COMPOSER HORNER SCORES WITH FILMS

“A lot of people can’t figure me out,” James Horner said, between dashes to and from the mixing studio. “They say, ‘Horner doesn’t have any convictions. He’s got no style. He’s all over the place.’ They can’t quite pigeonhole me.”

But Horner, one of the most prolific screen composers today, isn’t complaining; in fact, he’s rather proud. “I prefer projects that lend themselves to unusual ways of scoring, and I most enjoy working with people who aren’t looking for the standard Hollywood approach.”

A quick glance at Horner’s film credits supports his view. With his jazz fusion score for “48 HRS.,” the rich symphonic idiom of “Star Trek II” and “III,” a requiem-like use of string quartet, French horn and boy soprano in “The Dresser” and now the all-synthesizers mysticism of “Where the River Runs Black,” MGM’s recent adventure film, some critics have wondered when the real James Horner will finally stand up.

Speaking with characteristic calmness at Disney Studio’s scoring stage, the site of “River’s” recording, Horner noted at least one constant in his screen work: “I’m a colorist; I look for projects that lend themselves to interesting, unique orchestrations.

“Once or twice a year it’s nice to do a big symphonic thing, but it’s interesting to do scores that have a completely different vocabulary. In doing that, you become a complete chameleon as a composer.”

Since his first film score seven years ago for an American Film Institute short, “The Drought,” Horner seems to have been making up for lost time: His other 30-odd screen titles include “Testament,” “Gorky Park,” “Cocoon,” “The Stone Boy,” “Brainstorm” and “Aliens.” But he rejects the criticism that he’s scored too many films in recent months.

“Writing is an emotional outlet for me; it has nothing to do with having a job or making a living, or prestige. It’s totally a release; if I couldn’t write for two days I’d go crazy.”

With “Where the River Runs Black,” he has written his first purely synthesizer score, co-”realized” with studio keyboardist Ian Underwood. “The film is a sort of fairy tale about a boy growing up with dolphins in Brazil,” Horner said.

“On a more conventional score you just disappear for seven weeks and write an hour of music.” This score evolved as they went along.

Less than a decade ago, Horner was a music instructor at UCLA, where he received his doctorate, contemplating a career as a modern concert composer. “I was going to write symphonies, live in some weird dorm or attic in Vienna and starve to death,” he said. “The Drought” and a stint scoring Roger Corman horror quickies changed his mind.

Horner, 32, believes he is still learning his trade. “In my youth I was a little more arrogant--I always thought I knew the best approach to a film. But I’ve learned scoring is an evolving, collaborative effort.”

“Cocoon,” he said, was a professional and personal high point. “The film meant a lot to me--I guess I’m sentimental. It was one of those magical things where everyone shared the same excitement. In a film like that, there are two ideals: the literal story of the boy and ‘will they escape at the end?’--and the bigger picture of life and fate. One tries to bring those bigger meanings out, not in a heavy way.

“I really think scoring is an art form, the contemporary version of Mozart or Haydn being held as a court composer. You’re given an orchestra, a period of time. It’s an opera--and you’ve invariably got the Salieris or Archduke Ferdinands saying, ‘Too many notes.’ Throughout the ages, that’s the story of how it goes.”

While Horner says he plans on scoring fewer films per year, he is filling up his 1987 calendar. Ahead are Don Bluth’s animated “American Tale” and Jonathan Kaplan’s ultra-secret “Project X.”

“I’m already thinking of ideas for the Kaplan film,” the composer said. “There’s a certain mystical thread running through the film that will be great to bring out. It’s all in the color of the instruments. But I don’t know what they’ll be--yet.”