WEBVTT - Introducing: Ludwig Göransson on Talk Easy 0:00:15.476 --> 0:00:15.956 Pushkin. 0:00:20.356 --> 0:00:23.156 Hey everyone, today we're featuring an episode of one of 0:00:23.196 --> 0:00:26.716 our favorite shows here on the Pushkin Network, Talk Easy, 0:00:26.916 --> 0:00:30.796 hosted by Sam Fragoso. In episode You're about to Hear, 0:00:30.996 --> 0:00:35.556 Sam talks to the renowned music producer and composer Ludwig Gorensen. 0:00:36.396 --> 0:00:40.036 He's a Grammy and Academy Award winning producer and composer 0:00:40.076 --> 0:00:43.876 who scored Ryan Coogler's Black Panther and most recently scored 0:00:43.956 --> 0:00:48.796 Christopher Nolan's epic Oppenheimer. He's also produced records and written 0:00:48.836 --> 0:00:55.036 songs for heim Rihanna Adele, and Donald Glover aka Childish Gambino. 0:00:55.996 --> 0:00:59.996 Here's Sam Fragoso's conversation with Ludwig Gorensen. 0:01:14.476 --> 0:01:18.276 This is Talk Easy. I'm student Forgoso. Welcome to the 0:01:18.276 --> 0:01:35.916 show today. I'm joined by renowned music producer and composer 0:01:36.476 --> 0:01:40.676 Ludwig Gorenson. Over the past decade, he's won three Grammys, 0:01:40.716 --> 0:01:45.076 two Emmys, and one Academy Award for Best Original Score 0:01:45.196 --> 0:01:49.636 for the film Black Panther, directed by Ryan Kugler. In fact, 0:01:49.916 --> 0:01:53.956 he's scored all of Kugler's films dating back to Fruitvale Station. 0:01:54.596 --> 0:01:57.756 When he's not working as a composer. He's producing records 0:01:57.796 --> 0:02:00.516 and writing hit songs for some of the most beloved 0:02:00.716 --> 0:02:06.716 musicians today hi am Rihanna Adele and most consistently, Donald 0:02:06.716 --> 0:02:13.076 Glover aka Childish Gambino. But his latest collaboration might be 0:02:13.196 --> 0:02:17.116 his most ambitious to date, creating the score for Christopher 0:02:17.116 --> 0:02:21.436 Nolan's newest epic, Oppenheimer. The film tells the story of 0:02:21.516 --> 0:02:27.356 the complex and controversial American scientist Jay Robert Oppenheimer as 0:02:27.396 --> 0:02:30.716 he races against the clock to develop the atomic bomb. 0:02:31.196 --> 0:02:33.676 While each of the performances from a cast that includes 0:02:33.996 --> 0:02:38.636 Killian Murphy and Robert Downey Junior are electric, it's Ludwig's 0:02:38.636 --> 0:02:42.316 singular composition that I think both pushes the film forward 0:02:42.636 --> 0:02:46.316 and holds it all together. Nolan himself has called the 0:02:46.356 --> 0:02:51.996 work deeply personal and historically expansive, drawing the audience into 0:02:51.996 --> 0:02:55.436 the emotional dilemmas of the characters while they each grapple 0:02:55.516 --> 0:03:00.196 with the vast geopolitical issues at play. Having seen the 0:03:00.236 --> 0:03:04.236 film twice now, it's Ludwig's score that has most stayed 0:03:04.276 --> 0:03:09.796 with me. It's powerful but not overpowering, tender but not saccharin. 0:03:10.156 --> 0:03:12.556 If you haven't seen the film, you'll hear some of 0:03:12.596 --> 0:03:16.436 what I'm talking about. In this episode, we also discuss 0:03:16.516 --> 0:03:20.036 his musical childhood in Sweden, coming to America in his 0:03:20.116 --> 0:03:24.196 early twenties, the building blocks of his decade long collaborations 0:03:24.196 --> 0:03:27.796 with Koogler and Glover, respectively, and how his work on 0:03:27.876 --> 0:03:33.076 Oppenheimer marks a new chapter in the composer's varied, illustrious career. 0:03:34.916 --> 0:03:54.356 This is my conversation with Ludwig Gorenson. Ludwig A pleasure 0:03:54.396 --> 0:03:54.876 to have here. 0:03:55.236 --> 0:03:56.876 Thank you, Sam. It's great to be here. 0:03:57.156 --> 0:04:00.116 You know, we rarely have someone on the show whose 0:04:00.236 --> 0:04:01.876 hair is longer than mine? 0:04:02.796 --> 0:04:03.876 And how do you feel about that? 0:04:04.036 --> 0:04:05.236 Profoundly insecure. 0:04:06.996 --> 0:04:09.636 I've been thinking a lot about it lately, Sake cut 0:04:09.636 --> 0:04:11.796 it off or should I keep it? But now I've 0:04:11.876 --> 0:04:14.116 passed the stage where I'm like, I don't know too 0:04:14.236 --> 0:04:16.796 much of my personality in it and my identity. 0:04:16.956 --> 0:04:19.236 Are you afraid of like the new person you would 0:04:19.276 --> 0:04:20.916 become if you cut your hair. 0:04:21.236 --> 0:04:23.676 I'm not afraid of that. I'm more afraid of like 0:04:23.756 --> 0:04:28.716 everyone losing interest in me. That's it. 0:04:28.796 --> 0:04:33.436 Ryan Coogler, Donald Glover, Christopher Nolan. They're just in it 0:04:33.556 --> 0:04:34.876 for the hair they don't have. 0:04:37.196 --> 0:04:37.996 That's the secret. 0:04:38.556 --> 0:04:41.396 How has your summer been back home in Sweden. 0:04:42.076 --> 0:04:44.756 It's been incredible. This is the first time and I 0:04:44.836 --> 0:04:47.596 moved to America about fifteen years ago, and this is 0:04:47.636 --> 0:04:50.116 the first time when I'm in Sweden, my home country, 0:04:50.116 --> 0:04:52.756 for more than like a week at a time. I've 0:04:52.756 --> 0:04:54.956 been here for three months now. It's great. I mean, 0:04:54.996 --> 0:04:56.996 the biggest reason why I want to spend more time 0:04:57.036 --> 0:05:00.396 here now specifically because my kids. I have an almost 0:05:00.396 --> 0:05:03.156 four year old and a two year old, and I 0:05:03.356 --> 0:05:05.996 just want them to have the Swedish identity and want 0:05:06.036 --> 0:05:08.596 them to be able to speak the language fluently. And 0:05:08.796 --> 0:05:10.396 so it's it's important. 0:05:10.476 --> 0:05:12.876 Being back home. Has it forced you to kind of 0:05:12.916 --> 0:05:16.916 like reflect on the last fifteen years of working in America. 0:05:17.636 --> 0:05:20.836 Yeah, I don't know who I am here yet a 0:05:20.836 --> 0:05:24.076 little bit. I feel like everything around me here has changed, 0:05:24.756 --> 0:05:27.516 and I'm a different person. I never had a professional 0:05:27.516 --> 0:05:31.356 career in Sweden. ALSOLD was a student or the kid, 0:05:32.036 --> 0:05:35.076 so me coming back as someone that has some kind 0:05:35.076 --> 0:05:38.036 of work experience and just trying to kind of navigate 0:05:38.276 --> 0:05:40.636 life here. And I feel like a lot of things 0:05:40.676 --> 0:05:43.436 in Sweden changed too the last fifteen years. So I'm 0:05:43.476 --> 0:05:45.876 still trying to find the balance and trying to find 0:05:45.916 --> 0:05:48.756 myself here. But it's an exciting time to do that. 0:05:49.156 --> 0:05:52.836 Well, it's been an especially exciting summer for you because 0:05:53.236 --> 0:05:56.036 I don't know if you've been reading, but people seem 0:05:56.036 --> 0:05:59.356 to be liking Oppenheimer. It's brought them back to the movies, 0:06:00.276 --> 0:06:04.436 the Barbenheimer phenomenon. I don't know how it happened, but 0:06:04.476 --> 0:06:07.836 I'm glad it did. In the film, there is roughly 0:06:07.916 --> 0:06:11.636 two and a half hours of original music, which some 0:06:11.756 --> 0:06:16.596 publications have reported you made in five days. How does 0:06:16.636 --> 0:06:19.716 someone make something like this in five days? 0:06:20.276 --> 0:06:23.476 Well, I think start off, some of that publication is 0:06:23.556 --> 0:06:26.836 not that correct beautiful to go back, you can't this 0:06:26.876 --> 0:06:29.396 is not puzzible during five days. It was published that 0:06:30.116 --> 0:06:33.236 recorded the music in five days, which is also not 0:06:33.356 --> 0:06:36.716 true because I recorded this for about six months with 0:06:36.796 --> 0:06:41.996 different musicians like string quartet, string octet, soloists. But when 0:06:41.996 --> 0:06:44.676 I had the whole orchestra together in the same room, 0:06:44.836 --> 0:06:48.036 that amount was five days. The recording process, when you 0:06:48.196 --> 0:06:50.476 record the full orchestra together, that's kind of the last 0:06:50.556 --> 0:06:53.396 piece of the puzzle. So that's the last final stage 0:06:53.396 --> 0:06:57.156 of putting together a film score. The hard work is 0:06:57.356 --> 0:07:00.996 often way before that. So normally when you hear the 0:07:01.076 --> 0:07:04.636 orcst are playing the score, that's like the climax of 0:07:04.636 --> 0:07:06.596 the whole process, when you can kind of take a 0:07:06.596 --> 0:07:08.756 step back and just listen to the music, almost like 0:07:08.796 --> 0:07:11.116 seeing or the birth of your child or something. 0:07:11.396 --> 0:07:13.316 Well, if that's the climax, why don't we just go 0:07:13.436 --> 0:07:15.236 back to Act one? Mm? 0:07:15.316 --> 0:07:15.396 Hm. 0:07:15.596 --> 0:07:18.196 You get a call from Christopher Nolan, he says one. 0:07:18.836 --> 0:07:22.876 He says, I finished a script and I'd love for 0:07:22.916 --> 0:07:24.676 you to read it, and can you can buy and 0:07:24.716 --> 0:07:27.436 read it tomorrow or in two days. Chris is kind 0:07:27.436 --> 0:07:29.436 of in a way where he doesn't really talk about 0:07:29.436 --> 0:07:32.076 what he's working on, even though we spend time together 0:07:32.116 --> 0:07:34.836 and we talk and by HESTI were like, oh, think 0:07:34.876 --> 0:07:37.636 about writing this, and this is about this. So it's 0:07:37.676 --> 0:07:40.316 always kind of a call out of the blue. So 0:07:40.356 --> 0:07:42.396 I get the call, I go out to the studio, 0:07:42.596 --> 0:07:45.356 I go into a room, close the door, and sit 0:07:45.396 --> 0:07:47.676 with the script for as much time as I need. 0:07:48.196 --> 0:07:51.476 And this is a pretty heavy script. I had no 0:07:51.556 --> 0:07:53.796 idea what it was going to be about, and so 0:07:53.876 --> 0:07:58.596 I immediately get just sucked into the story. And it's 0:07:58.636 --> 0:08:02.356 like into Oppenheimer and the character and the way that 0:08:02.396 --> 0:08:06.036 the script is written is from Oppenheimer's point of view. 0:08:06.076 --> 0:08:09.356 Everything you're living the world through his eyes. So that 0:08:09.476 --> 0:08:13.836 was something that I was quickly taken by surprise to 0:08:13.916 --> 0:08:16.916 read something like that, and I was completely floored after 0:08:16.956 --> 0:08:19.716 I read that script, and immediately also thought that the 0:08:19.796 --> 0:08:21.676 music needs to kind of do the same thing and 0:08:21.716 --> 0:08:23.676 the same experience I had when reading it. Then music 0:08:23.716 --> 0:08:26.916 needs to get the audience to feel like they're in 0:08:26.956 --> 0:08:29.516 his eyes and feeling everything he is feeling. 0:08:30.196 --> 0:08:34.316 The first step or the only specific instrument he wanted 0:08:35.036 --> 0:08:39.116 was the violin, which, as I understand that you don't 0:08:39.236 --> 0:08:43.836 play the violin, but your wife does when you drive 0:08:43.916 --> 0:08:47.116 back home, what's the pitch you make to her? 0:08:49.076 --> 0:08:52.356 Well, it was kind of after I read the script 0:08:52.916 --> 0:08:55.436 and secrets. Actually it was not until a few days 0:08:55.516 --> 0:08:57.436 later when he went to his house and we talked 0:08:57.436 --> 0:09:00.756 about it, and it was also we talked about the script, 0:09:00.796 --> 0:09:04.716 we listened to music, we talked about movies, and that's 0:09:04.756 --> 0:09:07.076 when he kind of mentioned that I don't really have 0:09:07.156 --> 0:09:11.196 any ideas other than trying to use an experiment with 0:09:11.236 --> 0:09:14.436 the sound of violin. And Chris also knows Serena and 0:09:14.476 --> 0:09:17.156 my wife, so he knows that she's a violinist, and 0:09:18.436 --> 0:09:20.916 we kind of have that advantage to being in the 0:09:20.956 --> 0:09:24.636 studio with her and an experiment and try out some 0:09:24.676 --> 0:09:29.276 different techniques and spend time on just sounds. Was definitely 0:09:29.356 --> 0:09:30.396 a luxury. 0:09:30.556 --> 0:09:32.756 You two working on it before you bring in this 0:09:32.836 --> 0:09:35.756 big orchestra that you're talking about. Do you remember a 0:09:35.836 --> 0:09:37.916 moment where it kind of started to click. 0:09:38.516 --> 0:09:41.196 I remember we've been recording the whole day, just different 0:09:41.276 --> 0:09:44.956 kind of glissandos, just one note, little vibratos and long 0:09:45.036 --> 0:09:47.956 notes and doing glazanos up and down and changing the 0:09:47.996 --> 0:09:51.356 pitch and changing the speed of the vibrato, going from 0:09:51.396 --> 0:09:55.876 something somber and beautiful something horrific within seconds. And then 0:09:56.116 --> 0:09:57.756 I think, after a whole day of recording that we're 0:09:57.796 --> 0:09:59.836 kind of both like, okay, this is this is not 0:09:59.916 --> 0:10:04.396 that fun, Like sitting there for hours wearing noises and 0:10:04.436 --> 0:10:06.076 we're like, okay, well we had to go home to 0:10:06.316 --> 0:10:09.676 the kids. I remember I was like putting down something 0:10:09.716 --> 0:10:12.916 on the piano really quick. It took me like five minutes, 0:10:13.356 --> 0:10:14.996 and I was like, why don't we just record this 0:10:15.356 --> 0:10:18.516 idea over this bassline that I wrote? And she played 0:10:18.516 --> 0:10:23.836 the melody in one take and it was beautiful and 0:10:23.956 --> 0:10:28.796 haunting and intimate and kind of sad and fragile. And 0:10:29.156 --> 0:10:32.436 we recorded that within ten minutes, and I sent it 0:10:32.476 --> 0:10:34.836 immediately over to Chris and then he called me later 0:10:34.876 --> 0:10:37.236 that night and he was like, this is an open 0:10:37.276 --> 0:10:38.716 Emer's theme. I think that's the theme. 0:10:39.516 --> 0:10:43.236 Well, since we're telling this story not exactly in chronological order, 0:10:43.636 --> 0:10:46.876 which is kind of fitting I think for Christopher Nolan work, 0:10:47.316 --> 0:10:50.196 why don't we play the titular track from the film 0:10:50.876 --> 0:12:04.076 Oppenheimer not bad? 0:12:06.196 --> 0:12:06.516 Thank you? 0:12:07.076 --> 0:12:09.316 What were you thinking about hearing that just now? 0:12:10.156 --> 0:12:12.796 It brings back a lot of memories, because you know, 0:12:12.996 --> 0:12:15.396 we're trying to find the tone of the of the movie, 0:12:15.436 --> 0:12:18.476 and I remember that the way I want I wanted 0:12:18.476 --> 0:12:21.316 to try to find it was to really find emotional 0:12:21.356 --> 0:12:24.956 core of the music instead of focusing on kind of 0:12:24.996 --> 0:12:27.916 like the sounds and production. And I always try to 0:12:27.956 --> 0:12:30.716 have a different way to go about how to start 0:12:30.716 --> 0:12:33.156 a project. I always try to do it a different way. 0:12:33.156 --> 0:12:34.876 I always want to feel like I'm doing something for 0:12:34.916 --> 0:12:37.436 the first time. But it was it was just so 0:12:37.476 --> 0:12:41.196 interesting that that probably like after writing two three hours 0:12:41.196 --> 0:12:44.676 of music and trying really different type of compositions and 0:12:45.196 --> 0:12:47.876 this piece that was just kind of one more simple 0:12:48.676 --> 0:12:49.916 was the one that really stuck. 0:12:50.396 --> 0:12:53.396 And then your wife recorded the song that you wrote. 0:12:53.596 --> 0:12:55.236 You know, I wrote it as we were kind of 0:12:55.276 --> 0:12:57.876 packing up the packing up from the pseudo to go home, 0:12:57.916 --> 0:13:00.636 and we're kind of in a rush, and I started 0:13:00.636 --> 0:13:05.556 with that baseline. They form a baseline, and then we 0:13:05.636 --> 0:13:07.596 have the melody on top of it, and the other 0:13:07.636 --> 0:13:10.676 melody that hears is countermelody to the original melody. 0:13:11.356 --> 0:13:15.396 When you're in the process of creating this elaborate score, 0:13:15.916 --> 0:13:20.036 it's fascinating that the thing that landed most, the emotional 0:13:20.076 --> 0:13:23.236 core that you were looking at, it came about when 0:13:23.276 --> 0:13:27.236 the two of you were rushed anxious to get back home, 0:13:27.916 --> 0:13:30.876 thinking about your kids, probably more than you were thinking 0:13:30.876 --> 0:13:35.676 about putting down this track. In that process. Have you 0:13:35.716 --> 0:13:40.156 found that that typically happens like when you're not expecting it, 0:13:40.156 --> 0:13:41.396 It kind of finds. 0:13:41.036 --> 0:13:44.556 You absolutely, especially when you've done you know, you've been 0:13:44.556 --> 0:13:47.116 doing something for a long time. In a day, you've 0:13:47.156 --> 0:13:49.396 been writing, or you've been recording with your band, you've 0:13:49.396 --> 0:13:51.836 done it for ten hours, like the last two or 0:13:51.836 --> 0:13:55.396 three hours, everything's going to start sounding bad. It's like 0:13:55.516 --> 0:13:58.876 your head gets tired and you start to criticize yourself. 0:13:58.876 --> 0:14:01.916 I like, there's all this noise coming into your minds, 0:14:01.916 --> 0:14:04.076 your brain, and like this voice is telling you that 0:14:04.236 --> 0:14:07.156 you know, telling you what telling it Like you're like, oh, 0:14:07.196 --> 0:14:08.716 this is not good, this is not you know, it's 0:14:08.756 --> 0:14:10.836 time to go home with ten rap up. But a 0:14:10.876 --> 0:14:14.116 lot of those times that's also when the magic can happen. 0:14:14.716 --> 0:14:19.276 Well, I want to pinpoint when this like magic started 0:14:19.276 --> 0:14:22.236 happening for you, because, like we said at the top, 0:14:22.596 --> 0:14:26.396 you're back home in Sweden, which is where you came 0:14:26.436 --> 0:14:30.276 of age in a pretty musical household. Your father was 0:14:30.316 --> 0:14:33.596 a guitar teacher, your mother a florist and a pianist. 0:14:33.996 --> 0:14:37.156 Even your sister was musical, she played the violin. You, 0:14:37.236 --> 0:14:39.796 of course, began playing music at the age of seven. 0:14:39.996 --> 0:14:42.836 I think it was yeah, you wrote once, I've been 0:14:42.836 --> 0:14:47.396 making music every day since then and tomorrow. But my 0:14:47.596 --> 0:14:50.476 understanding is that the only reason you started playing the 0:14:50.516 --> 0:14:56.036 guitar was because your parents refused to buy you video games, 0:14:56.436 --> 0:14:59.876 which is what you kind of wanted like every young kid, 0:14:59.916 --> 0:15:04.276 and instead of a gaming console, you received a small, portable, 0:15:04.396 --> 0:15:07.356 four channel cassette tape. Is that how this all began? 0:15:07.996 --> 0:15:11.676 Yeah, that's how my music production and songwriting came about. 0:15:11.876 --> 0:15:14.316 When I was about six or seven, I started sitting 0:15:14.316 --> 0:15:17.436 down with my dad ten fifteen minutes every day, just 0:15:17.476 --> 0:15:20.396 some alone time and just playing some very simple songs 0:15:20.796 --> 0:15:23.556 on guitar. And I didn't have any opinion really about 0:15:23.556 --> 0:15:25.876 it was nice to spend some alone time with my dad. 0:15:26.316 --> 0:15:29.036 But then two years later, I think it was my 0:15:29.116 --> 0:15:31.676 birthday and I was like so excited. I was finally 0:15:31.676 --> 0:15:33.836 it's going to be a Nintendo in the car waiting 0:15:33.836 --> 0:15:38.676 for me, like a secret package, and then I got 0:15:38.676 --> 0:15:41.716 it four track tape recorder instead. We put it up 0:15:41.756 --> 0:15:45.716 in the basement and I never left. And then every 0:15:45.756 --> 0:15:47.876 birthday it was just another thing like a drum machine 0:15:48.036 --> 0:15:51.476 or eight track digital recorder or a new guitar, and 0:15:51.516 --> 0:15:55.796 it's always something musical that replaced those urges of video 0:15:55.796 --> 0:15:56.716 game consoles. 0:15:56.996 --> 0:16:00.476 Was there a particular day and a particular song by 0:16:00.636 --> 0:16:04.476 an American metal band that kind of fortified your desire 0:16:04.796 --> 0:16:06.636 to make music? It was. 0:16:06.636 --> 0:16:08.836 Actually the way it came about was that my dad, 0:16:08.956 --> 0:16:11.436 he's a guitar teacher. So when he started out as 0:16:11.476 --> 0:16:13.876 a classical guitar teacher, and then you start playing blues 0:16:13.996 --> 0:16:16.636 and they love, you know, blues and soul. And then 0:16:16.836 --> 0:16:20.436 one day he's guitar students gave him a Metallica album 0:16:20.476 --> 0:16:22.396 and asked him if you could teach them how to 0:16:22.436 --> 0:16:24.836 play these songs, and he was like, no way, like 0:16:24.836 --> 0:16:27.516 I hate this music. And then but he took it 0:16:27.596 --> 0:16:29.716 home and he wanted to be a good teacher. So 0:16:29.716 --> 0:16:31.076 I was like, okay, I'm going to learn this so 0:16:31.076 --> 0:16:33.596 I could teach him how to play this. I remember 0:16:33.676 --> 0:16:36.836 being a kid and just hearing like a crazy noise 0:16:36.836 --> 0:16:39.396 from the basement where the studio was, and I go 0:16:39.476 --> 0:16:41.956 downstairs and I open the door and I see my 0:16:42.076 --> 0:16:46.796 dad like head bang Metallica play in semin and like 0:16:46.836 --> 0:16:49.996 my mind is exploded. Its like what is this sound? Is? 0:16:50.116 --> 0:16:51.876 What is this music? How can I play it? 0:16:52.036 --> 0:16:53.756 Had you ever seen him headbang before? 0:16:54.196 --> 0:16:57.316 No? I never seen him like that, like unleashed. And 0:16:57.636 --> 0:16:59.396 since I already knew how to play a little guitar, 0:16:59.636 --> 0:17:02.276 I could pretty quickly like pick it up and start 0:17:02.276 --> 0:17:04.796 playing the riffs and stuff and then the solo. So 0:17:04.876 --> 0:17:07.116 obviously I had to practice a lot. But then it 0:17:07.196 --> 0:17:08.876 became a thing like we got me and my dad 0:17:08.916 --> 0:17:11.716 went see them live. We started playing the songs together. 0:17:11.916 --> 0:17:14.716 I started a band. I was all in from that moment. 0:17:14.956 --> 0:17:18.316 Were your parents like excited that this was your obsession 0:17:18.716 --> 0:17:20.836 that you would like stay in the basement and just 0:17:20.876 --> 0:17:21.676 like stay in it? 0:17:22.196 --> 0:17:25.156 Yeah, there were my They were my biggest fans and supporders. 0:17:25.316 --> 0:17:27.996 Like I'm thinking back at it now, like I started 0:17:27.996 --> 0:17:30.956 a band and my dad was He arranged for us 0:17:30.956 --> 0:17:33.396 to play on the on the square of our hometown. 0:17:33.796 --> 0:17:36.316 He set up our instruments, he drove us around, he 0:17:36.396 --> 0:17:38.836 opened up the rehearsal space, you know, all the time. 0:17:39.476 --> 0:17:41.156 I just now, I just at that time took for 0:17:41.196 --> 0:17:43.836 granted like that's what you know parents do. But now 0:17:43.956 --> 0:17:47.476 thinking back at it, just every weekend, how much he 0:17:47.556 --> 0:17:50.036 kind of spend his time and energy on that. That's 0:17:50.076 --> 0:17:50.996 pretty remarkable. 0:17:51.316 --> 0:17:53.236 When you're in high school and fall in love with 0:17:53.236 --> 0:17:57.596 like American rock and roll, when did you discover the 0:17:57.676 --> 0:17:59.916 possibilities of film scoring. 0:18:00.316 --> 0:18:02.716 I think a big part of that was like Napster, 0:18:03.036 --> 0:18:05.716 and it was a program called DC plus plus. 0:18:05.836 --> 0:18:07.076 I don't remember that one. 0:18:06.956 --> 0:18:09.876 Okay, Yeah, he allowed me to if I found a 0:18:09.916 --> 0:18:12.276 song that I liked on Napster, I could click on 0:18:12.316 --> 0:18:14.756 the user and then I could go into that user's 0:18:14.796 --> 0:18:17.676 like sound libraries or music libraries, and I could just 0:18:17.756 --> 0:18:20.156 pull that user his or hers whole library to my 0:18:20.196 --> 0:18:23.676 computer and find music that like I had never heard of. 0:18:23.876 --> 0:18:26.236 Some of that music was like like Boston and music, 0:18:26.316 --> 0:18:28.956 some of it was Turkish music from different parts of 0:18:29.036 --> 0:18:31.916 the world, and some of it was also film scores, 0:18:31.996 --> 0:18:33.996 and that was really fun for me, like listening over 0:18:34.036 --> 0:18:35.836 and over to like the mc ivory theme song on 0:18:36.236 --> 0:18:39.956 the Turtles theme songs. And I think the big part 0:18:39.956 --> 0:18:42.916 of it also was like technology, Like I liked being 0:18:42.956 --> 0:18:45.516 on the computer and finding this type of music, and 0:18:45.556 --> 0:18:49.156 I also had program in my computer call like Impulse Tracker. 0:18:49.676 --> 0:18:52.436 It was like the first type of sequence there where 0:18:52.756 --> 0:18:54.756 you don't have like an arrange window. You have is 0:18:54.756 --> 0:18:58.236 everything's just zeros and ones and numbers. So basically when 0:18:58.236 --> 0:19:01.076 we play the song, it just looks like a like 0:19:01.116 --> 0:19:04.156 a crazy like screen of just numbers up and down. 0:19:04.476 --> 0:19:07.196 And that's how I made my first kind of songs 0:19:07.196 --> 0:19:10.236 on the computer. And then obviously I went to qbas 0:19:10.276 --> 0:19:12.756 and logic and all that stuff, But being part of 0:19:12.916 --> 0:19:15.796 the thing that excited me was also how the production 0:19:15.916 --> 0:19:17.716 of it and using technology. 0:19:17.836 --> 0:19:19.476 Have you listened back to any of those. 0:19:19.676 --> 0:19:22.436 No, and I don't want, I don't feel like what. 0:19:24.436 --> 0:19:28.236 Your debut as an orchestral composer came at the age 0:19:28.276 --> 0:19:33.436 of seventeen. It was called five Minutes to Christmas. The 0:19:33.556 --> 0:19:36.956 night that that was performed. What happened. 0:19:37.596 --> 0:19:40.796 It was kind of out of body experience because you 0:19:40.796 --> 0:19:43.836 were seventeen years old. The only time you've had your 0:19:43.916 --> 0:19:46.756 music performed is with your band with three or four people. 0:19:47.516 --> 0:19:51.476 And then the fact that like sitting and writing orchestral scores, 0:19:51.716 --> 0:19:53.236 we had an opportunity. We had a great school, so 0:19:53.236 --> 0:19:55.636 I had an opportunity to write for the symphony orchestra, 0:19:55.676 --> 0:19:57.316 and I was one of the few chosen from the 0:19:57.316 --> 0:19:59.796 class to do it. And since we had such a 0:19:59.836 --> 0:20:02.236 good education, I already knew how to write it, you know, 0:20:02.276 --> 0:20:05.196 by hand, and write down the sheet music by hand. 0:20:05.876 --> 0:20:07.676 And I was sitting in by the piano in our 0:20:07.716 --> 0:20:10.156 living room and just writing that the whole summer. It 0:20:10.236 --> 0:20:12.556 was very inspired by Star Wars and night ran before 0:20:12.636 --> 0:20:15.356 Christmas and had like Slabeles in it, and kind of 0:20:15.356 --> 0:20:17.796 a Darth Vader theme in it. Not that great, but 0:20:18.316 --> 0:20:21.956 you could clearly hear what the inspiration was. And then yeah, 0:20:21.996 --> 0:20:24.956 I was opening We opened it during a school concert 0:20:25.156 --> 0:20:27.436 and there was the whole concert hall was full of 0:20:27.436 --> 0:20:31.156 people and they played my music and it was really 0:20:31.236 --> 0:20:34.756 wild because everyone loved it so much, and like they 0:20:34.796 --> 0:20:38.076 played it on the Swedish radio and it really made 0:20:38.116 --> 0:20:41.356 me feel special. But the big take up and that 0:20:41.556 --> 0:20:44.996 was to hearing your music being performed by seventy people 0:20:45.476 --> 0:20:48.356 in a concert hall, to live audience, and just the 0:20:48.556 --> 0:20:51.236 feeling of that. It was like, how I just asked 0:20:51.236 --> 0:20:52.996 myself over and over again, how can I do this 0:20:53.436 --> 0:20:54.756 for the rest of my life? And how can I 0:20:54.796 --> 0:20:56.676 be able to do this as a. 0:20:56.676 --> 0:21:26.956 Job After the break More from Ludvig Gorenson coming back, 0:21:27.556 --> 0:21:32.436 we were talking about the five Minutes before Christmas orchestral 0:21:32.516 --> 0:21:36.436 piece that you put together. You then studied jazz improvisation 0:21:36.596 --> 0:21:41.116 at the Royal College School of Music before eventually moving 0:21:41.196 --> 0:21:44.076 to the US at the age of twenty two in 0:21:44.116 --> 0:21:48.396 pursuit of your masters at USC here in Los Angeles. 0:21:49.076 --> 0:21:51.196 This I think was in the fall of two thousand 0:21:51.236 --> 0:21:55.396 and seven, a period that you once described as a 0:21:55.596 --> 0:21:59.796 very difficult time in my life. What did that look like? 0:22:02.036 --> 0:22:07.316 Just crying every night and missing my life that I 0:22:07.356 --> 0:22:10.116 had in Sweden and very lonely. 0:22:10.196 --> 0:22:12.236 That is the opening of Oppenheimer. 0:22:12.476 --> 0:22:15.236 Yeah, it is, it is. I had those times. And 0:22:15.676 --> 0:22:17.756 then the funny thing is that I had that already 0:22:17.836 --> 0:22:20.156 happened once in my life, Like when I was fifteen, 0:22:20.556 --> 0:22:22.356 I moved to Stockholm. I lived in a smaller city 0:22:22.356 --> 0:22:25.356 and I moved to Stockholm. I started like a music high school, 0:22:25.876 --> 0:22:28.516 and then at that time I met, I moved home again. 0:22:28.556 --> 0:22:30.236 So I gave up and like I moved back home. 0:22:30.276 --> 0:22:32.716 And then I always kind of like regretted that decision 0:22:32.956 --> 0:22:34.596 a little bit. I didn't want to do the same 0:22:34.596 --> 0:22:35.116 thing twice. 0:22:35.316 --> 0:22:36.316 You couldn't give up again. 0:22:36.716 --> 0:22:38.836 I couldn't do that. I knew how much I would 0:22:38.916 --> 0:22:42.196 regret it afterwards. I feel like la is probably like 0:22:42.356 --> 0:22:45.196 one of the loneliest city in the world. Everything is 0:22:45.276 --> 0:22:47.396 just so difficult to know where to go. You have 0:22:47.476 --> 0:22:49.836 to plan everything if you don't have a car. But 0:22:49.956 --> 0:22:52.276 the school, I mean, the school was great and it 0:22:52.316 --> 0:22:55.596 was competitive. The professors and that's why I wanted to 0:22:55.636 --> 0:22:58.756 go there. The professors are all professional, and I think 0:22:58.796 --> 0:23:01.996 one of the things that was difficult was that the homesickness, 0:23:02.076 --> 0:23:04.876 Like I didn't understand what that was either, Like I 0:23:04.876 --> 0:23:07.636 didn't know why I was having all those feelings. I 0:23:07.716 --> 0:23:10.436 was just confused, why am I feel like this? I 0:23:10.476 --> 0:23:13.156 could navigate it and not being in control of that, 0:23:13.236 --> 0:23:13.956 and that. 0:23:13.916 --> 0:23:15.516 Was very scary. What do you mean scary? 0:23:15.836 --> 0:23:20.076 Just not just it's almost something like a jealousy, if 0:23:20.156 --> 0:23:22.596 you know, jealousy is like a feeling you can control, 0:23:22.956 --> 0:23:25.196 at least for me, I remember the times when I 0:23:25.236 --> 0:23:28.356 had those feelings that are extremely jealous. Through something like that, 0:23:28.396 --> 0:23:30.436 it's just eats that you or it comes like a 0:23:30.476 --> 0:23:33.076 big hole in your stomach, and that's what it was 0:23:33.076 --> 0:23:35.116