Craig Armstrong

The Untold History Of The United States

admin — Fri, 17 May 2013 11:20:05 +0000

Craig Armstrong and director Oliver Stone work together again, following Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps on Oliver Stone’s latest project, The Untold History Of The United States.
Armstrong composed original score for the ten episode series exploring key moments in US history, from the reasons behind the Cold War, U.S. President Harry Truman’s decision to drop the atomic bomb on Japan, and changes in America’s global role since the fall of Communism. A re-examination of under reported events in American history.

The Lady From The Sea

admin — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 16:15:15 +0000

Scottish Opera have commissioned a new work from Craig Armstrong to be premiered on the 29th August at Edinburgh International Festival 2012.

Ellida, the daughter of a lighthouse-keeper, lives a narrow life with a husband several years her senior. Full of longing for the sea and for a freedom she does not have, she is shaken from her lethargy when the unexpected arrival of a mysterious stranger creates a storm that threatens to submerge the whole family. He offers an escape from the stifling world she inhabits, and Ellida must decide whether to do her duty or answer the call of the sea…

This re-telling of Ibsen’s darkly beautiful drama unites Craig Armstrong and award winning author Zoë Strachan. Though both have produced work for Five:15 – Operas Made in Scotland, this is the first time they have worked together.

The Lady From The Sea will be conducted by Derek Clark. The opera has been directed by Harry Fehr, stage design by Yannis Thavoris and features film by the video designer Finn Ross.

Eilean – a concert commission with AGF

admin — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 16:41:22 +0000

Eilean – Premiered at the Old Fruitmarket September 23rd September 2011 as part of the Labyrinth of Sound Event.

A new performance work created by Craig Armstrong and AGF.
Craig and Antye met by chance over ten years ago. In the spirit of UNESCO they have created a work in celebration of their long standing creative collaboration.
Antye hails originally from Berlin but now lives on the island of Hailuoto in Finland and Craig is from Shettleston in Glasgow.

‘Eilean’ the title of the work means for them many shared ideas. Any piece of sub-continental land that is surrounded by water can be described as an island. This collaboration explores musically the mystic and the imaginary of being an island and as a human being.

Craig has collected samples from around Scotland and composed for the piano, the collaboration with Antye features digital treatment, voice and visuals.

All images courtesy of Antye Greie

In Time

admin — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 16:14:02 +0000

Armstrong has recently completed the score to director Andrew Niccol’s new film, In Time.
Featuring Justin Timberlake, Amanda Seyfried and Cillian Murphy. The film is set in the future, where people stop ageing at 25 yrs old. The rich “earn” decades at a time becoming essentially immortal, while the rest have to work, beg, borrow or steal enough hours to make it through the day. Will Salas (Justin Timberlake) finds himself accused of murder and on the run with a hostage, a connection that becomes an important part of the war against the system.

This was Armstrong’s first time working with Niccol and of the experience Craig said, “It was a lot of fun and a pleasure to spend time with Andrew, imagining and hopefully creating the emotional landscape that complements his film”.

The film is released in the USA on October 28th and in the UK on 1st November. The score is available from iTunes and is released by Lakeshore Records.

In Time (Original Motion Picture Score)

admin — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 16:00:03 +0000

The original score to Andrew Niccol’s new film In Time was written by Armstrong in his studio in Glasgow and recorded at Air Studios in London in the summer of 2011. It was recorded by Geoff Foster and mixed by Andy Bradfield.

The film is released in the USA on October 28th and in the UK on 1st November. The score is available now from iTunes in the UK and USA and is released by Lakeshore Records.

Macbeth – Royal Shakespeare Company

admin — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 15:05:28 +0000

RSC Artistic Director Michael Boyd directs this new production which is running from 16th April to 6th October 2011 at the RSC Stratford-upon-Avon. Craig Armstrong has contributed compositions to the production. Michael Boyd and Craig Armstrong have a long standing collaborative history beginning with their time at the Tron Theatre in Glasgow in the early 90′s. This is the first new production in the transformed Royal Shakespeare Theatre. Jonathan Slinger plays Macbeth following his acclaimed performances as Richard II and Richard III in the award winning 2006–2008 Histories Cycle.

Riverside Museum: New Work

admin — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 15:02:25 +0000

Glasgow Life commissioned Craig Armstrong to compose a work to be played in the main hall of the new Zaha Hadid Riverside Museum building in Glasgow during a fund raising Gala event. The composition was a 22 minute ambient work using found sounds collected by the Transport Museum. The event was held in March this year to raise funds for the new building which opened on the 21st June 2011. The original Museum of Transport was the second most visited transport museum in the UK.

Love Letter To Japan

admin — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 09:36:29 +0000

‘Love Letter To Japan’ is an album specially compiled by Duglas T Stewart to raise funds for the Japanese relief effort and to send support to the people of Japan. The album will be exclusively available on Bandcamp to buy as a download from April 11th 2011 and will be available for one month only. The album’s tracks come from a wide range of acclaimed Scottish musicians. Craig Armstrong contributed a new track titled ‘Cherry Blossom’.

“Many of us Scottish musicians have received so much love and support over the years from friends and fans in Japan. Now we want to send some love and support back to the people of Japan”

All funds from this release go directly to The Japanese Relief Effort.

1. Snowgoose: Harmony Springs
2. The Pastels: The Pastels: Guest of Honour
3. Hidden Masters: Golden Hair
4. Stevie Jackson: Price of an Education
5. Paul Quinn: Away
6. BMX Bandits (with Yeongene & Tenniscoats): Standing Still
7. Eugenius: Friend or Foe
8. The Pearlfishers: Swan Dreams (live)
9. Bill Wells & Tape: Troublesome Malady
10. Ally Kerr: Could Have Been a Contender
11. Lenzie Moss: Where Eagles Dare
12. St. Deluxe: After the Fire
13. Jo Mango: The Moth and the Moon
14. Alasdair Roberts & Mairi Morrison: Bràdhagair an Taobh Siar
15. Randolph’s Leap: Going Home
16. Craig Armstrong: Cherry Blossom
17. The Starlets (with The Andersens): To Make You Feel Brand New
18. Momus: I Can See Japan

Orlando Album Release

admin — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 15:54:35 +0000

The album was produced by AGF (aka Antye Greie) and features her score collaboration with Craig Armstrong for the Cryptic stage production of Virginia Woolf’s masterpiece, Orlando. The music was written over a period of several months in 2010 between Glasgow and Finland. Field recordings and recordings of classical cello by Alison Lawrance, voice and digital processing are the key elements of this work. Released by AGF Producktion and craigarmstrong.com

Welcome

admin — Sun, 24 Oct 2010 10:38:28 +0000

Welcome to the new official site for composer Craig Armstrong. If you’re a fan of Armstrong’s work, or are discovering him for the first time, you’ll find everything you need here to experience the history, the inspiration and the passion behind his award-winning music.

Listen to Craig Armstrong’s compositions on his new podcast, or take some time to explore his complete archive of film and music works. You can also buy his solo albums and other recordings in the online store.

And of course, don’t forget to stay in touch via our regular e-newsletter and rss feed. You can also follow Craig Armstrong on Twitter.

Website by Remote Location

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

admin — Sun, 10 Oct 2010 15:39:51 +0000

In 2006 Craig Armstrong scored Oliver Stone’s moving tribute to the heroes of 9/11, World Trade Center. He follows this up in 2010 with a return to the great American theme for Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (20th Century Fox), the sequel to 1987’s Wall Street in which Michael Douglas played Gordon Gekko, a ruthless banker imprisoned for insider trading.

Stone shows Gekko emerging from prison to a world where the greed-based system he knows is on the brink of collapse. Also starring Shia LeBeouf (Transformers) and British talent Carey Mulligan (An Education), the film features music from David Byrne. Armstrong is currently working on Stone’s forthcoming Secret History of America, a 10-hour TV series set to air on US cable channel Showtime.

Wall Street “Money Never Sleeps” score

admin — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 16:55:22 +0000

Craig Armstrong has written the score for Oliver Stone’s second installment of Wall Street, Money never sleeps. The film also features music from David Byrne…The score was written between Craig’s Glasgow studio and The Village Recorder in LA and was recorded at the Newman Stage, 20th Century Fox.

Rewind Screening at Philadelphia Q Festival

admin — Mon, 31 May 2010 11:33:10 +0000

Craig wrote the score to this short film directed by Cathie Boyd, Produced by Kat Hebden – ‘Rewind’. It’s getting a screening at the Philadelphia QFest, July 8-19, 2010.

Mono Rail film club

admin — Sun, 30 May 2010 11:30:46 +0000

Craig has been asked to guest at Glasgow Film Theatre’s Mono Rail film club. He has chosen the film ‘The Shout’ for a screening on 30th May 2010.

Polish director Jerzy Skolimowski’s film is a strange, disturbing and elusive tale of a mental patient, Alan Bates, who, having once lived with a tribe of Aborigines, has learned the secret of ‘the shout’, which has the power to kill. Told in flashback during a cricket match that takes place on the grounds of a mental asylum, the film follows Bates’s relationship with experimental composer Hurt and his wife, York. Bates moves in with the couple, and gradually his disturbing presence takes its toll.

Selected by Glasgow-based composer, Craig Armstrong. Craig originally studied composition and piano and is probably best known for award-winning film scores and his arrangement work for Massive Attack. He is currently working in his own studio on a new album. He is a fan of both the film and Tony Banks’s soundtrack.

Join the film club after the screening in Café Cosmo.

Monorail Film Club are now on their summer holidays – but don’t worry they’ll be back in September.

Screening Sunday 30 May (7.15)

Tummaa by Vladislav Delay

admin — Thu, 27 May 2010 20:18:41 +0000

Tummaa means ‘darkness’, and Craig Armstrong’s second work with innovative Finnish composer Sasu Ripatti – recording for the Leaf Label as Vladislav Delay – draws on the moods elicited by long, northern winters.

On Tummaa (2009), Ripatti turns back from his more futuristic output for labels such as Mille Plateaux and BPitch Control to rediscover the multi-layered forms of jazz percussion that he was trained in. He then brings in Armstrong on simple, pure piano, as well as Argentine instrumentalist Lucio Capece on clarinet and saxophone.

The result is a wonderfully rich suite of music that is at once hypnotic and absorbing.

Orlando – Edinburgh Festival performances

admin — Thu, 27 May 2010 20:08:27 +0000

Orlando returns to Edinburgh this summer after it’s original opening in 2010.

Virginia Woolf’s glorious ode to a lover, with an original soundtrack by Craig Armstrong and AGF, directed by Cathie Boyd, adapted by Darryl Pinckney and performed by Judith Williams.

Orlando opens with the hero as a young man in Elizabethan England, and follows his transformations of fortune, love and even gender in this multi-faceted, century-spanning quest for ‘life and a lover’. A poetic and sensuous journey self-discovery, ‘the longest and most charming love letter in literature’ transformed to a stunning visual spectacle.
“demands to be seen not once, but many times” The Scotsman.

Performances run from 5th till 29th August at 4pm, (excluding Wednesdays).
Venue 157: St George’s West, Shandwick Place, Edinburgh EH2 4RT
Box Office: 0131 225 7001

Photographs by Tommy Ga-Ken Wan.

Cathie Boyd founded Cryptic in 1994, and has directed & co-produced all performances to date. Her credits include Britten, Bryars, Dzinitis, Gounod, Kurtág, Kyriakides, Holt, Neil Martin, Sciarrino, Stockhausen and Viñao. Cathie was made a Fellow of NESTA to develop the visual staging of music through new technologies & in 2006 she directed live visuals for Stravinsky’s Firebird with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.

Judith Williams is a Glasgow based performer: actress, singer and dancer. She trained at the Royal Academy of Music, London supported by Ian Fleming Musical Theatre Award and the Donald Dewer Arts Award. She has performed in award winning Theatre, TV and Film including: Peer Gynt, Sunshine on Leith (NTS/Dundee Rep), Hightimes (STV) and Peter Mullan’s Orphans. Her work as a vocalist includes recordings with PLM and collaboration with Micachu for the Peter Maxwell Davies Festival at the Royal Festival Hall.

Craig Armstrong was born in Glasgow and studied at the Royal Academy of Music, London. He has written scores for numerous films including Baz Lurhmann’s Romeo and Juliet and Moulin Rouge, and most recently Oliver Stone’s Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps and Peter Mullan’s new film, Neds. Craig has received an OBE for his services to music, two BAFTAs, two Ivor Novellos, a Golden Globe and a Grammy. He has also released several solo recordings and composed concert works for the RSNO, London Sinfonietta, Hebrides Ensemble and the Scottish Ensemble.

Antye Greie (AGF) is an East German singer and songwriter, performer, e-poet, calligrapher and digital media artist. Her work has been presented as live performances and installations throughout the world in festivals such as Ars Electronica, Linz, Sonar Barcelona, Transmediale Berlin and GRM Festival Paris. Her Westernization Completed won an Award of Distinction at the 2004 Ars Electronica festival. She runs the production company AGF Producktion.

Neds

admin — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 16:03:50 +0000

Craig Armstrong and Peter Mullan first met at Glasgow’s Tron Theatre, where Armstrong was in-house composer and Mullan an emerging actor. Since then their careers have gone stellar – and they have continued to combine talents, with Neds representing their sixth musical collaboration.

As an actor, Mullan is best known for his roles in Braveheart, Trainspotting and Cannes winner My Name is Joe. But his work behind the camera on Orphans (1997) and The Magdalene Sisters (2002) has earned him a place as one of Britain’s top filmmakers. Neds, his third feature, is about growing up in 1970s Glasgow where knife crime and gangs were rife. The score was written and recorded in the city that both Armstrong and Mullan still call home.

Neds

admin — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 16:17:17 +0000

Neds is out on general release today Friday 21st January.
It’s Scottish premiere was held in Glasgow on Tuesday 18th January and it’s opening reviews have been incredible. This is the sixth collaboration between director Peter Mullan and Craig.

Handel Remixed – Barbican London

admin — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 10:21:26 +0000

In 2009 Craig Armstrong was one of four modern composers invited to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the death of one of Germany’s greatest composers George Frederic Handel, at the Handel Remixed performance at London’s Barbican.

The Glasgow composer chose Adagio e Staccato, from Handel’s Water Music, adding contemporary tension with lyrics from Don’t Leave Me This Way, which was also a hit for The Communards in the 1980s. The piece was performed by the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, with conductor Harry Christophers and renowned counter tenor David Daniels providing vocals.

Red – Commissioned by Cappella Nova with funding from the Scottish Arts Council

admin — Sat, 31 May 2008 12:05:56 +0000

Cappella Nova was founded in 1982 by Alan Tavener and Rebecca Tavener, and has since built a reputation as the national champion of Scotland’s early choral music. In 2008 the choir, with the support of the Scottish Arts Council, commissioned Craig Armstrong to compose a piece of music to set to the poetry of Robert Burns.

The result, entitled Red, took the single line ‘My love is like a red, red rose’, and crystallised it, as Armstrong says, into ‘a meditation on the beauty and fragility hidden within Robert Burns’ words’. It was performed in 2009 as part of Cappella Nova’s Homecoming Scotland concert, The Word and the Song.

Rewind

admin — Tue, 27 May 2008 18:24:49 +0000

Rewind is the debut short film from award-winning director Cathie Boyd, whose Glasgow-based company Cryptic is world-renowned for its innovative approach to musical performance.

Written by Sonja Henrici, shot by Neville Kidd and with music from Craig Armstrong, Rewind premiered at Los Angeles’ Outfest in 2009, and has since gone on to win plaudits at screenings around the world.

Armstrong’s delicate score weaves around a story of how the past and the present can imprint on the fragility of our personal relationships. He’s now working on a new production of Orlando for Cryptic.

ASCAP Award for Best Original Film Score for The Incredible Hulk

admin — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 10:45:51 +0000

Directed by Louis Leterrier

Gesualdo – a 15 minute opera commissioned by Scottish Opera for the 5:15 program.

admin — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 10:22:17 +0000

In 2008 Scottish Opera began its 5:15 series; five 15-minute operatic works by new pairings from Scotland’s musicians and writers. As Scottish Opera general director Alex Reedjik explains, ‘I fell into conversation with Craig Armstrong and he told me that he’d had an urge to write a piece of opera. So I simply asked him, “who do you want to write it with?” He mentioned Ian Rankin, so I wrote to Ian and he told me that, funnily enough, he’d just had a dream about writing an opera.’

The result was Gesualdo, a libretto about the sixteenth-century Italian composer who murdered his wife and lover – a tale of dastardly deeds that could have crept straight from the pages of Ian Rankin’s Rebus books.

Winona ‘Rosebud’ by Craig Armstrong and Scott Fraser

admin — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 10:10:23 +0000

Winona emerged from a love of vintage synthesizers shared by Craig Armstrong and bass guitarist Scott Fraser. Interviewed on French television before a performance of single ‘Without You’, Armstrong describes how the friends managed to record the first album, Rosebud.
‘We never had time – I was doing Oliver Stone’s movie’ he says. ‘So we decided we’d just work every Friday. We did ten Fridays, and that’s the album.’

With luscious vocals from actress Laurence Ashley (Kiss of the Dragon) and singer Lucy Pullin, Rosebud was released in 2008 on Annalog, with tour dates in Brazil, Ireland, France and Scotland. Armstrong and Fraser hope to release a second album in the near future.

Memory Takes My Hand – Exhibition Music by Craig Armstrong + AGF

admin — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 10:09:25 +0000

In 2006 Craig Armstrong was given a joint commission from Glasgow City Council with environmental artists Dalziel + Scullion to mark the grand re-opening of Britain’s finest museums, the Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery in Glasgow. The commission featured a new concert work from Armstrong, as well as a new exhibition work.

The exhibition project, titled The Earth Turned to Bring us Closer, saw Dalziel + Scullion film over 240 portraits of Glasgow. To accompany the film, German artist and musician AGF remixed with Armstrong the original opening concert work, ‘Memory Takes My Hand’, to create more abstract pieces. Exhibition Music: Memory Takes My Hand was inspired by the history of Kelvingrove, and featured words from acclaimed Scottish playwright Peter Arnott and vocals by soprano Lucy Crowe.

Memory Takes My Hand

admin — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 10:05:44 +0000

Released in 2008, Memory Takes My Hand (Virgin Classics) includes three major new works that range from triumphant choral arrangements to abstract, almost ambient tonalities.

The title work, Memory Takes My Hand, is a celebration of civic life commissioned for the re-opening of Glasgow’s Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery. On Immer, written for former Scottish Ensemble director Clio Gould, Armstrong touches upon the contemporary electronic music of artists like Fennesz – allowing Gould’s silvery strings to sing repeatedly above the orchestra.

A love of contemporary art is also present on the album, not just in its artwork by painter Alison Watt, but in Armstrong’s collaboration with environmental artists Dalziel + Scullion on One Minute, influenced by the sounds of nature.

Virgin Classics

The Incredible Hulk

admin — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 16:04:14 +0000

The Incredible Hulk is one of the best-loved characters from Marvel Comics, and this 2008 version starring Edward Norton, presented Armstrong with his first action film score since 2001.

The composer was drawn to work with director Louis Leterrier (Clash of the Titans, The Transporter) because of a childhood passion for the big green superhero. Armstrong said of the project: ‘It’s a wee bit different for me because I’m not very well known for my action movies, but because as a kid I was such a fan of Marvel and The Incredible Hulk I decided to do it.’

On its release by Universal Pictures the movie saw box office grosses of over 260 million dollars worldwide, with a double score album hitting the global charts. Armstrong went on to win an ASCAP Award for his score.

Marvel / Universal

Yoko Ono – Shiranakatta

admin — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 10:12:03 +0000

For her 2007 collaborative album Yes I’m A Witch (Parlophone/EMI), artist Yoko Ono invited a selection of musicians from across the world to pick elements of songs from her own back catalogue and rework them.

Craig Armstrong chose Shiranakatta, translated as I Didn’t Know. His track joined contributions from groups and artists such as The Flaming Lips, Spiritualized, Peaches, Le Tigre and Antony Hegarty – showing the lasting influence that Ono has had on contemporary music over the years.

Stone

admin — Sat, 07 Apr 2007 10:32:33 +0000

Father, son and grandson confront their past in this moving short film starring John Hannah (Sea of Souls), directed by John Comerford (Young Adam, Red Road) and produced by La Belle Allée.

Armstrong began the score for Stone after Comeford, a friend, got in touch. The personal connection is fitting, as Stone is a very personal film. Hannah plays the son of a man who builds a stone bench – a monument, it turns out, to the life he has led. The two men realise the ties that bind them mean more than the memories that set them apart.

Written by John Comerford and Vincent Hunter, with George Geddes as director of photography, Stone featured at the 2007 Palm Springs Festival official selection and the 2007 Zagreb Film Festival.

Elizabeth: The Golden Age

admin — Sat, 07 Apr 2007 10:11:41 +0000

The splendour of the Elizabethan court made the perfect setting for Craig Armstrong to collaborate with acclaimed Indian director Shekhar Kapur and composer AR Rahman. One of the world’s top selling artists, Rahman’s score for the global hit Slumdog Millionaire won him an Academy Award in 2009.

Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007) stars Oscar winner Cate Blanchett as England’s longest-reigning queen in the days of the Spanish Armada, as she sets England against its invaders, whilst vying for the heart of Sir Walter Raleigh.

The score was written in Glasgow by Rahman and Armstrong, before being recorded at London’s legendary Air Studios. ‘Working with Shekhar and AR was a unique experience,’ says Armstrong, ‘and one through which we became friends.’

Universal Pictures

The Day After Peace

admin — Wed, 31 May 2006 11:51:20 +0000

Selected for no less than 16 international film festivals, Jeremy Gilley’s 2008 documentary The Day After Peace premiered at Cannes film festival to a rapt audience. Armstrong’s subtle but rousing soundtrack is the perfect accompaniment to this unique film – released nearly a decade after Gilley founded global charity Peace One Day in 1999.

Armstrong’s score follows Gilley as he visits world leaders to establish a world peace day on September 21. It comes to a dramatic conclusion as Gilley and actor Jude Law travel to Afghanistan – at war for over 30 years – to begin a mass vaccination campaign.

Accolades include the 2008 Cinema Verité Award and Best Documentary Award at the 2008 Zimbabwe International Film Festival.

One Minute: 15 pieces for orchestra

admin — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 10:25:10 +0000

In his second collaboration with artists Dalziel + Scullion, Craig Armstrong wrote a series of short orchestral works under the title One Minute: 15 Pieces for Orchestra (2005). Each piece sets natural and electronically-treated sounds to the artists’ filmed fragments of cloudscapes from locations across Scotland. To reflect the haiku-like restraint of the films Armstrong created a strict harmonic plan, starting with a simple pentatonic scale for Knoydart, gradually increasing and then decreasing in complexity.

Matthew Dalziel and Louise Scullion began working together in 1993 to create art that examines the fabric and ecology of Scotland. One Minute was commissioned by Horsecross Arts and performed by the RSNO to mark the opening of the new Perth Concert Hall.

Memory Takes My Hand – performed by the RSNO

admin — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 10:22:45 +0000

For Craig Armstrong, as for many Glaswegians, Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery holds special memories. Invited to create a choral work for the museum’s re-opening in 2006, Armstrong remembered visits with his grandfather: ‘I think like me that many people have used the gallery as a way of finding precious moments throughout their lives.’

Memory Takes My Hand encompasses lyrics from Scottish playwright Peter Arnott, with whom Armstrong had previously worked at the Tron Theatre, and was performed by the RSNO and soprano Lucy Crowe. The composition was also remixed by Berlin poet and electronic musician AGF for a combined opening exhibition with images from environmental artists Dalziel + Scullion, titled The Earth Turned to Bring Us Closer.

Mogwai – I chose horses

admin — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 10:21:00 +0000

Having asked Glasgow post-rockers Mogwai to remix his album track Miracle for As If To Nothing (2002), Craig Armstrong returned the favour for their 2006 album Mr Beast (Matador) – providing beautifully restrained keyboards on the penultimate track I Chose Horses. Typically for football-mad Mogwai, the song title is a reference to erstwhile Scotland goalkeeper Alan Rough, who was heard in a radio interview saying that he chose horses over the pitfalls of football management.

Also appearing on this track is vocalist Tetsuya Fukagawa from cult Japanese hardcore band Envy.

Ryuichi Sakamoto – 20 Msec

admin — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 10:20:25 +0000

When asked to remix 20 Msec, a track from Ryuichi Sakamoto’s 2006 album Bricolages (Warner), Craig Armstrong was quick to accept – he is a big fan of the acclaimed Japanese musician and composer.

Sakamoto began his career playing keyboards for the seminal electropop band Yellow Magic Orchestra, before going on to compose a wide canon of solo works as well as Hollywood film scores. His work on Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Last Emperor (1987) with David Byrne and Cong Su gained him an Academy Award.

For Armstrong, a fellow award-winning composer, the chance to record a spare and engaging take on Sakamoto track 20 Msec was one not to be missed.

World Trade Center

admin — Fri, 07 Apr 2006 16:01:01 +0000

Recorded in Los Angeles, Craig Armstrong’s epic score to World Trade Center (2006, Paramount Pictures) marked the first time he would work for acclaimed director Oliver Stone.

Stone cast Nicolas Cage as New York Port Authority worker John McLoughlin in this true story of the heroic rescuers who were last to be unearthed from the debris of the Twin Towers after the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001.

Armstrong began work on the music at his base in Glasgow after reading the script for the first time, before travelling to LA to record a full orchestra at Twentieth Century Fox Studios’ legendary Newman Stage. The pan-Atlantic connections remain in the film’s album, which features a moving solo from Scottish Ensemble cellist Alison Lawrance.

Paramount Pictures

The Perfect Catch

admin — Tue, 14 Jun 2005 13:28:31 +0000

Adapted from Nick Hornby’s 1992 autobiography, Fever Pitch, The Perfect Catch stars Charlie’s Angel Drew Barrymore as a workaholic who falls for a die-hard Boston Sox fan played by comedian Jimmy Fallon (Saturday Night Live). Craig Armstrong worked with comedy kings the Farrelly Brothers to create a lighthearted score that follows the ups and downs of a relationship that’s struggling to make it to a home run.

To write the score, Armstrong spent time in Santa Barbara, California, soaking up the American sunshine that filters through this upbeat film.

Grammy Award for Best Original Soundtrack album for Ray

admin — Tue, 12 Apr 2005 10:46:35 +0000

Directed by Taylor Hackford

The Dolls

admin — Tue, 12 Apr 2005 10:08:51 +0000

‘In the beginning there was solo music. Interest in music. Three different persons, all of them music admirers and explorers, eventually somehow met and became friends…’

Craig Armstrong first met AGF, aka German artist and singer Antye Greie, after asking her to sing on his 2002 album As If To Nothing. The pair became friends and when Finnish electronica pioneer Vladislav Delay (also known as Luomo) heard them perform, he joined forces – leading to a three-way collaboration, The Dolls (2005, Huume).

After the release of their eponymous album, which famously saw a Steinway piano being given a digital once-over at Delay’s Berlin studio, the trio played Portugal’s Serralves Festival and Glasgow’s Triptych Festival to a rapturous reception.

Film Works

admin — Tue, 12 Apr 2005 10:06:33 +0000

Six years of award-winning scores are collected here in Craig Armstrong’s accompanying album to 2004’s Piano Works.

Film Works (Universal Music) includes arrangements from the composer’s collaborations with director Baz Luhrmann on William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and Moulin Rouge! Armstrong won seven international awards for these two films alone.

Elsewhere, standouts include arrangements for Ray – one of Armstrong’s personal favourites, Love Actually, Plunkett and Macleane, The Quiet American and The Bone Collector. Armstrong closes the album with his version of nursery classic Clair de Lune, written for Baz Luhrmann’s luscious Chanel No.5 campaign, featuring Nicole Kidman.

Universal Records

Must Love Dogs

admin — Thu, 07 Apr 2005 10:26:47 +0000

When teacher Sarah (Diane Lane) suddenly finds herself single, a well-meaning set of family members posts her details onto a popular dating site called PerfectMatch.com – the only prerequisite being that her potential suitor must, like her, be a dog-lover. When she meets Jake (played by John Cusack), romance begins to wag its tail.

Must Love Dogs is Craig Armstrong’s first score for a Warner Bros film, and is one of his more recent works on comedy romance.

Warner Bros

Visconti – Stockhausen Festival at the Barbican

admin — Mon, 12 Apr 2004 10:26:47 +0000

A fan of German composer and electronic pioneer Karlheinz Stockhausen from an early age, Craig Armstrong jumped at the opportunity to create a piece of music for the Barbican’s 2002 Stockhausen Festival.

The commission led Armstrong to revisit the work of Luchino Visconti, who directed the 1971 classic Death in Venice. As Armstrong says, ‘After reviewing the film, in particular the static opening scene of the lagoon, I decided to base the piece around the opening bars of Mahler’s fifth symphony which was used for that scene.’

What results is, Armstrong hopes, an homage to the work of Mahler and Visconti and to the sampling techniques of Stockhausen; a variation on the theme of greats gone by.

Piano Works The Film

admin — Mon, 12 Apr 2004 10:07:25 +0000

To accompany his 2004 album Piano Works, Craig Armstrong travelled to Paris cinema Studio Éclair, home to the New Wave of French film and a place where artistic history was made. Gradually, Armstrong enters into a reverie of his own creation as he plays original compositions and piano arrangements of much-loved tracks such as Weather Storm and Satine’s Theme.

Armstrong’s influences; the sea, the city streets, natural images and the rooftops of Paris are woven into the hour-long performance. Piano Works: The Film was directed by David Barnard and edited by Phil Richardson. The sound producer was Geoff Foster, director of photography Brett Turnbull and producer Jacqui Edenbrow.

Sanctuary Records / Universal Records

Piano Works

admin — Mon, 12 Apr 2004 10:06:52 +0000

Accompanying his album Film Works, Piano Works (2004, Sanctuary Music / Universal) is a more personal endeavour, seeing Craig Armstrong return to the simplicity of the piano to create stripped-down versions of themes for films such as the BAFTA award-winning Moulin Rouge!

Also included are new works, where Armstrong brings in Berlin electronic artist AGF to elicit a sound that rests firmly in the modern age. Armstrong says of the album: ‘The piano has always been a very personal form of musical expression for me. It was important for me to involve an electronic element within the album to place the record in the 21st century, not as a reverie in the past but a piece of work that looks forward.’

Sanctuary Records / Universal Records

Kiss of the Dragon

admin — Mon, 12 Apr 2004 09:59:00 +0000

Director Chris Nahon brought kung fu to Paris with his 2001 feature debut, Kiss of the Dragon, or Le Baiser Mortel du Dragon. Writing and producing credits include one of France’s top independent filmmakers Luc Besson (Nikita, The Fifth Element) as well as Chinese superstar Jet Li, who also plays the lead role.

The film would see Craig Armstrong meet Besson for the first time, with the French producer travelling to Glasgow to work with him on the score. The resulting music was recorded over a week at Besson’s Normandy studios, the Digital Factory.

Europa Corp / 20th Century Fox

The Clearing

admin — Mon, 12 Apr 2004 09:55:15 +0000

Starring movie heavyweights Robert Redford, Helen Mirren and Willem Dafoe, 20th Century Fox thriller The Clearing (2004) is the tale of a well-to-do family picked apart by a calculated kidnapping.

Director Pieter Jan Brugge (producer of Miami Vice and Heat) lets the action unfold around a mature and atmospheric soundtrack from Armstrong. The score, written by the composer in Glasgow, includes a performance of the film’s main theme from world-renowned violinist Clio Gould, who is currently leader of the London Sinfonietta.

20th Century Fox

Ray

admin — Mon, 12 Apr 2004 09:54:50 +0000

Ray attracted a slew of awards following its 2004 release, including an Oscar for its lead Jamie Foxx, and a nomination for Best Picture. The biopic tells the story of blues icon Ray Charles as he deals with the blindness and drug addiction that dogged his career.

For Armstrong, the chance to score for Ray was ‘an honour’ that meant as much as the awards he would go on to receive for the work.

‘I realised I had to do something that respected Ray’s compositions, but that existed in its own space,’ he says. Using classical and gospel influences, Armstrong added solo gospel voices to create a score that sits sympathetically alongside the Ray Charles canon. He adds: ‘Ray’s is a really amazing story, and I think Taylor has told it in a very beautiful way.’

Ivor Novello Best Original Film Score for The Quiet American

admin — Sat, 12 Apr 2003 10:46:57 +0000

Directed by Phillip Noyce

Love Actually

admin — Sat, 12 Apr 2003 09:56:21 +0000

Love Actually, directed by Richard Curtis and starring an award-winning ensemble cast, quickly became one of the world’s favourite romantic comedies for its depiction of intertwining London love stories.

For Armstrong, the film represented the first opportunity to write music for this genre, and his score has become as well-loved as the film itself. Part of it was written in Portugal, creating the theme for the romance that blossoms between Colin Firth and Lucia Moniz. But perhaps the best-known is Glasgow Love Theme, which follows the unrequited attempt by Mark (Andrew Lincoln) to win the heart of Juliet (a young Keira Knightley).

Universal Pictures

Madredeus – Anseio 2

admin — Fri, 31 May 2002 12:03:29 +0000

Formed in 1985 and drawing on influences from the traditional sea shanties and the Fado music of their native Portugal, Madredeus gained global attention after performing for the cult director Wim Wenders in his 1994 movie Lisbon Hotel.

The band asked Craig Armstrong to apply his expertise to the track Anseio, meaning ‘yearning’, for their 2002 album Electronico. The track is a rich and textured piece of music, overlaid with singer Teresa Salgueiro’s urgent, honeyed vocals. When the work was complete, Armstrong travelled to the Portguese capital Lisbon for an inspiring evening at the album’s launch party.

Craig Armstrong

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