ON THE EVE of this interview with Japanese composer Joe Hisaishi, an odd message arrives from his assistant: Please avoid questions about animator Hayao Miyazaki. That's like meeting John Williams and being asked not to discuss Steven Spielberg.
After all, Hisaishi is best known outside Japan for scoring the anime master's movies. Miyazaki devotees would struggle to imagine Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away or Howl's Moving Castle without the sweeping music that glues them together. It wouldn't be surprising if Miyazaki fans have bought the bulk of the tickets to Hisaishi's sold-out concert at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre on Thursday.
Hisaishi has been composing for a quarter of a century and has just added an LA Film Critics Award (for Howl) to his five Japanese music academy awards. With a catalogue of more than 100 albums, including 40 soundtracks, and a new disc - Asian X.T.C. - to promote, why would he play second fiddle to the world's most famous animator?
In the end, the message turns out to be a case of over-protectiveness. Although eager to discuss his latest venture, Hisaishi is also happy to talk about the man he first worked with on Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind back in 1983, and to dispel rumours that the perfectionist and media-shy animator is 'difficult'.
'His level of expectation is extremely high, but he's not a difficult person at all,' says the composer, a wiry, intense man with the energy of someone a decade younger than his 56 years. 'Miyazaki-san works very steadily, like a marathon runner, Monday to Friday, at the same pace every day. If he didn't, none of us would last the two or three years it takes to make one of his movies.'
Hisaishi says the partnership with Miyazaki has survived because they share the same artistic sensibilities. 'I made about half the music for Howl before seeing the movie and when we put the two together they were a perfect fit. Some said that was because we've been working together for two decades and have learned to read each other, but I think we've always been in tune.'