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…
Elisabetta Brusa: Firelights Context Italian-British composer Elisabetta Brusa is an award-winning musician with a wealth of experience in the music industry. Her music has been performed by some of the top orchestras in the world including the CBC Vancouver Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, St Petersburg Symphony Orchestra, and The Women’s Philharmonic. Read more…
Felix Mendelssohn: Ruy Blas Overture Context After reading (and hating) Victor Hugo’s Ruy Blas, Felix Mendelssohn was asked to write an overture based on the grim story in 1839. The play, based in 18th-century Spain, tells the story of Ruy Blas, a servant who is tricked by his master, Don Read more…
Gustav Holst: Brook Green Suite Context Gustav Holst composed his 1933 Brook Green Suite for the St Paul’s Girls’ School junior string orchestra. Written whilst in hospital just a year before his death, Holst wanted to create a work that was easy enough for the younger members of the orchestra Read more…
Herbert Howells: Elegy Context Herbert Norman Howells was born in Lydney, Gloucestershire on 17th October 1892. After beginning to learn piano and organ at home with his parents, Howells continued his musical studies at the prestigious Royal College of Music, London. Here, Howells studied under the likes of Hubert Parry 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…
Grażyna Bacewicz: Overture for Symphonic Orchestra Context She is perhaps still one of the most successful female composers that Poland has ever produced, Grażyna Bacewicz’s legacy lives on strong today. Remembered for her progressive compositonal style, her work is often recorded and performed in modern concert halls. Her 1943 orchestral work Overture Read more…
Ralph Vaughan Williams: Concerto for Two Pianos Context Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Concerto for Two Pianos was originally composed as a standard concerto for solo piano. Vaughan Williams wrote the work between 1926-1930, and it was first performed in 1933 with Adrian Boult conducting. Technically adventurous and devilishly difficult to perform, Read more…
Augusta Read Thomas: Radiant Circles Context Composed in 2010 that came from a commission by the Barlow Endowment for Music Composition at Brigham Young University and the New Haven Symphony Orchestra, Radiant Circles is a celestial orchestral work. At the time of composition, Thomas was Composer-in-Residence at the New Haven Read more…