019), Blackbird is a remake of a 2014 Danish movie called \u2018Silent Heart\u2019, with a high profile cast. Susan Sarandon stars as a mother who is terminally ill. She invites her family to their traditional country home for one last full gathering, but her hopes of a sentimental farewell are disrupted by simmering tensions between siblings played by Kate Winslet and Mia Wasikowska.<\/p>\n

With the theme of the movie, heightened emotion was the overriding principle. \u201cIt really packs a punch,\u201d Gregson says. How he came to the music for the film, and this point in his rising career, is a case of one thing led to another.<\/p>\n

Gregson has been playing cello since the age of four. His bio claims that he was inspired by seeing James Bond use a cello case to essentially snowboard down a mountain in \u2018The Living Daylights\u2019. As a cellist, he\u2019s been recording since 2007, and released his own debut album \u2018Terminal\u2019 in 2010, followed by \u2018Lights in the Sky\u2019 in 2014, and \u2018Touch\u2019 in 2015. \u2018Lights in the Sky\u2019, an electro-acoustic album of cello music, led to a commission to write music for a video game<\/a><\/span>. As a solo musician, he has played on many movie and TV projects through Hans Zimmer\u2019s Remote Control Productions, including the films \u2018Wonder Woman\u2019 and \u2018Terminator\u2019, and the TV series \u2018Marcella\u2019. He also played on Ed Sheeran\u2019s album \u2018\u00f7 (Divide)\u2019.<\/p>\n

\"Peter
Peter Gregson (Photo : Courtesy of PeterGregson.co.uk)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While he was enthusiastic from the beginning, however, his relationship with the cello wasn\u2019t always without its bumps, especially once he reached high school. \u201cOne realizes that playing the cello wasn\u2019t the sexiest thing you could do,\u201d he laughs.<\/p>\n

A brother played electric guitar, and had a collection of pedals and effects. \u201cI got interested in putting the cello through simple things like a distortion pedal,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s like a string instrument synthesizer.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a preteen, he connected with Philip Sheppard, a fellow cellist, composer, and cello experimentalist. Gregson says he was about 13 years old when he realized he would have to write the repertoire he wanted to play. He eventually ended up studying under Sheppard in London at the Royal Academy of Music in London, continuing his experiments, and learning, among other things, to compose directly to the computer. \u201cI was really excited by that.\u201d<\/p>\n

After launching his performing career, recording and composing soon followed. In 2011, he played two tracks written for him by Max Richter and the late J\u00f3hann J\u00f3hannsson on an EP for the Short Circuit festival. Along the way, he made another valuable connection. \u201cI was working with Gabriel Prokoviev,\u201d he recalls. In 2012, he collaborated with Prokoviev \u2014<\/span> grandson of Sergei \u2014<\/span> to compose and play on the album \u2018Cello Multitracks\u2019. It led to another commission, this one for a ballet called \u2018FLOW\u2019 in 2013. \u201cAt the debut in a small West End theatre,\u201d Gregson recalls, \u201cthere were about 65 people in the audience.\u201d One of those people was a filmmaker who asked him, do you want to write for my movie? The result was the score for Alan Rickman\u2019s \u2018Little Chaos\u2019, which also premiered at TIFF back in 2014.<\/p>\n

That was followed by \u2018Forgotten Man\u2019 with director Arran Shearing in 2017. His \u2018Quartets: One\u2019 and \u2018Quartets: Two\u2019, both released in 2017, were used as the score for the ballet \u2018Eight Years of Silence\u2019 by Cayetano Soto, premiered by Ballet BC.<\/p>\n