Carlos Rafael Rivera Experimented With ‘Lessons In Chemistry’s Musical Themes, And A Melody For Brie Larson’s Unique Character That “Like A River, Meanders” – Sound & Screen TV
deadline.comApple TV+’s Lessons in Chemistry is the story of biogeneticist cooking show host Elizabeth Zott. Composer Carlos Rafael Rivera said he had to answer the question “what would a biogeneticist sound like?” when pilot director Sarah Adina Smith asked him to write the series’ music.
This led him to some musical experimentation of his own. “She started recommending playlists of bands like Boards of Canada, really out-there music,” Rivera said in an interview for Deadline’s Sound & Screen Television live-music event. “That music that I wrote didn’t work.
It was something that we tried though.” Series creator Lee Eisenberg steered Rivera back to more traditional dramatic themes.
Still, Rivera found he could work in some of his experimental music. “Piano became the central instrument because of its simplicity and also it can address really emotional aspects of the characters along with the orchestra,” Rivera said. “A lot of the synthesizer sounds that were born out of the experiment landed in the show.
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