I love Clair de Lune," Bella tells Edward as he shows her his bedroom. It's a scene that should be charged with raging teenage hormones, except this is Edward and Bella and little is like any other teenage romance. Even as early as this scene in the four book epic saga, their future is filled with doubt and uncertainty, as they desperately try to hold on to the present. But it, too, is filled with foreboding...and teenage hormones.
It exactly matches my performance of Clair de Lune - the recording they chose for Twilight and a performance that took me thirty years to achieve - early one morning at 3 AM, in my darkened studio, the chilly Benedict Canyon air doing nothing to warm a ghostly visit from young Claude Debussy, still in love and angry at me for treading so indelicately on his masterpiece.
Don't worry, it isn't mental illness, all composers are visited in dreams by their work, and the musicians and writers who populate it. The most famous is Igor Stravinsky whose Rite of Spring came in a dream. He just took dictation.
One night the ghost of young Claude came to visit in a dream and by morning I had the quirkiest, most unpredictable, nearly unrecognizable performance of his famous melody I'd ever heard, played by me or anyone else. It was the mid-90's and I finally "had a life" - a new son, a growing film composing career, and a house in Beverly Hills.
When I finally screwed up my courage to see how Twilight had used my hard-earned performance, I was stunned and humbled by the vision of Stephanie Meyers and the director and actors who brought her story to life ~ humbled at the manner they had brought my performance to life.
It was the first time in 30 years, with music in more than 200 feature films, that not only did the music reveal the emotional storyline but the acting and the story deepened and shed light on the music.
I was stunned by the resplendent performances and the sheer generosity of the character of Edward, the most alluring and romantic leading man to grace the silver screen since it was called "the silver screen". It exactly matched the music - beautiful yet awkward, halting, even fragile, but with an underlying confidence and authority that put the audience at ease. And it was this secret that the ghost of young Claude Debussy divulged to me that chilly Benedict Canyon morning ten years ago: To the degree you have earned self-confidence through your art and your journey, you can take risks and still command the stage and this is what brings the kind of performance universally described as "breathtaking" or "inspiring" and which moves the evolving human spirit onward and upward in its quest and brings us together in the spirit of Love.
Only music and the French can sing the angst of Love with such confidence and nonchalance, which is French for "cool".
All this takes longer to read than it does to hear, another alchemical property of both love and music.
In order to be perfect, Clair de Lune must be imperfect - played with carefully planned, fully felt imperfection. Once Claude gave me that secret, I sat down and played the Twilight performance in one take.
Like Edward's, it is halting, fragile, almost brittle but also like Edward's character, there is an underlying confidence that even with the secret I could not have found that performance until I was ready. I needed the kind of strength that comes from having lived, that all great leading men personify. It includes strong, dominant feminine qualities that revise the perception of their underlying strength without lessening it and occasional bouts of both insecurity and macho insensitivity are the exception that proves the rule. When a confident man becomes afraid the world is likely to hear about it. He acts.
Perhaps that's why action adventure films do well and everything begins in Hollywood with that word: Action!
Despite its beauty then, Clair de Lune is an action adventure melody. Any combination other than risky with underlying confidence strong enough to back it up with hard currency, either scares audiences or bores them. This balance makes them relax for within the very person of the leading man, and his musical underscore, his story, no matter which of the infinite variety of specific story lines, can rest and be expressed.
In Twilight Edward is halting, fragile, but still manly; he is at times rough-hewn but always beautiful, just like Clair de Lune in this performance and yet he is and does these things with an authority that commands the stage so that you can't look away, and you're comfortable with that. In fact, the more confident and imbued with authority the pianist or the actor, the more terrifying, off kilter and edgy his performance can be and still be believed and accepted. This is what performers of previous iterations of Claire de Lune, including mine, were missing, Claude informed me. They were missing how scary and awkward love is, even in the most beautiful melody.
With that factor thrown in, it demands the melody be roughed up a bit, like a violin concerto played (beautifully) on a viola. It is only reason Clair de Lune breaks through into consciousness during that Twilight command performance from the leading man of the century.
Young Claude gifted us with the musical piece he needed, he said, to finally find peace - played so haltingly that it verged on broken, where each phrase was tied to the next with less than a thin thread of time, measured in milliseconds - stretched until it felt lost, then suddenly reattached in thee nick of time, regaining its momentum - but spare, withdrawn, introverted, checking its reflection in the mirror before it got out of control again with lushness and a generosity of spirit that was far from the French's cool - far from non-chalant.
What is so humbling is how the acting, directing and storytelling shed a whole new, expanded light on my work. Now I understand why actors so enthusiastically approach me sometimes after premieres of films I have scored, thanking me.
So, here it is, the piece Atlantic Records forgot. How silly to miss such an amazing synchronicity. They should not be the ones raking in the quadruple platinum money, so I have decided to give $750,000 to the fans and friends who can round up their colleagues who bought those 3 million CDs and didn't get Claire De Lune on it. This is the only place they'll be able to have it without spending $11 at iTunes.
To further benefit Twilight fans this link takes you to the original recording I made at 3 AM that morning back in the 90's. It is the only 24-bit master, ten-thousand times finer than the 16-bit CD the manufacturer struck from it, and which the filmmakers used in the film's soundtrack
But the main reason I am making this available is the immense respect I have for my fellow Twilight fans, who are loyal because they recognize an artistic creation with incredible worth and generosity of spirit, and have responded with all their hearts. Those are the kinds of people I like to have in my life and I invite you all in!
From my heart, expressing the undying devotion Claude Debussy left for his Clair, to my fellow Twilight fans, and to my twelve-year-old son, Skye, the light of my life, this recording is dedicated.
Thank you, those who speak to and for my heart! You are the ones I will always love.
Enjoy - and go
here:
http://www.websitemusicplayer.com/signup_aff.php?vip=5907
and get your cash - please!
Payola in the Day of Paypal:
A $750,000 Kickback Direct to your email address!
You've probably seen the headlines, 'PAYOLA RETURNS TO HOLLYWOOD!" And it's true. Brian's Facebook, MySpace and Real Life friends are looking to receive upwards of $750,000. Consider it retribution for Atlantic Records' refusal to let any of the 3 million fans who bought the CD, making it quadruple platinum the first week and setting fire to all "box office" records Most of my friends need the money and those that don't need the ammo to, as Ivana told all our ex-wives, "Don't get mad, get it all!" The 25% commission from referrals that comes out to 3/4 of a million dollars is paid automatically to any email address to so if you don;t need the money, you can sign up your favorite charity. Whether you sign yourself up or the Girl Scouts so I can keep getting those cookies, it only takes three minutes to divert those funds into your private email account here.
Then, if you like what you hear, please email Stephanie Meyers and tell her. The wedding scene is coming up and if any song could be called "Their Song", it is my performance of Clair. I tried to get her email and was told I'd have to pry it from their cold, dead fingers, so I have to call in some favors and I promise to have it next week without turning into a stalker, promise - although I'm a big enough fans of Twilight, I could see that as a career if music doesn't pan out-lol!
Also, there will be more piano pieces to download from the jukebox if you like these classic hit melodies played on the new 9' Yamaha Concert Grand.
