ISM MUSIC JOURNAL MARCH/APRIL 2020
Breaking the moulds To mark International Women’s Day on 8 March, Clare Stevens spotlights the work of award-winning female composers Hildur Guðnadóttir, Anna Meredith and Shiva Feshareki, who are smashing the boundaries between genres to build unique careers
Above: Clare Stevens Photo: Alex Ramsay
Arguments have been raging in the media over the past few weeks about the lack of diversity LQ QRPLQDWLRQV IRU Ă€OP DQG WHOHYLVLRQ LQGXVWU\ awards such as the BAFTAs and the Oscars. But one category that has provoked no arguments this year has been ‘best score’. The Icelandic composer Hildur GuĂ°nadĂłttir has swept the board, winning DQ 2VFDU IRU WKH Ă€OP Joker, starring Joaquin Phoenix, BAFTA, Golden Globe, Critics Choice Association and Society of Composers and Lyricists awards, and a Grammy for the HBO television mini-series Chernobyl 6KH LV WKH Ă€UVW VROR ZRPDQ WR ZLQ D Golden Globe in the 77-year history of the awards, and only the third woman to write an Oscar-winning Ă€OP VFRUH IROORZLQJ 5DFKHO 3RUWPDQ DQG $QQH Dudley, who won the awards for ‘Best Original Musical or Comedy Score’ in 1997 (Emma) and 1998 (The Full Monty) respectively. GuĂ°nadĂłttir is a classically trained cellist, who VWXGLHG DW WKH 5H\NMDYLN 0XVLF $FDGHP\ EHIRUH developing her interest in composition and new media at the Iceland Academy of the Arts and the University of the Arts in Berlin, where she is now based. She has been performing as a solo cellist and as a singer since her mid-teens, with bands such as the Icelandic experimental group MĂşm, ZKLFK VKH MRLQHG DJHG WKH )LQQLVK HOHFWURQLF PXVLF JURXS 3DQ 6RQLF WKH $PHULFDQ PHWDO EDQG 6XQ 2
DQG WKH VHFRQG LQFDUQDWLRQ RI WKH (QJOLVK pioneers of industrial music Throbbing Gristle. She told the Guardian in December 2019 that after the restrictions of classical music, full of ‘dos and don’ts’ she relished the sense of freedom she got from playing with bands.
Left: Hildur GuĂ°nadottir Photo: Antje Taiga Jandrig
*XêQDGyWWLU¡V ÀUVW VROR DOEXP 0RXQW $ ZDV released in 2006 and three more have since been added to her catalogue, all critically acclaimed. Her latest single, Fólk fÌr andlit, was released last month on Deutsche Grammophon and is a largely choral track, an evocative response to the deportation and
PLVWUHDWPHQW LQ RI $OEDQLDQ UHIXJHHV ZKR KDG been denied permits to stay in Iceland, with video LPDJHV E\ ,QJLEM|UJ %LUJLVGyWWLU As a composer she has been commissioned by institutions including the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra, Icelandic National Theatre, Tate Modern, 7KH %ULWLVK )LOP ,QVWLWXWH 7KH 5R\DO 6ZHGLVK Opera in Stockholm and Gothenburg National Theatre. In 2018 she was nominated for a Discovery of the Year Award at the World Soundtrack Academy in Ghent and received several prestigious DZDUGV LQFOXGLQJ WKH $VLD 3DFLĂ€F 6FUHHQ $ZDUG for Best Score (Mary Magdalene) and Best Score at WKH %HLMLQJ ,QWHUQDWLRQDO )LOP )HVWLYDO IRU -RXUQH\¡V (QG 6KH KDV DOVR ZULWWHQ VFRUHV IRU HSLVRGHV RI the Icelandic TV series Trapped. So her success with the music for Chernobyl and Joker did not come from nowhere. Distinguished by their extraordinarily creative use of special HÍżHFWV QRW MXVW D SDOHWWH RI VWDQGDUG LQVWUXPHQWV GuĂ°natĂłttir’s scores have their roots in her teenage interest in sound design software and playing about with sampled street sounds. For Chernobyl she spent a day at the decommissioned power VWDWLRQ LQ /LWKXDQLD ZKHUH WKH VHULHV ZDV Ă€OPHG recording the ambient noise of the building itself, which then became the building blocks for her eerie, doom-laden music. For example, as she recalled in an interview with the Times: ‘There was a door in the power plant which was making the strangest sound. It was making an almost inaudible, high-pitched melody — it was so high that I had to bring the frequency down so that human ears could hear it.’ GuĂ°natĂłttir’s score plays an even more important role in Joker 5DWKHU WKDQ DGGLQJ PXVLF WR WKH FRPSOHWHG Ă€OP DV XVXDOO\ KDSSHQV VKH was commissioned by director Todd Phillips to write from the script. She has described how her Continued overleaf Ăˆ
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