If, like me, you were glued to the screen in early 2015 as Hilary Mantel’s riveting Wolf Hall made its television debut, you’ll be delighted to know that the sequel series (The Mirror and the Light) is just around the corner. There were many reasons audiences were held in rapt attention, from subtle and brilliant performances by Mark Rylance as Thomas Cromwell and Damian Lewis as Henry VIII to the intimate, naturalistic atmosphere created by director Peter Kosminsky. And then there was the music, by composer Debbie Wiseman, which went to number one in the classical chart and even spawned a concert tour.
Wiseman is back, along with Kosminsky, Rylance and Lewis, for The Mirror and the Light, which picks up right where we left off – the execution of Anne Boleyn. She lost her head thanks in no small part to Thomas Cromwell’s mealy mouthed machinations; but something tells me (history) that he’ll be feeling more than a little light of head himself by the end of the new six-part series, which premieres on BBC One and iPlayer in November.
It marks the ninth collaboration between the composer and director, which began some 30 years ago with The Dying of the Light. It has since taken in acclaimed dramas for the BBC and Channel 4, including Warriors, The Promise, The State and The Undeclared War, in which time Wiseman and Kosminsky have developed a very rewarding partnership.
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‘I love the experience,’ the director shares. ‘Debbie is a very unusual combination of somebody who is genuinely brilliant at what she does, but at the same time completely collaborative and hungry for ideas. Usually people who are that good are a bit defensive, shall we say. But Debbie’s not like that and it feels a genuine collaboration between us.’
For Wiseman, the longevity of the partnership makes her work that much easier, and the collaborative element is all part of the job. ‘There is an ease of knowing how somebody works and how you can get inside what they want to do, musically, and support it,’ she tells me. ‘My job is really to support Peter’s vision, as it is with every director. I never mind if a director says, “That doesn’t work.” I never mind trying something else; that’s part of the process. I’m so used to doing that with Peter and he’ll be very honest if he likes something or not.’
For most film or television projects, a composer will begin work in its last weeks or months, working on a largely finished product, the music even something of an afterthought for a director. Not for Kosminsky, however, who began work with Wiseman before a single shot had been taken or an actor cast.
‘Peter’s passionate about music,’ Wiseman says. ‘He loves the whole process of creating the score, and for him it was a thrill to spend three or four days at the piano, to work out what we were doing and come up with ideas. Some of them stayed, some ended up in the bin, but a lot of them did end up in the series and it’s very rewarding working like that.’
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For Kosminsky, sitting down with Wiseman at the piano so early is about far more than simply getting on the front foot musically. ‘It has a number of practical benefits,’ he explains. ‘I know what the tunes are going to be and I can imagine them – sometimes I’ll listen to the demos while we’re shooting. David Blackmore, the editor, can cut the show to Debbie’s demos, rather than using music from other composers – which is what we used to do in the old days. It also helps me to start to figure out who these characters are. Because in articulating them to Debbie, sometimes it liberates thoughts that perhaps I hadn’t quite articulated for myself; so it’s a really interesting and useful adjunct to the casting process.’
For Wolf Hall, Wiseman composed a chamber score for string quintet and cor anglais, with turns from recorder, harpsichord, harp, mandolin, vielle, lute and theorbo. Using such instruments allowed the score to have one foot in the past while creating a more contemporary emotional atmosphere. This was something both composer and director were keen to set out from the beginning, as Wiseman explains to me. ‘Very early on when we started Wolf Hall Peter said to me, “This is not going to be Tudor pastiche, it’s not going to be Greensleeves.” We wanted to create something that feels contemporary and, although the characters are living in history, we want to feel that it’s their present; they’re experiencing these things now.’
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‘It’s not seeking to be a reflection of the period, it’s seeking to speak to a contemporary audience in language that they understand and to help them interpret the world,’ Kosminsky adds. ‘Cromwell is often acting, performing or hiding, in an emotional and psychological sense. We don’t have narration, as exists in the book – we hear Cromwell’s inner thoughts to some extent in Hilary’s prose; we’ve chosen not to do that in the drama, so we need to be given clues as to the inner world, and Debbie’s music gives us a guide as to what Cromwell’s emotional state of mind is.’
Thomas Cromwell is the epitome of a social climber, whose rampant hunger to rise above his lowly station sees him win the ear of Henry VIII and a lot of power in the King’s court to boot. Wiseman’s theme for him, as Kosminsky reflects, is perfect; but in the new series things look set to go downhill.
‘The now famous “Cromwell Theme” is in quite a major key, a striding, purposeful, bold and in-your-face piece of music. I don’t think it’s giving much away to say that most of the music in The Mirror and the Light is in a minor key, and it helps us understand the subtle changes that are taking place within Cromwell and, critically, his relationship with King Henry.’
Wiseman’s new score retains much of what made her music for Wolf Hall work so thrillingly; the instrumental palette is largely the same and thematic material is necessarily returned to. There are new themes, though – and one in particular, performed by soprano Grace Davidson, plays an integral role.
‘It’s the first thing that Debbie and I talked about when we got together all those months ago and the first theme we tried to identify,’ Kosminsky reveals.
‘I don’t want to give too much away, but at the end of episode two, Cromwell meets Cardinal Wolsey’s illegitimate daughter, Dorothea, who has been living in holy orders in a nunnery in Shaftesbury, and it’s a turning point for him in his life. His only previous meeting with her was when she was a very small child, and he goes to see her because he’s concerned for her – the monasteries and nunneries are being dissolved and he wants to protect her. But the meeting doesn’t go as he anticipates at all and it has a profound affect on him and to a certain extent haunts him. So it’s a theme that is associated with that meeting and that mood, and the way it echoes down his life in the four episodes that follow was absolutely critical. Debbie has produced something truly miraculous, with a singer whose voice takes one’s breath away,.’
I sat in on the recording of that theme at London’s AIR Studios, Wiseman conducting, Kosminsky and editor David Blackmore in the booth in front of me. It’s a fascinating experience to see (and hear) a score come together, but especially with a director who knows just exactly what he wants from the music.
‘When Peter has an idea about what the music should sound like, and I produce what is in his head, then he very rarely changes his mind,’ Wiseman says later. ‘And that’s very interesting, because a lot of directors will try one thing and then they’ll see it against picture and ask to try something else; you might end up trying three or four different things. But Peter knows what he’s looking for, and as long as you can deliver that, he won’t steer away from it and he’s confident in his own musical choices.’
One thing is certain: the combination of Peter Kosminsky’s vision and Debbie Wiseman’s musical imagination has made for some of the most scintillating television in recent years. It’s a fitting tribute, also, to author Hilary Mantel who died before production on The Mirror and the Light began. She was never far from the thoughts of those bringing her world to the screen, though.
‘She told the story in such an original, powerful, unusual and arresting way, and we have the privilege to play a small part in it,’ says Wiseman. ‘But it’s her creation, 100 per cent, and everybody has done their best to make her proud and to make it the best it can possibly be.’
‘Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light’ is on BBC One and iPlayer from November. Silva Screen Records releases the original soundtrack album on 13 December.
