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…
Debbie Wiseman: Wolf Hall Context First broadcast in 2015, BBC’s Wolf Hall is a six-part historical series based on Hilary Mantel’s novels of the same name. The story follows that of Thomas Cromwell in the court of Henry VIII through to the death of Sir Thomas More. Debbie Wiseman wrote Read more…
Georges Auric: Roman Holiday Main Theme Context Distinguished French film composer Georges Auric wrote the soundtrack for the 1953 American Romantic Comedy, Roman Holiday. Starring big names such as Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck, the film has been described as “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”. The film follows the story Read more…
Pinar Toprak: Captain Marvel Theme Context Turkish-American composer Pinar Toprak has composed a number of soundtracks for film, television and video games. She has been the recipient of two International Film Music Critic Association Awards as well as receiving numerous nominations for other works. Soundtracks include The Lightkeepers (2009), The Read more…
Patrick Doyle: Harry in Winter Context With the first three Harry Potter films accompanied by music from American composer John Williams, the fourth instalment, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, saw music by Scottish film composer Patrick Doyle. Doyle only composed for this one film in the Harry Potter Read more…
Philip Glass: A Brief History of Time Titles Context Philip Glass composed the music for the 1991 biographical film, A Brief History of Time, which is based on the life and times of physicist Stephen Hawking. Directed by Errol Morris, Glass was an easy option as the two had collaborated Read more…
Philip Glass: Morning Passages Context Composed as part of the award-winning soundtrack for the 2002 film The Hours, Philip Glass’ Morning Passages is a hypnotic work for solo piano. Glass’ soundtrack won a BAFTA for ‘Best Film Music, alongside receiving nominations for an Academy Award for ‘Best Original Score’, a Read more…
John Williams: Duel of the Fates Context The musical theme Duel of the Fates was first composed by John Williams for the first of the prequel trilogy – Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. First recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra and London Voices, this legendary recording can be Read more…
Richard Addinsell: Warsaw Concerto Context Richard Addinsell is now most remembered for his work on film music. He wrote music for films such as Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939), Scrooge (1940) and Dangerous Moonlight (1941). He led the way in the popularity of ‘tabloid concertos’ – classical compositions for solo instruments Read more…
John Williams: Theme from Superman Context Following on from the successes from some of his other 1970s film scores for films such as Jaws (1975) and Star Wars (1977), John Williams produced another iconic film score for Superman in 1978. At the first recording session of the film, Director Richard Read more…