There's a sadness about love, a melancholy and a sadness about beauty. It's just part of the human experience of living on this planet.
I joined Elton John's band in '75. He not only allowed me to play the electronic keyboard on his albums, he also let me do the orchestrations. Then I left the band and started producing records. I was not really a popular kind of hit music guy. I was attracted to more esoteric things.
Disney movies have had a tradition of excellent music since the beginning. Some of my favorites are 'Fantasia,' 'Dumbo,' 'The Lion King' and 'Toy Story.'
One day I was watching some pundits screaming at each other on a news show. It suddenly reminded me of this painting on my wall, of balloons with goofy faces rising - pundits screaming at each other and arguing off into the ether.
I think to do anything out of one's comfort zone, there has to be some aspect of it that feels inspiring and challenging in a positive way.
I work independently of the director, and to some extent, that's actually a big relief to them. When I come to them in post-production, they're tired and over-budget. What can be better to them than presenting a full score totally gift-wrapped?
Every movie you score you hope is unlike anything you have done before. You are always trying to not sound like yourself.
I started studying piano at the age of four.
The trick with 'Nutcracker' was figure out how much, and where, we could the Tchaikovsky - using as much as we possibly could and still support the storytelling.
I think every classically trained film composer feels to some extent, maybe on some level, that they took the low road, that they could have maybe pursued a career in the concert music world, and perhaps been involved in a higher quality of music.
I tend to avoid interviews, I don't have a publicist and fear of failure is still very much alive in my personal life.
I was a piano performance major at USC. I left before I graduated because I realized at some point I wasn't going to be a concert pianist and I was too attracted to popular music.
I hate bad reviews, so yeah, every now and then I think, 'Boy I hope everybody really likes this and thinks this theme is good.' You can't help but do that. I think we all are, or at least I am, reduced to a schoolboy seeking approval.
For me, the biggest thing was writing memorable themes for the new characters so that ultimately people would have the same identification with 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them' as they do with the Harry Potter films.
I've been lucky to have been given opportunities in different genres. And most of the time I've felt that the exploration, the composing, the collaboration, was a move forward.
Like most people, I hate public speaking.
My earliest memories are listening to my Grandmother playing the piano at our house as I jumped up and down on the couch. She was a violinist with the Pittsburgh Symphony in the 30s and 40s, and was a huge influence on me.
I have so much regard for the art of conducting. It's easy to look not so good up there.
I am delighted just to work on a good movie, no matter what the medium is.
The colors of 'The Nutcracker' ballet score have become a part of the vocabulary of film music. It's where so much of the 19th-century romantic music that I call upon as a film composer is rooted.
