But perhaps the most memorable of the James Bond game scores, however, was Christopher Lennertz's take on From Russia with Love for EA's 2005 game. Perfectly capturing that classic '60s spy sound with a score recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London, it was almost like hearing a long-lost John Barry original, yet with Lennertz's distinct touch making the music fresh and decidedly cool.
Despite the 007 property subsequently going to Activision, gamers can once again expect to hear Lennertz work his magic with a more contemporary twist this time in the Quantum of Solace game, which is currently available for consoles and PC. To find out what went into recording the new score and what we can expect from it, we spoke to the man himself.
IGN Music: I understand you've been a James Bond fan for years. What's your history with the series, and how did you feel about the opportunity to work on this latest title?
Christopher Lennertz: A huge Bond fan. I was obviously thrilled to do From Russia with Love, especially since I got to write a score to accompany the brilliant work of Sean Connery. He is, to me, the original 007 and it was an honor to be able to lend my music to his portrayal of the character. That said, I was a big fan of Casino Royale and feel that Daniel Craig has really returned the series to a much grittier and more visceral Bond. I was so excited to get the call to come aboard [this] first game with his take on the character. I jumped at the chance to get involved.
IGN Music: How did you first get involved in the project, and when did you start working on it?
Christopher Lennertz: I was first contacted by Adam Levinson at Activision, the company that did Gun a few years back. He mentioned the he and a lot of the creatives liked my score for the last Bond outing and felt I might be the right guy for the job. Things really fell into place when I learned I'd be working with Audio Director Chuck Russom. He and I had worked together previously at EA on Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault, and we really think about music in a very similar fashion; I knew we could really knock it out of the park. So I was brought on in winter '07-'08 and really got to work earlier this year.
IGN Music: Can you describe the planning and direction process? Did you work directly with developer Treyarch, or did Activision have a music supervisor?
Christopher Lennertz: Most of my direction came through Chuck at Treyarch, but all of the planning and recording issues were overseen by Adam at Activision. As far as the process, the producers filtered their input through Chuck and he and I would try to go level by level and really nail down the style that would best fit the action. I also brought in Philip White on my end at this point, who would end up arranging and producing a big portion of the score. He grew up in Europe and is a phenomenal programmer and composer in his own right. He added a true European flair to the project.
IGN Music: What was the music brief? What were you asked to convey musically in the game?
Christopher Lennertz: Well, everyone wanted to make sure that we supported the action of the game and stayed true to where David Arnold had taken the series, but they also liked the way I had woven the Bond theme into the last game and felt that my arrangements had given an extra sense of fun and excitement to the gameplay. We wanted to continue this approach while modernizing the overall sound.
IGN Music: Did you have any meetings with the movie's composer, or did your work predate his involvement?
Christopher Lennertz: I didn't have any contact with David Arnold, but I obviously became familiar with his work because it was imperative that the player feel as if he was in the same world as the movie. David has done a wonderful job with the films and we wanted to keep the sound related in order to create the best experience for the player.
IGN Music: Did you have access to actual gameplay for the composing process, or did you work from screenshots and concept art? Did you go over any particular spy movie scores or watch the recent Bond movies again for reference?
Christopher Lennertz: In most cases, depending on the development of the designers, I had gameplay to work with. There were some areas of the game where things weren't as far along and I had to write from a more conceptual standpoint. I definitely watched Casino Royale again as well as went back to some of the Barry scores and tried to keep that in my head as well. I wanted to really fuse all the elements of past Bond with the current style as well.
IGN Music: You obviously have the classic James Bond style down pat, but how does modern Bond differ?
Christopher Lennertz: Modern Bond has definitely moved away from the jazziness of earlier scores, but the intensity and the swagger is still there. I have a jazz background as well, so for some of the more suspenseful cues, I still try to keep some of the traditional Barry vibe alive. As far as action, there is a lot more percussion and processing of sounds that keeps the pulse moving and augments the orchestra to keep things exciting. It's definitely a hybrid of orchestra and synthetic elements, with a strong tip of the hat to the classic Bond scores. Since it's a shooter, there's obviously a massive amount of action, so the pace is very quick. I think fans are really going to love the game!
IGN Music: What can you tell us about the recording sessions? Where was the score recorded, how many musicians, etc.?
Christopher Lennertz: The score was actually recorded in two places. The strings and winds were done in Bratislava, but we came back and recorded the brass and percussion here at Capital Studios in Hollywood. Overall, the orchestra was about 64 [musicians] plus the rhythm section and guitar. It sounds huge. The brass is especially integral to the sound of any Bond music and I felt that at the end of the day it absolutely needed to be performed by players who really understood the genre and could blast in a way that might not come as naturally to classical players, so I fought long and hard and eventually got permission to record here in town. We had the best of the best, and you can hear the difference.
IGN Music: How many minutes of music were recorded in all for Quantum of Solace?
Christopher Lennertz: Ninety minutes was delivered in multi-track format, so after some interactive programming there was probably double that in terms of variations within the game.
IGN Music: What aspects made Quantum of Solace an especially interesting project to work on?
Christopher Lennertz: Well, being that it's Bond, it's already thrilling to work on, but the graphics look wonderful, and as always, the exotic Bond locals gave us an enormous amount of opportunity to explore things like African percussion and even write a Bond-ian opera aria for a scene in a Venice opera house.
IGN Music: Did you write themes for the important characters, or was your music more location or situation based?
Christopher Lennertz: The score is much more about the situation and setting. With all the traveling Bond does, it gave us a chance to explore different themes for each level. Especially considering that the game covers both Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace in terms of locations and plot, we had a lot of ground to cover. I also wrote an original theme for the menu section that is my Quantum of Solace theme. The different levels have their own thematic elements as well that intertwine with Bond to give the player a sense of place and objective.
IGN Music: Is there anything I missed that you'd like to talk about?
Christopher Lennertz: Just that it was a pleasure to work with Activision and Chuck Russom again. He and Adam Levinson made it a wonderful experience and really trusted me to follow my instincts and give the game the heart racing music it deserves. And again, a special thanks to Philip White who produced the score and contributed additional music as well. He did a fantastic job keeping everything together.
IGN Music: Any other new projects on the horizon that you can mention?
Christopher Lennertz: Coming up next is The Godfather: Part II from Electronic Arts as well as an amazing indie film called Adam. I'm also currently scoring season 4 of my television show Supernatural, Thursday nights at 9 p.m. on the CW Network.
