Born Electric
A short story about my adventure in the futuristic world of electric cars and how a simple piece of wood became the sound of sustainability.
Swimming Cars
Shortly after the film’s premiere, my music to “A Single Man” somehow developed a life of its own. People around the world responded on a very personal level. (see some of the comments in my Twitter profile.) The piece that provoked perhaps the most surprising reaction, was “Swimming”. For some reason, many of you decided that it went well with… nice cars!
BBC’s popular automotive show “Top Gear” loved playing it while showing boutique roadsters and super cars. Then, a year ago, I got a call from BMW. They were about to launch an internet campaign for their new sub-brand of electric cars, called BMW-i, and they wanted… yes you guessed it, Swimming.
BMW i.
The initial campaign for which they used my piece had a strong focus on environment, sustainability and intelligent electronics (e.g. helping you drive in a traffic jam). It revealed only blurred outlines of the concept vehicles, but the idea behind them was really intriguing. A car, which was imagined and designed from the ground up as electric, or using their words, simply: “born electric”.
A couple weeks ago, BMWi called again, this time asking me to compose an original piece for an ad that would reveal the first two models of the “i” brand.
I love natural light and sun, so “a translucent roof and doors on a lightweight carbon fiber body over an aluminum suspension with an integrated battery”, was something that fueled my imagination. I also thought those were some of the most beautiful and progressive cars I’d ever seen. An additional requirement was, that the piece has a very natural feeling with only a touch of modern electronics and that it reflects the concept of “sustainability”… Now, how do I do this??
I really wanted to approach it as I would have a film score. If you think about this, it is much easier to compose 70 minutes of music, from which you can choose the most inspired moments afterwards, then to write only 70 seconds and make every one of them meaningful. So, did I have to write 70 minutes of music for an ad? Luckily no, I had enough inspiration from the picture and the idea behind it.
Recording Session
Now, I needed a great 56-piece orchestra and a studio for a 1-hour session. Well, I really enjoyed recording at Abbey Road when we were working on Madonna’s W.E… But would you fly from Los Angeles to London for a 1-hour session? Sounds insane, but this is the Abbey Road Studios we are talking about, so of course you would, and so I did too.
We recorded in Studio One again, which still smelled with magic of the last Harry Potter movie (I really adore Alexander’s score). And in fact, we used the very same celesta that you know from the main Harry Potter theme.
The best part though, was the cello. An instrument from the Albert W. Cooper collection, made by a revered English luthier, Benjamin Banks in 1789.
The sound was full, velvety and emotional. We didn’t even have to use an eq, it was flawless on its own.
I don’t know why I picked this instrument to accompany an ultra modern car, and I certainly didn’t think about this while writing the piece. Looking back though, I can’t think of a better example of a sustainable piece of technology then this cello. A simple piece of wood, transformed into a musical instrument which, after 222 years, is still perfect.
Now, follow the links on the right to judge for yourself. You can also listen to the song in the mp3 player above the credits, or just click here.
July 2011
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26 Responses to Born Electric
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Beautiful music.
I wish there was a way to get more of your music. It is a shame so many wonderful pieces that are not available for us.
Thank you for making this world more beautiful with your art.
Sadly BMW removed the ads… does someone have 1080p copies of it?
Fantastic. But who is the singer and why no credit?
Just listened to the i8’s OST.
It was Brilliant!!! I would buy the car for the soundtrack alone if I could afford it.
One word. Amazing. I love this track and wish it was longer. I only recently heard of Abel Korzeniowski and when I heard Born Electric for the first time, I was breathless. Abel, you are an amazing musician. Thank you.
LONGER VERSION!!! :D I simply loved it, I’ve already searched in all the net for a longer version and nothing…. please? please? please?
It is one of the most amazing pieces of music and art in one composition. I really, really think this sound should be longer. In my opinion, it definitely is the best creation of music u ever made. Please, let this sound continue..
Please make a longer version!!
Car commercials seem to always have the best music. Great piece. Thanks for sharing!
I found this by accident when trying to watch a completely different Youtube video. After hearing the score for the first few seconds I clicked the ad and was hooked. This is so absolutely beautiful, few pieces have inspired me as much. Not only for how close to perfect it is musically, but for the idea of flying to Abbey Road for 1 hour and a little over one minute of music. I am studying composition in school , writing every single day, and polishing my skills because I want to spend my life doing exactly what you do. Thank you for inspiring me.
I am always surprised to come across a Korzeniowski. It was such a pleasure to “discover” your work at the Golden Globes. Your hauntingly beautiful music penetrates the heart and goes straight into the soul.(I watched the BMWi ad several times. Actually makes me want to buy one for the first time ever.) Looking forward to hearing more. Congratulations and thank you.
What a gorgeous piece of music! I normally skip YouTube ads as soon as possible, but when I heard this music in the new BMW car ad…Well, I’m here, aren’t I? I’m very impressed by the peacefulness of the music, and adore that you gave us the music’s history as well.
Can’t find proper words, to describe feelings I got, while listening to that fine masterpiece..
Greetings from POLAND!
This song is truly amazing. It sends chills down my spine! The my computer says 74 plays, and my iPhone says 129. This is truly electric. Absolutely ELECTRIC!
absolutely brilliant composition, it´s amazing how you combine the themes of technology driven future and human needs and emotions, i felt delighted and sentimally in both ways.
This piece of music is beautiful. Like Damian, I can only wish it was longer! Please continue to make such exceptional works of art!
Amazing!Great composition.
I heard this and time went still. My whole body felt like it was flying through the galaxy. I literally felt reborn. It was beautiful. I loved it.
This was an awesome piece of music! It literally stopped me. Please make more!
Wonderful song! Thank you for making it available!
I despise YouTube ads but this one came on and though the car later caught my attention the only reason I stayed long enough to even notice it was that the beauty of this piece immediately pulled me in and I couldn’t bring myself to press the skip button. I only wish a piece with this sort of greatness actually was 70 minutes long because I could listen to it all day and if I could download this track it would be on repeat for the next few days.
Your music piece is very beautiful. In general, I hate commercials (I skip them if I get the opportunity, most of them are just plain dumb and annoying), but this one was really good – I even watched it to the end and thought “Great music. Now, where can I get this music piece?”
I hope we get to see more ads like this one – I mean,this kind of commercials are more like art then being an advertisement.
Absolutely beautiful. The first time I saw the BMW ad, I watched the complete ad and then searched up the ad to find the song. This song makes my imagination go above and beyond (: Keep up the excellent work!
The BMW ad played for me on youtube, and this song made me watch the whole thing. Beautiful!
My only complaint is that I wish it were longer.
Just amazing. So interesting to read all this and of course the
mermerizing beautiful track =] I can’t wait for W.E!