Leonard Bernstein: Wonderful Town Overture Context With lyrics by Comden and Green, Leonard Bernstein was asked to compose the music for the 1953 musical Wonderful Town. The story, based on the novel by Chodorov and Fields, follows two sisters who pursue a career in acting in New York City. As Read more…
Leonard Bernstein: On the Town – Three Dance Episodes Context This suite of three dances is taken from the 1944 Broadway music, On the Town, which Leonard Bernstein wrote the music for. The story follows the adventures of three sailors who have 24 hours in New York. The show was Read more…
Leonard Bernstein: Symphonic Dances from West Side Story Context Leonard Bernstein was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts on August 25th, 1918. The son of Ukrainian Jewish parents, Bernstein’s interest in music education was initially opposed by his father, who was a businessman in the area. His father’s attitude began to change Read more…
Harry Gregson-Williams: Fairytale Context Harry Gregson-Williams teamed up once more with John Powell to create the film score for the 2001 film, Shrek. This was the third DreamWorks collaboration for the pair, with them having composed the music for Antz and Chicken Run. Alongside the motion picture score, an album Read more…
Ronald Binge: The Watermill Context Composed in 1958 by British composer Ronald Binge, The Watermill is one of his most treasured pieces of light orchestral music. As well as in the concert hall, The Watermill was also used in the British comedy film Our Girl Friday. The piece was also Read more…
John Williams: Flying from E.T. Context E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial was released in 1982 and was produced and directed by Steven Spielberg. John Williams composed the music for this blockbuster film, with it eventually becoming one of his most popular and well-loved scores. The story tells of Elliott, a boy who Read more…
Jerome Moross: The Big Country Main Theme Context Jerome Moross (1913-1983) was a popular Hollywood movie composer in the 20th century. Moross composed the scores for sixteen films between 1948-1969. He soon became known for his scores for many country and western films, most famously for the 1958 movie The Read more…
Franz Waxman: Sunset Boulevard Prelude Context Sunset Boulevard is a 1950 film noir with music from German composer, Franz Waxman. The film score was the last thing to be added to the film, and Waxman took great care on how themes would represent different characters, in particular the character of Read more…
Rachel Portman: Theme from Emma Context Rachel Portman wrote the score for the 1996 film Emma and was released in July of the same year by Hollywood Records. Portman commented on the style of the score saying that it was: “A purely classical score. It is an orchestral piece, Read more…
Sergei Prokofiev: Dance of the Knights Context Taken from his 1935 ballet Romeo and Juliet, Dance of the Knights, also known as Montagues and Capulets, is one of Sergei Prokofiev’s most iconic works. The piece is also included in Prokofiev’s second suite of ballet music from Romeo and Juliet. In Read more…