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Extract from the interview
BSOSpirit: The last decade drew to its close, musically speaking, with Shergar (1999), a stableboy-and-horse tale that was loosely based on an actual IRA’s 1983 horsenapping of a Derby winner. Despite some beautifully melodic cues in the second half of the score, the first section is quite dark, atmospheric and even violent. How do you tackle the challenge of putting the audience into a rather sombre mood, so to speak?
John Scot: This is an example of dissonant dirty music which I enjoy writing. In films one can do this and it is quite acceptable. The opening of Shergar portrays ruthless para-militaries who will stop at nothing to achieve their aims. It is a terrifying sequence. Can you imagine the mind of a man who doesn’t think twice about shooting dogs and then is quite prepared to shoot a man and a woman who have been woken up from sleep to find a gun in their face? You don’t write uplifting music for such a sequence.
I enjoyed the experience of working on this film. Dennis Lewiston, who wrote and directed the film, confided to me that he used to listen to Vaughan Williams’s Oboe Concerto while he was writing the script. He suggested that this might be a starting point for the music. And indeed it was. By the way, I have Celtic blood. My mother was Irish and the Irish element in the music flows in my veins.
Full Interview in BSOSpirit — Interview with John Scott (http://www.bsospirit.com/entrevistas/johnscott2_e.php)