Shine On: David Hirschfelder on the Sounds of His Career
Reflections from the double Oscar nominee
WHETHER ON THE EDITING SOFTWARE OF A HOME STUDIO OR IN FRONT OF A 90-PIECE ORCHESTRA, the magic of making music always begins inside somebody’s head. From the rattling of a few chords on a piano, or the tunes hummed aloud in the shower, it is often the most unassuming sparks of an idea that can suddenly become the lightning bolts of a Eureka! moment.
Inspiration is a mysterious and beautiful thing, and few are more enchanted by its vivacious nature than Australian composer David Hirschfelder. It was before the cameras had even started rolling on 1998’s Elizabeth, for instance, that he heard the guiding theme of his Oscar-nominated score by unexpectedly entering a trance.
Following an ascendant five-year run that brought the musician from Down Under to Hollywood — bagging a BAFTA for much-loved Aussie production Strictly Ballroom in 1992 and earning the attention of the Academy Awards for the first time with another independent Australian release, 1996’s Shine — Hirschfelder was invited to London for a major commission.
His meeting with Elizabeth writer-director Shekhar Kapur was ultimately a revelatory moment of his career. As Hirschfelder reflects today, over twenty-three years later, “Shekhar…
