Joining us live from the Radio România Muzical studio, composer Sebastian Androne- Nakanishi. Goodevening!

Good evening!

We're here to discuss about the filmEnescu, Skinned Alive, directed by Toma Enache. In October, composer Sebastian Androne-Nakanishi won the Grand Prize, the Crystal Pine Award, for Best Original Score in a Feature Film at the prestigious International Sound & Film Music Festival in Croatia. There must have been quite a few challenges in composing this score, and I'm sure there were. What were they?

Honestly, I don't even know where to start.

Perhaps you could start by telling us how you received the invitation to create this soundtrack?

One Sunday, after the Divine Liturgy, I received a message from Toma Enache asking if I'd be interested in composing the score for his first film about Enescu. I couldn't believe it. I googled him, found out he was a director, and then he shared the whole story with me, that it was actually his wife who found me on Google after seeing that I had been named Composer of the Year in 2022 - Toma is very much guided by intuition, and that's how we met. So, thank you, Google -and thank you once again to Mrs. Cristina Comandașu for connecting me to this amazing opportunity that led to this fantastic award and opened so many doors.

What are the challenges a composer faces when writing a soundtrack for a film about Enescu?

Like all Romanian musicians, we're educated, even raisedto revere him. I once had a discussion with a professor in Zurich who said that at musicology symposia, you can't chat with Romanians without hearing them exclaiming and shouting about Enescu's greatness. We're so proud of him, and rightly so. But there's also something I think Toma tries to address, a problem. Why? Because when you go to Austria, you hear "Mozart!" everywhere. Here in Romania, you'd have to look at a five-lei bill to be reminded of Enescu. There's this frustration that he isn't promoted enough, that he isn't known as he should be. It's not just us - we look up to him as much as Bartok, who is more widely recognized.I remember meeting an American who was deeply moved by hearing Enescu's Sonata No. 3 for Piano and Violin. He told me he'd never encountered any other country's composer who stirred his emotions as profoundly as Enescu did. Many conductors share that sentiment. With all this weight on my shoulders, my next thought was, "What have I done? Why did I accept this?" My wife helped me work through those fears we all have. A conductor colleague once asked what I needed most to compose, and I immediately replied - courage. In fact, I might go further and say madness. To write even a single note, knowing that you're under the shadow of sacred giants like Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Bartok, Stravinsky, Ligeti, and so on - is a form of madness, to dare… especially in a worldwhere classical music is almost fossilized, and I don't necessarily mean that pejoratively, but that's what we're talking about. Many of the composers listed in concert programs are no longer living, and it leads to this strange, almost absurd reality where people are surprised to learn there are still living classical composers. It happens to me often. Yes, everyone knows about songwriters, and sure, film composers - but classical music composers? Why?

The same thing happens whenpeople hear about musicologists and wonder what musicologists even do. In Romania, people usually think of Iosif Sava, if they're from an older generation. The younger generations, as far as I can tell, don't have anyone and don't know what a musicologist even is... Coming back to the film, for those who haven't seen it, what themes does it explore? What should audiences keep in mind before going to see it?

I'd like to finish answering your previous question because the challenge of writing new music that's meant to flow with Enescu's own work was enormous. The title helps - Skinned Alive suggests a visceral experience, one that calls for Enescu's music to be integrated - maybe even devoured - until it makes dramaturgical sense. You might not know this, but the film was originally titled Enescu and the Princess, which emphasizes the significant role given to Maruca, a well-balanced counterweight in my opinion. In English, I like the ambiguity of the title Skinned Alive since it doesn't specify a gender. Who, then, is being skinned alive? This idea comes from something Enescu himself spoke about, so it's not Toma's invention. I don't want to give too much away, but you'll see how this title came to be. It's right at the beginning of the film. This "skinning" can be felt by any of us and is a universally relatable theme. It could signify mockery, even infidelity, and this suffering is beautifully portrayed in Toma's film, in both characters - both Enescu and Maruca. Of course, the theme of love is strongly emphasized, and if you like, you could even consider it a triangle: Enescu, Maruca and the opera Oedipe. The whole film's arc is about reconciling these three elements. I read the script, and some passages moved me deeply. Toma, who is also a poet, has a gift for powerful language that resonated with me, and these meanings became key anchors in my musical choices.Managing the fact that he tries, in a two-hour film, to capture something so complex, with so many details - it's clear you can't address everything exhaustively, and that will obviously disappoint some, because everyone has their own views on what's best.

Could you tell us about the "I and M" scene, for instance?

It's a tense exchange involving Nae Ionescu, a philosopher from that period who was very close to Maruca. I don't want to spoil too much, but there are two distinct musical ideas here, at least initially. That rather harsh instrument reminds me, at least, of something close to an electric guitar, though it's actually a viola broken by my best friend, which sounds almost like a cello. From that viola, I created a database of sounds that matched the musical genetic code I wanted to build into the film.Nae Ionescu had a reputation as a bit of a playboy, which made me think of Sam Smith's Unholy, with its seductive energy. I tried to distill that essence into Nae's musical character, blending it with some oriental motifs to give it an exotic, sensuous quality.

That's an association I wouldn't have expected - Sam Smith, Sebastian Androne - Nakanishi, George Enescu, and Nae Ionescu. It's quite a mosaic.Moving on, were there specific elements of Enescu's work that inspired you to write this soundtrack? What might we, as listeners, recognize?

Absolutely. I loved working with the String Octet in C major, op. 7, a piece that terrifies me given he wrote it at only sixteen. You'll hear theSonata no. 3 for piano and violin as well, where we've used the recording with Enescu and Lipatti. There are also Symphonies no. 1 andno. 2. I tried to weave as much of Enescu's music as possible into the score, while Toma suggested using Poèmeas a leitmotif for the love story between Enescu and Maruca, which I think works beautifully. Toma also found a Doina written by Enescu that plays a part.

The script is almost like a score, breathing life on screen the way a musical score lives on stage. Did anything in the film surprise you after reading the script? Were there moments that didn't quite work on paper but did in the cinema, or vice versa?

I had to break everything down and build my own macrostructure, which became my musical shape. Toma suggested I approach it operatically, structuring the score as though it were a concert piece. Some lines in the script struck me deeply. Toma, being a poet, has a gift for touching the human soul. He was also the producer, director, writer, and actor. He largely left the music to me. Sure, there were some general ideas, like where to place Poema, but for the most part, I was both composer and editor, trying my best to tie the film together. As I said, it's very hard to fit everything you want into a single film, so there was a kind of fragmentation, and I tried to promote Enescu as much as possible. Where I couldn't, my music filled in, offering perspectives from Maruca, Ionescu, Cantacuzino, Maruca's children, and I hope it was convincing - especially with this award for which I am so grateful - I hope something went well.

Sebastian Androne - Nakanishi, thank you for joining us in the Radio România Muzical studio.