Finding ‘Great’-ness in ‘Catherine’ Scores: How Composers Took On Serious, Comic Treatments of Russian Empress’ Story
Jon Burlingame Viewers were treated to two different takes on an 18th century Russian empress this season: HBO’s four-part “Catherine the Great,” starring Helen Mirren, and Hulu’s 10-part satirical “The Great,” starring Elle Fanning.The aims were very different, and so were the musical approaches by English composer Rupert Gregson-Williams, who undertook HBO’s serious dramatic adaptation, and American composer Nathan Barr, who tackled Hulu’s comedic flight of fancy.Gregson-Williams — reunited with director Philip Martin, with whom he had done two seasons of “The Crown” –– started early, writing a song that Catherine’s lover Potemkin (Jason Clarke) would sing on screen.