‘Everest’ soundtrack composer’s aural collage
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A child actor turned composer, Simon Fisher Turner always carries a recorder with him, constantly searching for unique sounds to add to his vast collection.
The 59-year-old musician and composer is known for his work with director Derek Jarman in the 1980s and 1990s.
On June 9, together with guitarist James Brooks and cellist Peter Gregson, Turner used a computerized sound-effects instrument to give a live performance at the annual Queen’s Birthday Party, accompanying the screening of the restored documentary film “The Epic of Everest” with a soundtrack he composed as background music.
The 1924 film by John Baptist Lucius Noel (Captain John Noel) recorded the 1924 Everest expedition of George Mallory and Andrew Irvine. The restoration was released at the BFI London Film Festival in October last year with the new score.
The British Film Institute commissioned Turner to compose a score for this restoration, and it took him 14 months to complete it.
Unlike his previous compositions, Turner decided not to use props and anthropological sound.
“I met with the film director’s daughter, and she still has his boots, the boots which he wore while filming and being up Everest,” he said.
He could have used the boots to create the walking sound, he said, but he decided it would be too easy. He used everyday objects to imitate the sounds, like a bottle cracking to reflect walking on snow and ice. To recreate the sound of the huge amount of animals like goats, sheep and yaks, he went online and searched for past footage to find the right sound.
He also collaborated with performance artist and musician Cosey Fanni Tutti, Israeli jazz drummer Asaf Sirkis and a Nepalese Thapa family.
“I tried to find Tibetan or Nepalese musicians,” Turner said, “I met the father (of this Nepalese family) and explained what we were doing, showed him the film, and he just agreed to help out.”
They recorded everything right in the family’s front room on the sofa, and the family musicians played their traditional music.
“While we were doing this, his mother was in the kitchen watching daytime Nepalese TV, and his wife was cooking, and I was in the corner with the recorder,” Turner said.
They even used the sound of Madan (the father) tuning a hand drum in another scene of the film because Madan suggested it sounded like women waving at the camera.
Turner kept going back to the family and showing Madan what he was trying to do, and for him it was an important process because he wanted his approval and valued their friendship.
The soundtrack for “Epic of Everest” ended up more like an entirely original collage. Turner concentrated on the texture of sounds and used diverse life sounds to recreate the scenes.
This epic composition won him the 2014 Ivor Novello Best Original Score, a prestigious award presented by the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors annually since 1955.
Born in Dover, England, Turner portrayed Net East in the 1971 BBC TV production “Tom Brown’s Schooldays” when he was 17, as well as several other acting credits. Then he was signed to Jonathan King’s UK Records, releasing his first solo album in 1973.
He started recording film soundtracks in the 1980s working with Jarman. He has scored soundtracks for the director in films including “Caravaggio” (1986), “The Last of England” (1988), “The Garden” (1990), “Edward II” (1991), and “Blue”(1993). He also composed for David Lynch’s film “Nadja” in 1994.
He also composes music for television dramas and documentaries, as well as for commercials.
Turner has a long relationship with the British Film Institute, composing soundtracks for restoration film, although he didn’t choose specifically to compose for silent films.
“But I enjoy it, a lot, because of the fantastic freedom in doing silent films,” he said.
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