Over the years, we’ve become increasingly fond of TV shows for a few reasons. One of which is pretty obvious: we get more time with characters we love. Their arc can be spaced out as the story tops and tails. But another more satisfying reason is that the music can get the same amount of space. Many times, it can find room to evolve and change with the narrative.
So let’s look at one such property where the music played an incredibly important role in the production. The Queen’s Gambit was a captivating series whereby the lush musical score captured our imagination, got the heart racing and made chess pretty cool. Now who is the mad genius composing such rousing pieces? That would be one man with three names – Carlos Rafael Rivera.
Rivera has a real knack for doing long-form music which is why much of his resume seems to be TV work. He collaborates regularly with Scott Frank and, this year, the two bring something dark and moody to Netflix’s adaptation of Jussi Adler-Olsen’s bestselling novels. The tension-filled world of Netflix’s DEPT. Q was pretty far from the Beethoven-esqe themes of The Queen’s Gambit, but Rivera’s distant, anguished guitars and piano still contained the same amount of magic. Fun fact: Rivera composed the rocking main title theme based on a set of chords written by Frank himself, a rare and personal starting point for the series’ musical identity.
Folk textures, including the Bodhrán and Uilleann pipes, lend a strong regional authenticity to the soundscape. The results speak for themselves as the music to DEPT. Q as well as Godless, The Queen’s Gambit and others are just as outstanding as the shows themselves. Enjoy this episode of The GoSeeTalk Podcast Experience as we chat with Carlos about music, working with Randy Newman as his mentor, and lessons he teaches at the University of Miami. The students sure are lucky to have him.
