An extensive radio interview with composer James Horner on his score for James Cameron’s Avatar is now available for streaming and download at Film Music Magazine. The nearly 30 minute interview is the most in-depth look at the score available so far.

Cameron wanted the sound to be as “revolutionary” as the film itself, which resulted in Horner having to come up with a combination of musical colours that was truly unique. Horner says that although Cameron wanted a score that “was as stunning as his visuals”, Horner felt that he still had to write a score that had to connect with audiences in a conventional way. “Audiences seem to be much more capable of absorbing new visuals and things that are much more outrageous or avant garde visually – aurally, audiences are much more conservative,” Horner says. “If I went as far as Jim did visually, and started to use all kinds of weird scales for the music and made it too avant garde or too out of the box, I would be ungrounding the film… Obviously I’m still writing film music, so it still has to appeal to a film audience in a conventional way.”

Horner also speaks very candidly about the current state of film music in general, in particular the lack of filmmakers who champion melodic writing and film scores that connect with audiences on a deeper level.

Link: Tune in for the full interview here!