R.I.P. John Charles

A eulogy for the great New Zealand film composer, conductor, and arranger

John Charles has died. He was 83. The Wellington-born Kiwi composer, conductor, arranger, and musician was best known for his collaborations with Geoff Murphy. He met Murphy when they were students running in jazz circles, and was soon a member of Blerta. From there he would score Murphy’s films — in fact their collaboration began in 1966 with Murphy’s first, unfinished film (The Magic Hammer) — but after Blerta, Charles scored Murphy’s famous trio of films, Goodbye Pork Pie, Utu, and The Quiet Earth.

In particular, the score to The Quiet Earth, mixing orchestrations with minimalist electronics, was pioneering and just a delight to listen to; not least because it was an essential ‘character’ in the movie.

Charles would take up a residency in Australia in the 1990s, teaching composition, but he would return to film scoring throughout the 90s and even into the early 00s. His final finished film score project was 2004’s Spooked, starring Cliff Curtis. But it’s the earlier works from the 1980s which stand as some of the most important in New Zealand.

Writing in The New Yorker, the legendary film critic Pauline Kael singled out Charles’ score for Utu, saying he took risks and pulled them off “gloriously”.

It would be wonderful to think we could have a comprehensive reissue of his catalogue, particularly the Murphy collaborations.

R.I.P. John Charles