Co-composing television series is very on trend right now.
But brothers Harry and Rupert Gregson-Williams have a leg up on other most other composers, a genetic leg up. As brothers who have worked together before, they have developed a natural shorthand between them. Plus, with Harry based in Los Angeles and Rupert in the UK, it helps to have someone working on a score nearly around the clock.
For a project as ambitious as HBO’s The Gilded Age, they needed every bit of ingenuity they could muster.
“The amount of music that we had to write for for The Gilded Age was 10 hours of 40 minutes per episode, probably. So there’s a lot of music to get through. So logistically and creatively, it sort of makes sense to have two minds,” Rupert Gregson-Williams remarked. “It worked very well for us on George’s [Clooney] show Catch 22, and it just made sense for us to find something again. It worked out terrifically well.”
The Gilded Age tells a multi-layered story of New York City in the late 1800s as new monied families seek power and social status against the older, staid families who resent them. It also portrays New York as the budding center of immigration and the source of the vibrant Black middle class. Written by Julian Fellowes, the series covers a lot of material, and the Gregson-Williams brothers needed to create a score that would match the series’s vast ambitions.
Recorded by a chamber orchestra of around 50 players, the Gregson-Williams brothers’ score kicks off the series in high energy with its main title sequence and creating that sense of high energy to reflect the drive and ambitions of the new money classes was their intent. It also includes a lovely melodic section, which according to Rupert Gregson-Williams, reflects the sweep, grandeur, and romance of the series.
“We’d already written quite a lot of music, and we had them really on board with what we were doing — the tone and the vibrancy of what we’re going for. We put our heads together and developed the Russell’s theme, which was the new money, if you like, as opposed to the old money,” Harry Gregson-Williams shared. “We developed what ideas we had already had for the rest firmly into the main title theme. So that was our starting point. We obviously went after energy, and it was great fun to do, actually.”
The Gregson-Williams brothers submitted The Gilded Age‘s season one finale for Emmy consideration. In that episode, the culmination of Bertha Russell’s (Carrie Coon) season-long plans for blossoming social acceptance transforms into an opulent and lavish coming out ball for her daughter, Gladys (Taissa Farmiga). While the episode incorporates period music for the quadrille centerpiece, their work in this episode draws from all character themes developed throughout the series.
During the ball, Bertha’s greatest ambitions come to fruition as Mrs. Astor (Donna Murphy) relents and attends the Russell’s ball, lending the Russell family a certain social status by her mere presence. The moment stops ball attendees and viewers alike, but how did the Gregson-Williams brothers perceive music would work in such an auspicious occasion?
“This was a moment not to overdo the music at all, but it played a huge role in that. Many of the challenges of scoring The Gilded Age involve finding breath, finding space, musically,” Harry Gregson-Williams shared. “Not meaning that there wouldn’t be music there, but finding opportunities to allow the audience to discover and to feel what’s going on without the music pushing you right there that moment.”
The Gilded Age is available to stream on HBO Max.
Harry and Rupert Gregson-Williams are Emmy submitted for Outstanding Music Composition for a Series (Original Dramatic Score) and Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music for The Gilded Age.
