Composer Darren Fung On Challenging Traditional Notions of Horses in ‘Equus’

PBS’s Nature documentary Equus: Story of the Horse explores the long-standing relationship between humans and horses. The human fascination with horses ranges from early cave wall drawings to modern day rodeos. On every continent and in every climate, humans and horses have forged a bond, and without horses, it’s hard to imagine the human condition as advanced as it is. These are the themes director Niobe Thompson explores in Equus.

Accompanying the stunning visuals of the documentary, composer Darren Fung’s lush score attempts to refrain what we think of horses in popular culture. His score, recorded by members of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra and choral group ProCoro Canada, uses traditional orchestral instruments and blends strings and woodwinds. The resulting brilliant score shifts mindsets away from traditional American western-based music toward an epic and lush feel that is reflective of the natural equine beauty.

Previously Emmy-nominated for his last Niobe Thompson collaboration The Great Human Odyssey, Fung talks to Awards Daily about designing the score in collaboration with director Thompson. He talks about the role scores have in documentaries, a lesser considered source for brilliant scores but equally as critical as traditional cinematic scores. He also talks about how working on the project changed his perspective on horses, an animal that many humans take for granted.

Awards Daily TV: Equus marks your second collaboration with director Niobe Thompson. What is it about your partnership that makes it a rewarding collaboration?

Darren Fung: I think it’s the mutual respect we have for each others’ craft. Niobe is such an incredible storyteller, but totally gets the fact that he’s not a musician or a composer. His spotting notes are so articulate without being bossy, and he’s open to dialogue and conversation if I disagree with a direction of where a cue is going. It really is a collaborative relationship. The other thing is that in his role as director he envisioned a grand, epic, orchestral score. Luckily, as producer, he gifted me the resources to work with the musical forces that we have — orchestra, choir, a big organ. It’s a real treat and honour to have a director and producer value music as much as Niobe does.

ADTV: How does this collaboration differ from your previous work on The Great Human Odyssey?

DF: On Equus, we had already developed a relationship and a trust that we didn’t have for Human. For Human, it took us four weeks to get through the first episode, and then three and a half weeks to get through the next two. For Equus, the timing was much more linear (and there was more music that we had to record for Equus as well!).

ADTV: What role do you think traditional scores have in documentaries?

DF: I think score, whether it’s traditional or contemporary in style, needs to help tell the narrative. So whether you’re doing that with modular synth stuff or an orchestra and choir, the job is still the same. That being said, the depth of emotion that you can obtain with an orchestra is unique. A room full of live, breathing musicians brings a score to an emotional high that you can’t get any other way.

ADTV: How did you start designing the score for Equus?

DF: When Niobe and I first sat down to talk about the music for Equus, he was pretty blunt: “I don’t want cowboy music.” So much of a horse’s identity in popular culture is brought back to the American western. We wanted to create the emotions of grandeur and beauty, but challenge what we think horses are about. I worked on themes away from the picture until we got a locked copy, and Niobe kept on expressing his desire for a simple theme that could come back throughout the audience’s emotional journey. It was a daunting task, trying to find a few notes that would ultimately carry the weight of the mini-series, but ultimately we settled on a simple four note theme that you hear in the opening cue,and that keeps on coming back.

ADTV: What kind of instruments did you want to employ and why? How do you represent horses with music?

DF: The beauty of having an orchestra at your disposal is that it is such a deep palette to choose that almost anything is possible with it. We augmented the traditional orchestra with a few goodies, like a huge concert organ, choir, taiko drums and cimbalom (an Eastern European instrument that belongs in the hammered dulcimer family).

One of the thematic ideas we spoke about was the idea of propulsion: how do you musically represent something majestic that is moving fast? We tried to accomplish in a number of ways. Of course, there’s the conventional rapid string notes, and percussion and drums and all that good stuff, but we also tried doing things like using harp glissandi as rhythm, using snare drum in cues that you wouldn’t normally think of using snare drum in. We used the choir like the chanting orcs from the Lord of the Rings, and we made the cimbalom player work for his money! To sum it all up, we stayed true to the big orchestral documentary score idiom, but every now and then we found some interesting ways to use conventional instruments to keep our sound fresh.

ADTV: Did the process of orchestrating for Equus give you any new perspectives on horses that you perhaps didn’t have before? If so, then did that new perspective influence your score?

DF: With almost every documentary I score, I always find a new appreciation for the subject matter (maybe I should read more!) But in all seriousness, there are two things that stick out to me. The first, was how early horses were domesticated by humans and how they changed from being food to friend. Equus tells some pretty incredible tales of human horse relationships, and to be able to score those kinds of intimate stories is like candy for composers.

The second perspective I gained, was understanding the physiology of horses, specifically the mechanics of how they are able to run so quickly. Their elastic legs, how those legs are connected to its breathing system, and how they are able to maintain such speed for such lengths of time is absolutely awe-inspiring. And I think the music that got written for those sections is some of my best work.

ADTV: How has COVID-19 changed the way you work in both composition and leading orchestrations?

DF: I’m a big orchestra guy — I’ve been so lucky in my career to record with the orchestra so many times, COVID-19 has really put a damper on that. There have always been a group of players that have been able to help “sweeten” a cue by recording their part at home and sending it back to us. That skill has never been more useful in today’s crazy environment.

Niobe and I were slated to present Equus In Concert in mid-March with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, but we were cancelled when the lockdown happened. As a homage to that, we did a virtual orchestra video to raise awareness for the Unison Fund, an organization that helps musicians in crisis. It turned out great, but it shows you how much more work you have to do as a producer when you are recording musicians individually. Nothing really replaces the energy when you get a room full of people playing music together as one. Check it out on Facebook or Vimeo!