Jerry Goldsmith: Suite from Mulan Context Jerry Goldsmith composed the score for the 1998 Disney film, Mulan, with Matthew Wilder and David Zippel writing the songs. The original soundtrack was released in 1998 and was conducted by Goldsmith. The score was nominated for an Academy Award for ‘Best Original Musical Read more…
Miles Goodman: Overture to The Muppet Christmas Carol Context The Muppet Christmas Carol is a popular musical version of the festive tale, produced by Jim Henson Productions and Disney. Premiered in 1992, the film has seen much success, and is still referred to as one of the greatest Christmas films Read more…
Barrington Pheloung: Lewis Main Titles Context Australian composer Barrington Pheloung (1954-2019) is now best remembered for his music for Inspector Morse, Lewis, and Endeavour. Running from 2006-2015, Lewis was a sequel series to the much-beloved Inspector Morse series. Lewis sees D.I. Robert Lewis and his partner D.S. James Hathaway unfold Read more…
Rachel Portman: Belle Main Titles Context Based on the 1779 painting of Dido Elizabeth Belle, Belle is a 2013 British period drama film that was directed by Amma Asante. Not much was known about Dido Belle’s life, but we do know that she was born in the West Indies and Read more…
Elmer Bernstein: The Great Escape Main Title Context Elmer Bernstein is fondly remembered as being one of the leading film composers of the 20th Century. His music is some of the most recognisable, with his scores for The Magnificent Seven (1960), The Great Escape (1963) and Ghostbusters (1984) being particular Read more…
Danny Elfman: Introduction to Edward Scissorhands Context Danny Elfman and Tim Burton reunited for the fourth time when they created Edward Scissorhands in 1990. Elfman’s score was nominated for a number of awards including a Grammy for ‘Best Original Score.’ Elfman has said on many occasions how much personal this Read more…
Hildur Guðnadóttir: Bathroom Dance Context In 2018, Icelandic composer Hildur Guðnadóttir was announced as the composer for the 2019 thriller, The Joker. Alongside Director Todd Phillips, Guðnadóttir composed a lot of the music based on her reactions to filmed scenes and script ideas. Guðnadóttir was allowed to flex her creative Read more…
Ralph Vaughan Williams: 49th Parallel Prelude Context Unlike in America, the British film industry in the 1930-40s did not specifically employ specialist film composers to write scores for films. Instead, popular concert composers were asked, as was the case for the 1941 war drama 49th Parallel. In 1940, conductor Muir Read more…
Nino Rota: The Godfather Waltz Context Nino Rota is fondly remembered for his film soundtracks, with The Godfather being at the top of that list. The 1972 film, directed byFrancis Ford Coppola, homes some of Rota’s most memorable music. Rota’s score was initially nominated for an Academy Award, however that Read more…
Alan Menken: Overture from Beauty and the Beast Context When originally released in 1991, Alan Menken’s score for Beauty and the Beast was regarded as one of his best. The Oscar-winning score, with lyrics by Howard Ashman, was then recreated in the 2017 live-action version of the film. This new Read more…