David Arnold

David G. Arnold (born 23 January 1962) is an English film composer best known for scoring five James Bond films, Stargate (1994), Independence Day (1996), Godzilla (1998) and the television series Little Britain and Sherlock. For Independence Day he received a Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition Written for a Motion Picture or for Television and for Sherlock he, and co-composer Michael Price, won a Creative Arts Emmy^[1] for the score of "His Last Vow", the final episode in the third series. Arnold is a fellow of the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors. In September 2016 the Royal Albert Hall will host an orchestral performance of Independence Day with the score performed live to picture, David Arnold will give a pre-show talk^[2].

Career

While attending a Sixth Form College in Luton, Arnold became friends with director Danny Cannon.^[3] Cannon initially created short films for which Arnold was asked to write the music. The two made their respective major film debuts with The Young Americans. "Play Dead", a song from the film with singer Björk, charted #12 in the UK. The following year he scored Stargate and Last of the Dogmen, with excerpts from the former ranking third in the most commonly used soundtrack cues for film trailers.^[4]

Arnold then composed music for Stargate director Roland Emmerich's next two movies, Independence Day and Godzilla, as well as four movies for director John Singleton. In addition, he has scored various comedies, dramas, and nineteenth-century period pieces, as well as providing music for several British television shows including the 2000 remake of Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) and Little Britain. During film production, his compositions are conducted by Nicholas Dodd. In 2010, he composed the music for Come Fly With Me, a British television series from the producers of Little Britain.

He is a member of the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors (BASCA).^[5] On Thursday 29 November 2012, Arnold received an honorary degree from University of West London. Now a university honorary, he will work closely with the University in particular London College of Music, a faculty within the institute. In 2014, he appeared as himself in The Life of Rock with Brian Pern.

Arnold performed his debut orchestral concert, showcasing his film and television music, on Sunday 6 July 2014 at London's Royal Festival Hall.^[6] The line-up featured Nicholas Dodd conducting, David McAlmont as surprise guest vocalist ("My secret weapon!" said Arnold) and the Urban Voices Collective choir, plus Mark Gatiss and Amanda Abbington introducing the suite of Sherlock music, for which Arnold's collaborator on the project, Michael Price, replaced Dodd.^[7]

He performed his music in a series of orchestral concerts in 2015: Dublin^[8]) in January (with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra); Manchester^[9] (with the Manchester Camerata) in April; and London^[10] (with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra), Birmingham^[11] and Nottingham^[12] (with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) in June 2015. He was also the special guest at 'The music of David Arnold^[13]', a concert in Lucerne in October 2015, with Ludwig Wicki conducting the 21st Century Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. In February 2016 the Royal Albert Hall announced^[14] the premiere of Independence Day Live on 22 September 2016. This celebrates the 20th anniversary of the film's release with a live orchestral performance. David Arnold will give a pre-show talk about his work and the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra (conducted by Nicholas Dodd) will perform the original soundtrack alongside a screening of the film.

James Bond

Arnold was a Bond fan from an early age and also a fan of Bond composer John Barry. In 1997, Arnold produced Shaken and Stirred: The David Arnold James Bond Project, an album featuring new versions of the themes from various James Bond films. The album featured a variety of contemporary artists including Jarvis Cocker, Chrissie Hynde, Propellerheads and Iggy Pop; a version of You Only Live Twice by Björk was recorded but not included on the album. John Barry, the composer of many of the themes on the album, was complimentary about Arnold's interpretation of his work; "He was very faithful to the melodic and harmonic content, but he's added a whole other rhythmic freshness and some interesting casting in terms of the artists chosen to do the songs. I think it's a terrific album. I'm very flattered."^[15] Barry contacted Barbara Broccoli, producer of the then-upcoming Tomorrow Never Dies, to recommend Arnold as the film's composer.^[16] Arnold was hired to score the installment and, returning the compliment to the man he refers to as "The guvnor",^[17] included musical references to Barry's score for From Russia with Love (as well as, of course, the James Bond Theme by Monty Norman).

Arnold scored the four subsequent Bond films: The World Is Not Enough, Die Another Day (in which he included references to John Barry's score for On Her Majesty's Secret Service), Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace.^[18] Arnold did not score the 23rd James Bond film, Skyfall, with Thomas Newman taking his place.^[19] Arnold commented that Newman had been selected by the film's director, Sam Mendes, because of their history of working together, rather than because of Arnold's commitment to working with director Danny Boyle as composer for the Opening Ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics. (However, a part of Arnold's composition work on Casino Royale was reused in Skyfall.)

Arnold also co-wrote the main theme songs for The World Is Not Enough ("The World Is Not Enough" by Garbage) and Casino Royale ("You Know My Name" by Chris Cornell), as well as "Surrender" by k.d. lang which appears during the end credits of Tomorrow Never Dies having been originally proposed as the opening theme. Arnold also contributed the main themes to Kevin Kiner's score for Activision's GoldenEye 007, the remake of the 1997 game of the same name.

Other work

He has collaborated with such musical acts as Cast, Kaiser Chiefs, Massive Attack, and Pulp, and solo artists Natasha Bedingfield, Melanie C, Björk, Chris Cornell, Shirley Manson, Mark Morriss, Nina Persson and in 2009 produced Shirley Bassey's album The Performance.

In 2001, he provided a new arrangement of Ron Grainer's Doctor Who theme music for the Eighth Doctor audio dramas from Big Finish Productions. His version was used as the Eighth Doctor theme starting with 2001's Storm Warning until 2008, when it was replaced with a new version arranged by Nicholas Briggs starting with Dead London. Arnold's theme returned to the Eighth Doctor releases with the 2012 box set, Dark Eyes.

Arnold is the second cousin of Irish singer-songwriter Damien Rice, and is an ambassador for aid agency CARE International in the UK. He has made minor appearances in two different episodes of Little Britain as separate characters.

In February 2011, it was announced that he was appointed Musical Director for the 2012 Olympic Games and the 2012 Paralympic Games in London.^[20]

In May 2011, he was part of the United Kingdom's jury for the Eurovision Song Contest 2011.^[21]

Arnold took part in a tribute to John Barry on 20 June 2011 at the Royal Albert Hall in London, singing a song that was composed by Barry and playing the guitar part of the James Bond theme.^[22]

In 2014, Arnold teamed up with Richard Thomas, to write the music and lyrics for the new West End musical Made in Dagenham.^[23]

In October 2015 he collaborated with Lethal Bizzle and Sinead Harnett to create a song combining orchestral, grime and soul elements. The song, 'Come This Far', was performed live^[24] at a special event at One Mayfair, as part of Bulmers Cider's LiveColourful LIVE promotion, and made available as a free download from Bulmers' website. He and Sherlock co-composer Michael Price also composed the music for ITV's Jekyll and Hyde television series which premiered in October 2015.^[25]

Filmography

Discography

Films

Television

Video games

Web series

Singles in charts

Awards

• Won: Grammy Award – Best Instrumental Composition Written for a Motion Picture or for Television – Independence Day
• Won: Ivor Novello Awards - Best International Film Score for The World Is Not Enough^[31]
• Won: Ivor Novello Awards - BASCA Fellowship (2005)^[32]
• Nominated: BAFTA Award – Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music – Casino Royale
• Nominated: Grammy Award – Best Song Written for Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media – You Know My Name from Casino Royale (songwriter)
• Won: BBC Radio Awards - Best music production - The Sound of Cinema with David Arnold^[33]
• Won: (with Michael Price) Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Miniseries, Movie, or a Special - Sherlock ("His Last Vow")^[34]

References

External links

• Official website
• David Arnold at the Internet Movie Database
• David Arnold Twitter feed
• David Arnold Interview at www.reviewgraveyard.com
• BAFTA Video Masterclass with David Arnold
• John Barry Memorial Concert – The James Bond Theme on YouTube