Westlake remembers being commissioned to write the score for Babe 20 years ago. “The creators had already commissioned a score from a Hollywood composer who didn’t want to make any changes,” he says. “It wasn’t what they wanted, so they auditioned some local composers. They gave me a video with three or four scenes and I took the footage home, started playing it and fell in love with these crazy characters – farmer Hoggett, the pig. I was so excited I didn’t sleep for a week while I was working on my submission. A week later I was offered the job.”
Westlake might describe being commissioned to compose the score for Babe as “a great stroke of luck,” but he was already making a name for himself as a composer. Since the film’s release, he’s written scores for numerous documentaries and feature films, including Children of the Revolution (1996), Miss Potter (2006), and the Babe sequel,Babe: Pig in the City (1998).
In spite of his close involvement with Babe, Westlake still genuinely enjoys the film. “When the movie came out I paid my $12 to go and see it like everyone else,” he says. “I really love this film and I didn’t want to get sick of it, so I didn’t see it again until now. It’s so beautifully made, shot so beautifully by Andrew Lesnie [who died last month, sadly]. The characters, the story – it all really holds up after 20 years. I’m so excited to have the opportunity to present it with a live orchestra in the concert hall. Revisiting Babe, performing live, I’m so delighted to be part of this tribute to the movie.”
Westlake explains how a conductor prepares for a recital. “It comes from what happens in rehearsal. I’ve conducted the MSO a number of times in the last year and have been building a relationship, so the orchestra responds better. I have a conducting mentor, Ben Northey, the Associate Conductor with the MSO, who’s also friend. He shows me patterns and choreography and I go away and practice.”
The audience watches what a conductor does on stage in front of an orchestra, but there’s something very mysterious about how conducting actually works. “In this instance conducting has a much more practical application,” says Westlake. “The music needs to be totally synchronised with the picture so I have a version of the film in front of me playing on the podium and there’s a flashing light to keep the tempo. That’s how I transfer information to the orchestra. So it’s not quite as esoteric as all that.”
Another joyful aspect of the Babe 20th anniversary concerts is that many of the original musicians who played on the soundtrack in 1995 are actually still members of the MSO. “It’s wonderful, for sure,” says Westlake. “The principal woodwind, principal oboe, principal trumpet, all of the percussion section were there then, and a number of the string players also. It’s great to see them all again. It’s brought back many fond memories. The music is challenging to play, it’s a big score, 80 minutes, and it’s detailed like the score to an old-school animation, but I know the MSO will rise to the occasion.”
BY LIZA DEZFOULI
