Writing music is paying homage to the idea that you are not the center of everything, you are not in control of everything. I have discovered the way religious people put faith in the unknowable, and I have been doing the same thing my whole life but without using the word religion for it. In some sense, I think music is a key to understanding religious experience it taps into this unknowable emotional world. I have to put faith in this unknowable process, otherwise I am not able to come up with the music I’m paid to write. And in some sense my day job as a film composer depends upon it. It’s been a mystery to me where this music comes from. From a very early age, around the age of eight, I started writing down melodies and then interpolating them in different styles, in the style of Bach, Mozart, and Chopin. It has always been a source of puzzlement to me and almost wonder. Let me put it this way: I don’t know where the music that I write comes from. It has been fantastic for me to observe people who have deep faith and it has made me realize that I have, through music, a very similar kind of faith in the unknowable. It has been quite a journey for me and quite a learning experience, because I was really brought up without faith. You have been described as “undeclared” religiously.īoswell: I would describe myself as a sort of spiritual non-believer if you like. It was a wonderful experience, I have to say. And after having written those compositions, we recorded them with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London. That’s how it was all put together really. So I was able to write specific music to accompany the cadences and rhythm of his voice. Then we were given recordings of Pope Benedict which would accompany this. What we did was record very specific Gregorian chants, and both Stefano and I would then write and interpolate pieces of original orchestral music. It was a fantastically inspirational setting for me, being almost alone in this huge, wonderful space. Peter’s Basilica at night after the Vatican had closed the basilica to the public. We recorded with the Choir of the Philharmonic Academy of Rome in St. Essentially we have created what is almost like a contemporary opera, with the added bonus of Pope Benedict’s voice. People need to sit down and give it a listen. It has been a very interesting arc for me, from working in the Italian fi lm industry to working with the Vatican.īoswell: It is very difficult to describe it. It really came about through the producer of the album, Vincent Messina. I have always had this connection with Italy and many people there and perhaps my music is more well-known in Italy than in the UK. Simon Boswell: I am a film composer and my career as a film composer began in Italy rather than in the United Kingdom. How did you get involved in this project? He recently spoke to CWR about the album and what he learned from working on it. Simon Boswell has composed music for more than 90 feature fi lms, working both in Hollywood and the European film industry. Their wonderful compositions for ‘Alma Mater’ have exceeded our expectations and we have all been very moved at how successfully these modern scores blend with the choir, the orchestra, and the Pope’s voice.” Vincent Messina, the producer of the album, described the three composers: “A happy coincidence is that Stefano is Catholic, Simon is ‘undeclared,’ and Nour is Muslim, thus perfectly representing our aim to produce an album that has universal appeal to all of those who love beautiful music. (“The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra plays on all the specially commissioned tracks,” says Geffen/Universal.) Geffen/Universal also hired three contemporary composers-Simon Boswell, Stefano Mainetti, and Nour Eddine-to contribute “eight specially commissioned pieces of music” to incorporate into the album. The album draws upon audio recordings from Vatican radio of Pope Benedict XVI “speaking and singing in Latin, Italian, Portuguese, French, and German.” On November 29, the record label Geffen/Universal will release “Alma Mater (Music from the Vatican),” which features the voice of Pope Benedict XVI “reciting and singing passages and prayers, accompanied by the Choir of the Philharmonic Academy of Rome, conducted by Monsignor Pablo Colino, Maestro Emeritus of St.
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