Music from the movies
Browse our guide to the best classical music scores from well loved films and tv adverts.
Superman The Movie - Main Title
Intro: If you were John Williams, you might allow yourself a small moment of smug. The movie has dated. The special FX have dated. But the music… hasn’t dated. If anything, it has grown and become iconic, and that’s probably down to Williams’ ability to capture the essence of the movie in his music.
Composer: John Williams is one of the most widely recognized composers of film scores in the world, best known for his heroic, rousing themes to some of the highest grossing films of all time.
The Film: An alien orphan is sent from his dying planet to Earth, where he grows up to become his adoptive world’s greatest super-hero. Starring the late Christopher Reeve as Clark Kent/Superman, Gene Hackman as Lex Luther and Margot Kidder as Superman’s love interest Lois Lane.
Back To The Future - Main Theme
Intro: Back in 1985, Alan Silvestri was given the job of scoring this very popular movie and came up with a great, large-scale, orchestral fantasy, which, hasn’t dated (unlike the rolled up suit sleeves of Michael J Fox). If you remember the 1980s, you might remember that the film had a skateboard chase in it, for which MJF had to learn skateboarding from scratch. Wow – skateboards, DeLoreans, suit sleeves: is it making you want to put your hair in a pony tail again? No, thought not.
Composer: Alan Silvestri received Oscar and Golden Globe nominations for his Back To The Future trilogy film scores and has composed scores for more than 80 films to date including Forrest Gump and Who Framed Roger Rabbit?.
The Film: Michael J. Fox stars as Marty McFly, a typical Eighties American teenager accidently sent back to 1955 in a plutonium-powered DeLorean "time machine" invented by madcap scientist Christopher Lloyd. During his often hysterical, always amazing trip back in time, Marty must make certain his teenage parents-to-be meet and fall in love - so he can get back to the future.
Apollo 13 - The Launch
Intro: Directed by Richie Cunningham from Happy Days (ok, Ron Howard), the soundtrack to this movie included Jimi Hendrix and The Who. Original music came from James “Could we get the Uilleann Pipes in?” Horner, who was actually trained at the Royal College of Music in London before he moved to California and got his first big movie in 1982, Star Trek, the Wrath of Khan. Put this on the CD player, count down from 10 and stand well back.
Composer: James Horner is best known for his clever integration of choral and electronic elements in many of his film scores, and for his frequent use of traditional Irish musical influences as heard in his multiple award-winning score for Titanic in 1987.
The Film: Based on the true story of the ill-fated 13th Apollo mission bound for the moon. A mission that couldn't get TV airtime because space flights had become routine to the American public, it suddenly grabbed the national spotlight. This is a tale of averted tragedy, heroism and a testament to the creative minds of the scientists who ran the early space missions.
Star Wars Episode II Attack of the Clones - Across The Stars
Intro: For many of us, who lost the plot of the Star Wars movies when Alec Guinness left, the music is one of the things that we can cling on to: a bedrock, a Linus blanket that says “Don’t worry if you don’t know your Cliegg Lars from your Dooku, the music is fab!” And it is. This track, Across the Stars, is effectively the love theme for two of the characters, Padme Amidala and Anakin Skywalker.
Composer: John Williams has written all six scores to the Star Wars film saga and as of 2006, he has received 45 Academy Award nominations to date, an accomplishment surpassed only by Walt Disney.
The Film: Anakin Skywalker shares a forbidden romance with Padmé Amidala while his teacher, Obi-Wan Kenobi, makes an investigation of a separatist assassination attempt on Padmé which leads to the discovery of a secret Republican clone army...phew!
The Mission - Gabriel's Oboe
Intro: Even for someone with such a hit rate as Ennio Morricone – Cinema Paradiso, Once Upon A Time In America, The Untouchables, et al – you can’t help but feel he would have stood up from the piano after thinking up the tune Gabriel’s Oboe and said to himself, “Actually, that’s a corker!”. Or would that have been “Realmente, quello e un corker!” Possibly.
Composer: Ennio Morricone - this Italian born composer has written scores of more than 500 films and TV series. Although only 30 of these are for Western films, it is for this work which he is best known. His haunting soundtrack for The Mission is regarded as one of his best.
The Film: The Oscar winning 1986 film tells the story of a Spanish Jesuit priest who goes into the South American jungle to build a mission and convert a community of Guarani indians whilst fighting off the dastardly Portuguese colonials, who are trying to enslave the community.
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon - The Eternal Vow
Intro: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon concerns one man’s search for his stolen jade sword, using the stunning landscapes of Western China as a film set. Composer Tan Dun is chiefly known as a writer of breathtakingly original “concept” works of modern music – works like 'Paper Concerto for Paper Instruments' and 'Orchestr'a – and his score for CTHD was equally imaginative.
Composer: Tan Dun - Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon not only won the Best Foreign Language Oscar but also gave Tan Dun an Academy Award for his brilliant soundtrack. The Chinese born composer is also known for his score for the more recent Chinese hit film, Hero.
The Film: Li is a great warrior, famous throughout QING China for his adventurous life. He decides to give his powerful, ancient sword as a gift to an old friend, but soon the sword is stolen by a mysterious master of the martial arts. Now, it's up to Li to uncover the thief and return the sword to its rightful owner.
Ladies In Lavender
Intro: On most soundtracks, there is usually at least one “Silly Name Track” – a track with a name which says, well, this won’t be the hit track in the movie, so, yes, we can allow the composer to call it something daft – and it will make people who have seen the movie smile and say “Oh, I remember that bit…” In Calendar Girls, for example, there is the memorable “Bras Off”. Ladies in Lavender has Potatoes, which will make anyone who has seen the movie smile. This is the theme, simple and beautiful, by Nigel Hess.
Composer: Nigel Hess studied music at Cambridge University, where he was Music Director of the famous Footlights Revue Company. He has since worked extensively as a composer and conductor in television, theatre and film.
The Film: Two aging spinster sisters have their quiet Cornish life disrupted when they take a young Polish violinist into their care after they find him half-drowned on the beach. It turns out he's a talented violinist but the sisters are put in a sticky situation when the whole village becomes suspicious of the man and forces the sisters to choose between their neighbors and their dishy virtuoso!
Love Actually - Glasgow Love Theme
Intro: Craig Armstrong – new name? If so, then try the soundtracks to The Bone Collector, Romeo and Juliet – his big hit, so far – and even Moulin Rouge, for which he did some of the arrangements. This, though, was his first time composing on a romantic comedy – or RomCom as they are supposedly known in the trade – and he comes up with this trademark, halo-glow piano piece. Glasgow is his home town, too, so there should be some in-built affection in this tune.
Composer: Craig Armstrong - not only is he a talented Scottish musician and composer who won a Grammy Award for his film score for Ray, but he used to be a face in the Scottish pop music scene as a member of Hipsway and Texas!
The Film: Christmas time in England, the characters are falling in love, falling out of love, some are with the right people, some are with the wrong people, some are looking to have an affair, some are in a period of mourning; a capsule summary of reality. Love begins and love ends. They flirt a lot. They are all flirting with love. In fact it's all about love...actually!
Ghost - Main Theme
Intro: Now here’s a question. Name the music from Ghost? It’s fair to say that most folk would probably think of Unchained Melody first, music which did for the potter’s wheel what the BBC’s “Interlude” never could. Maurice Jarre’s full orchestral score, though, brought in a fantastic, romantic theme of his own to sit up against Unchained Melody, and it is this tune that some critics compared to his Lawrence of Arabia. Some even said it was the last GREAT theme of his career.
Composer: Maurice Jarre is the now retired French composer and triple Academy Award winner for his scores for Passage To India, Dr Zhivago and Lawrence of Arabia. As you may have guessed, he's also Jean Michel Jarre's dad.
The Film: Shortly after moving into a new Manhattan apartment, a pair of lovers are separated by a street thug's bullet. Communicating through a frazzled false medium, the man's ghost tries to avenge his death and protect his girlfriend.
The Piano - The Heart Asks Pleasure First
Intro: It's a pretty near unknown fact that Michael Nyman didn’t actually write the central tune that runs like a broken chord through the film The Piano. It’s actually called “Bonny winter’s noo awa”. This section of the soundtrack takes the first line of a poem by Emily Dickinson, which runs : “The heart asks pleasure first, And then, excuse from pain –And then, those little anodynes, That deaden suffering. And then, to go to sleep; And then, if it should be The will of its Inquisitor, The liberty to die.”
Composer: Michael Nyman's profile rocketed following the success of The Piano and his film score went on to become a classical best seller. He's also known for his long term collaboration with British film-maker Peter Greenaway.
The Film: A woman, her daughter and her piano arrive in the remote backlands of 19th Century New Zealand for an arranged marriage. But her future husband refuses to move the piano from the beach. In order that she might get her piano back she agrees certain favors with an illiterate neighbour.
Out Of Africa - Main Theme
Intro: Karen (Meryl Streep) is a Danish baroness, who runs a Kenyan coffee plantation. Denys (Robert Redford) is a safari hunter who gradually realises that having a coffee and Danish in the morning is the best big game he’s bagged in years. Of course, as Godfrey might have said, “it’s doomed, it’s doomed”. The music was a perfect example of a composer – John Barry, in this instance – somehow managing to capture a picture in the music. It’s music in the key of savannah.
Composer: John Barry is the genius composer behind what is probably the most recognisable film score ever, the James Bond theme. He then went onto become one of the most celebrated film composers of modern times, winning five Academy Awards and four Grammys for such memorable scores as Midnight Cowboy, Dances With Wolves as well as for Out Of Africa.
Film: Winner of seven Academy Awards, the story tells of a rich, bored Danish woman who finds love with a free-spirited handsome hunter in turbulent East Africa. Filmed entirely in Kenya and Based on a book by Isaac Dinesen and Karen Blixen.
Witness - Building the Barn
Intro: Unlike some of us, the director Peter Weir had a great Eighties. Gallipoli, The Year of Living Dangerously,Witness, The Mosquito Coast and Dead Poets Society – wow. The middle one, in 1985, cast Harrison “Dorian Grey” Ford as a policeman called Book, tasked with protecting a young Amish murder witness. Maurice Jarre originally wrote this for synthesizers – because the Amish consider acoustic instruments otherworldly – but – then rearranged it for orchestra, as here.
Composer: Maurice Jarre's use of synthesizers in this score appears to be an unusual choice of soundscape for such a film, but it seems to enhance the otherworldliness of the Amish community. The simple thematic ideas come together in the barn building sequence, which emphasise feelings of early America and the community work ethos.
The Film: A hard boiled Philadelphia cop travels to a quiet Amish community to protect a young boy who has witnessed the murder of a narcotics agent. In this peaceful community, the policeman is forced to confront the essential character of his own violent profession.
The Stepford Wives - Main Theme
Intro: “One David Arnold…there’s only one David Arnold!” If you ever hear someone singing this – unlikely, agreed – take time to correct them, for there are two. Both, oddly enough, are composers and arrangers. This David Arnold wrote the score to this Frank Oz film – yes, Frank “Muppets and Voice of
Yoda” Oz . The other composer David Arnold, would you believe, wrote, amongst countless other things, all the tunes and arrangements for the Classic FM jingle. Genius.
Composer: David Arnold - one of England's youngest and most successful composers, he's written scores for three James Bond films, Independence Day, Zoolander and TV comedy hit, Little Britain as well as having worked with the likes of Bjork, Massive Attack and Iggy Pop.
The Film: What does it take to become a Stepford wife, a woman perfect beyond belief? Ask the Stepford husbands, who've created this high-tech terrifying little town, in a very modern comedy-thriller that plays for laughs rather than its darker 1975 original starring Nanette "Fairy Liquid" Newman.
Batman - Main Theme
Intro: The artist formerly known as the artist formerly known as Prince provided the songs for this movie but it was Danny Elfman’s menacing orchestral score which swept the dark film along to its shadowy conclusion. Elfman is now considered a true master of movie orchestrating – a remarkable feat for someone who started his celluloid sound career with a group called The Mystic Knights of Oingo-Boingo. Imaging them coming up in your Music GCSE: “The Mystic Knights of Oingo-Boingo – forerunners of the Arctic Monkeys: Discuss. Not more than 2000 words”.
Composer: Danny Elfman has composed scores for all but one of Tim Burton's films including the 2005 box office hit, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. His musical signature in these films helps create the fantasy and gothic style so typical of Burton's films, using instrumentation such as the pipe organ and boys chorus. But he's probably best known for that little theme tune to a quite well known cartoon, The Simpsons!
The Film: Based on the Frank Miller Batman comics of the era, which were renowned for their dark and sinister tone, the film directed by Tim Burton made an about turn to the dark roots of the true Batman character and a move away from the campy 1960s TV versions. Starring Jack Nicholson as The Joker and Michael Keaton as Batman.
Star Wars Episode IV A New Hope Main Title
Intro: Star Wars Episode IV. Ever seen it? Chances are you have, because it is actually the very first one, from back in 1977. Why is it called Episode IV, then? Who knows? Best not to question it. Just enjoy the music and think of it like doctors’ handwriting, women’s handbags and where Easter falls: something that’s just not meant to be understood
Composer: John Williams - his richly thematic and highly popular 1977 score to this first Star Wars film was selected by the American Film Institute as the greatest American movie score of all time.
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The Film: A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away... this classic line was the introduction to what has become one of the biggest film phenomenons in cinema history. In a nutshell, Luke Skywalker leaves his home planet, teams up with other rebels, and tries to save Princess Leia from the evil clutches of Darth Vader.
ET - Main Theme
Intro: Admit it: you did, didn’t you? You did. Go on, say it, you did. It’s ok. There’s nothing wrong with it. We all cry in the movies. John Williams was at work again here, capturing, in magic music, a magic movie that did for BMX bikes – remember them? – what Brief Encounter did for steam trains. And the Silly Name Track for this movie, designed to make you go “Oh… yeah… I remember that bit…” – track 11, of course: Frogs.
Composer: John Williams - his close relationship with Steven Spielberg and the director's own meteoric career meant that he was the composer for many major films of this period, including Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Superman and of course, E.T. for which he won Oscar No. 4.
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The Film: E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial is the tear jerking story of the special friendship that develops between Elliott, a lonely young boy and a wise, kind visitor from another planet who becomes lost on Earth. As Elliott attempts to help his extra-terrestrial chum contact his home planet so that he might be rescued, they must hide from scientists and government agents determined to get their hands on the friendly little alien... which results in an adventure greater than anything either of them could have imagined.
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone - Harry’s Wonderful World
Intro: How big is Harry Potter? About 5 feet 5 and a half inches, to be precise, if you look at Daniel Radcliffe. If you do a Google test, though and simply type his name in, you get 43 million results. That’s compared to 6 million for Elvis, 13 million for Einstein and 17.5 million for Marilyn Monroe. Amazing. Hedwig is a snowy owl, given to Harry by Hagrid, and acts as a sort of courier, passing messages back and forth to Harry. But I’m sure you knew that. Maybe you didn’t know, though, that JK Rowling named the owl after Saint Hedwig, patron
saint of orphans and abandoned children.
Composer: John Williams - There is only one word to describe the soundtrack to Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and that is MAGIC! His brilliant score captures the wonder and adventure of J. K. Rowling's first book about the young wizard, transporting the listener straight into that amazing fantasy world.
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The Film: 11-year old Harry, mistreated by his heartless relatives, realises that he is, in fact, a wizard. Led by the friendly giant Hagrid, he goes to the famous Howarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to start his seven year long wizard education. But someone is up to something bad in the Dark forest outside the school...
Finding Neverland - Impossible Openings
Intro: Finding Neverland. Of course, if they’d only had sat.nav. Still. Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet managed pretty well in this 2004 fantasy biopic of JM Barrie. The music came from a Polish composer who had gone from being a lawyer, via writing music for the Solidarity movement to Hollywood. The Impossible Opening is just one section of a beautiful score, which many found enchanting from start to finish. Finding Neverland’s “Silly Name Track”, though, is undoubtedly “The Spoon on the Nose”.
Composer: Jan A.P. Kaczmarek - deservedly won this year's oscar for Best Original Score for this soundtrack that's been described as playful, infectious and innocent which brilliantly matches the boyish character of Johnny Depp's J. M. Barrie.
The Film: Escaping from his stagnant married life, author Barrie is pushed into the lives of a widow and her four sons. Fatherless, the children provide inspiration for Barrie's hero who never wants to grow up. Based on Allen Knee's 'The Man Who Was Peter Pan', the film focuses on the experiences which inspired J.M. Barrie to write 'Peter Pan'.
Pirates Of The Caribbean - Main Theme
Intro: Another Johnny Depp movie, but in this one he’s less JM Barrie and more Peter Pan meets Bluebeard with overtones of Dale Winton. Klaus Badelt may not be a household name but, both in his own right and in collaboration with Hans “Gladiator” Zimmer, he has worked on the music for dozens of movies, including The Thin Red Line, The Time Machine and even Gladiator itself. Intriguingly, Badelt was one of a stable of composers brought in at the last minute when Alan Silvestri decided to abandon his planned score due to musical differences.
Composer: Klaus Badelt - Pirates was German born Badelt's first lead role on a big budget film; one that went onto be a major blockbuster putting him firmly on the treasure map as a film composer.
The Film: When the Governor's daughter Elizabeth is kidnapped by evil Captain Barbosa, her childhood friend teams up with pirate Jack Sparrow to save her. But Barbosa and the crew of his ship, the Black Pearl, are cursed. Trapped in skeletal forms that reveal themselves in moonlight, only Elizabeth's blood can remove the curse and return them to the land of the living.
Raiders Of The Lost Ark - Raiders March
Intro: What is it about Steven Spielberg and George Lucas? Obviously, they have a talent to produce great work – fun, exciting, new and all that. But they also seem to be able to inspire the sort of following and discipleship that is normally reserved for people who run their own church in two knocked through semis on the outskirts of East Grinstead. This is certainly the case with Raiders of the Lost Ark (see IndianaJones.com for a complete, fabricated world) and even for the music. John Williams came up with music that was catchy and memorable even before it had finished.
Composer: John Williams's rousing and iconic Raiders March has come to symbolise Indiana Jones. The soundtrack received an oscar nomination for best original score, but lost out to Vangelis' electro-synth based score for Chariots Of Fire.
The Film: You're in for thrills as Indiana Jones confronts snakes, Nazis and one astonishing cliffhanger after another-all topped off by awesome sequences involving the discovery and opening of the mystical Ark of the Covenant. It's possibly one of the greatest adventures of all time.
Girl With A Pearl Earring - Griet's Theme
Intro: Since writing the music for Het meisje met de parel – the original Dutch name for the Vermeer painting around which the film is based – Alexandre Deplat has gone on to further success, most recently with Syriana, which bagged George Clooney his Oscar at the 78th Annual Academy Awards. Musically, Griet’s Theme seems a perfect match for the character of the girl, played by Scarlett Johansson.
Composer: Alexandre Desplat - the Parisian born composer has composed scores for more than 70 films and was nominated for a Golden Globe for this score.
The Film: Set in 17th Century Holland, this adaptation of the Tracy Chavalier novel follows the clandestine relationship between the painter Vermeer and his 17 year old maid Griet, the model for one of his most famous works of art, Girl With A Pearl Earing.
Dances With Wolves - John Dunbar Theme
Intro: If you prefer your movies screened in seasons, mostly celebrating the work of award winning Venezuelan directors who tended to explore the subject of peasant rights, working in acclaimed workers’ cooperatives, with audiences of folk bearing goatee beards… then it is possible that Dances with Wolves is not for you. If, however, you like a great story, an epic timescale and some stunning, expansive music, then Kevin Costner’s lovely movie might be right up your canyon.
Composer: John Barry - This expansive score is considered to be one of his best as it depicts so well the majestic prairies featured in the film and deservedly won the best original score oscar in 1990.
The Film: During the U.S. Civil War an army officer is assigned to the Western frontier where he meets and develops a fascinating relationship with the local Sioux Indians. Winner of seven Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director.
Arsene Lupin - Overture
Intro: If you haven’t seen Arsene Lupin and you need the digested view, as it were, try “Raffles in a French accent”. The hero was played by amenable French actor, Romain Duris with the exquisite Kristin Scott Thomas as the Comtesse. The music came from Debbie Wiseman (MBE, by the way) who provided this amazing Overture.
Composer: Debbie Wiseman - one of very few female film composers in a male dominated world, her long overdue recognition came with the score for Wilde despite having composed for TV and film for many years including the theme music for that kids classic, Jackanory!
The Film: Based on the character created by French author Maurice Leblanc, this is the tale of gentleman thief Arsène Lupin who ransacks the homes of wealthy Parisians while the police, with a secret weapon in their arsenal, attempt to ferret him out.
Gladiator - Suite
Intro: Hans Zimmer works in much the same way as Michelangelo. That’s not to say, on his back staring at the ceiling. It means he sometimes operates a type of collegiate system of writing music, whereby he will employ several composers to work in groups on certain movies, all the time retaining the overall control. Zimmer himself had his first big hit with Rain Man – nominated for an Oscar in 1988. Gladiator uses a simple but great tune throughout and, as a result, joins the ranks of those movies for which the music is a vital part of its success.
Composer: Hans Zimmer - Despite starting off his career playing keyboards and synthesisers for the likes of Ultravox and Buggles, The Gladiator sountrack has gone on to achieve legendary status in the film music world. Not since James Horner's Titanic soundtrack (which sold millions), has a movie score been in such high demand.
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The Film: Ridley Scott transports Hollywood to second-century Rome in this rousing historical epic. Maximus, a Roman general finds himself caught up in the battle for the throne when the Emperor chooses him over his son Commodus. When Maximus discovers that his family has been slaughtered he allows himself to be captured and thrown into the gladiator games in a bid to save not only himself but the future of the very empire that he loves and honours.
Stage Beauty - Main Theme
Intro: Stage Beauty– sort of Shakespeare in Love without the jokes. Richard Eyre directed Billy Crudup as a sort of male, 17th Century Norma Desmond, coping with the bottom falling out of the drag actor market. So to speak. George Fenton has an impeccable pedigree – Gandhi, Dangerous Liaisons and The Madness of King George. Silly Name Track? There isn’t one.
Composer: George Fenton is one of the most sought-after British contemporary composers in television and film and has written for not only those great film listed above but also the Nine O'Clock News and David Attenborough's Blue Planet, the latter being undoubtedly one of the highlights of his 30 plus year career.
The Film: In the seventeenth century when the roles of women in live theatre were played by men, one of the most famous actors was the brazen and bisexual Ned Kynaston. When Charles II tires of the same old faces he decides to allow real women on the stage and overnight Ned becomes a nobody on a one way ticket to the scrap heap.
Shakespeare In Love - Suite
Intro: Shakespeare in Love – sort of Stage Beauty with jokes. John Madden directed Joseph Fiennes as Will Shakespeare, coping with a female penetrating the drag actor market. So to speak. Patrick Doyle has an impeccable pedigree – Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Carlito’s Way and his Oscar-winning Sense and Sensibility. Silly name track? Again, very dull – there isn’t one. Unfortunately, the catchphrase of the movie, “…It’s a mystery” had the mood-wrecking potential to make one think of Toyah Wilcox throughout.
Composer: Patrick Doyle is the Scottish born composer best known for his exhilarating and moving scores for the films of Kenneth Branagh.
The Film: The reign of Elizabeth I and Will Shakespeare, a penniless writer, has lost his muse while the prospects for his latest commission, 'Romeo and Ethel, the Pirate's Daughter,' look troubled. Enter Viola Lesseps, who auditions for the still unwritten play and captures both the lead role and its author.
Romeo + Juliet - The Balcony Scene
Intro: JC 4 RM. This is Baz Luhrmann’s updating of the love classic, but retaining the bard’s original dialogue. And it works, although some purists will no doubt object to things like the title - strictly speaking it's Romeo + Juliet, not and. Craig Armstrong’s score has a disarmingly simple tune which works perfectly. He also joined Baz Luhrmann on the film Moulin Rouge.
Composer: Craig Armstrong - This project marked the first time that the composer worked with director Baz Luhrmann. Callaborating with Armstrong on the score were two previous Massive Attack cohorts Nelle Hooper and Marius de Vries who undertook the ambitious task of creating the unconventional soundtrack to the very unconventional modern interpretation of the Shakespeare classic.
The Film: Shakespeare's famous play is updated to the hip modern suburb of Verona where the gun-toting members of the families wage a vicious war on the streets as the star-crossed lovers seek their tragic destiny.
Oliver Twist - Main Theme
Intro: Roman Polanski’s take on the Dickens classic was released to critical acclaim in 2005. Ronald Harwood – famous for putting his experience as actor Sir Donald Wolfitt’s batman into the hit play “The Dresser” – provided the screenplay. Rachel Portman was a veteran of Chocolat (2000) and Emma (1996), which won her an Oscar – making her the first female composer to win a little golden statuette. Still can’t help but feel the score lacks a rousing chorus of “Oom pah pah”, though.
Composer: Rachel Portman's soundtrack for Oliver Twist is the perfect foil to Polanski's dramatic screenplay - one minute it's dark and foreboding, the next its edgy with lots of surprising twists and turns, completely different in mood for each of the different scenes.
The Film: Roman Polanski delivers a dark yet delightful remake of Dickens classic tale of innocence and corruption. Abandoned at an early age, the loveable Oliver Twist is lured into London's crime underworld by evil Fagin and his chief rogue, the Artful Dodger. But when a kind gentleman rescues Oliver from his life of crime, Fagin and his gang see an opportunity which they can't fail to exploit.
Dr Zhivago - Lara's Theme
Intro: Just as there was an epidemic of baby Kylies around the time Neighbours launched, so there was a flurry of Laras in the mid-sixties, with the release of David Lean’s screen version of Boris Pasternak’s Doctor Zhivago. Omar Sharif’s bedside manner with Julie Christie made the film a classic and this song did it’s bit too, as part of Maurice Jarre’s Oscar-winning score. Quick Question: What was Doctor Zhivago’s first name? Answer in Saving Private Ryan on CD 3.
Composer: Maurice Jarre's moving and sweeping score largely lets the movie speak for itself but the memorable love theme, Lara's Theme, is a constant reference point throughout.
The Film: A sumptuous, sprawling multiple Oscar winning epic from David Lean about the life of a Russian doctor-poet who, although married, falls for a political activist's wife and struggles against all the odds to survive the battles of war.
Gone With the Wind - Main Theme
Intro: Much like the search for the boy to play Harry Potter in 2001– step forward, eventually, Daniel Radcliffe –so, in 1938, the offices of David O.Selznick began the search for Gone with the Wind’s leading lady. The US was temporarily in the grip of Scarlett fever, an epidemic that ended only with the casting of Vivien Leigh. Max Steiner was drafted in to provide the music and his sweeping, enervating score has really stood the test of time, still able to send shivers down spines and give geese their pimples.
Composer: Max Steiner is one of the founders of film music as we know it today and his name is now attached to the annual "Max Steiner Award" for film music which recognises Steiner's pioneering role in the early development of the craft. His sweeping theme tune in Gone With The Wind is instantly recognisable.
The Film: Often voted the best film of all time, this is a true American classic in which a manipulative woman and a roguish man carry on a turbulent love affair in the American south during the Civil War and Reconstruction.
Dangerous Moonlight - Warsaw Concerto
Intro: If the Warsaw Concerto appears Rachmaninovesque that’s because it was designed to be. The RKO studios had nearly finished the shooting of Dangerous Moonlight when they approached Rachmaninov himself for permission to use his Piano Concerto No.2. When the 6 foot Russian scowl refused, they hastily approached British composer Richard Addinsell to stump up something in the master’s style. Cue a much-loved hit. Not everyone has loved it, though, as anyone who has read Spike Milligan’s war memoirs will know. Incidentally, Addinsell also composed the start up fanfare for the old TV company, Associated Rediffusion.
Composer: Richard Addinsell - the British composer is probably most famous for his Warsaw Concerto - in which the music is heard in snatches before being played almost in full at a concert near the end of the film - as the soundtrack seemed to to capture the public imagination at the time of release becoming an instant hit.
The Film: During the Nazi invasion of Poland, an American reporter meets a Polish airman and piano virtuoso. When he finally escapes to New York they meet again and marry but the thought of his going back to fight is not only personally terrifying to his new wife but seems a great waste of his musical talent
Born on the Fourth of July
Intro: One of John Williams’ underrated scores, to be fair. The film sets Tom Cruise as Ron Kovic, a paralysed Vietnam veteran turned anti-war protestor, adapted by Oliver Stone from the real Ron Kovic’s book. John Williams seems to get into the very heart of the music of Uncle Sam, which sums up Kovic perfectly. Gained Williams an Oscar nomination for best Score and Stone an Oscar win for Best Director.
Composer: John Williams scored this soundtrack on one of his rare calloborations away from Stephen Spielberg. Five times Oscar winner, he lost out that year to The Little Mermaid.
The Film: Based on a true story, the acclaimed film follows a zealous teen who eagerly volunteers for the Vietnam War, to an embittered veteran paralyzed from the mid-chest down. Deeply in love with his country, Kovic returned to an environment vastly different from the one he left, and struggled before emerging as a brave new voice for the disenchanted.
Platoon - Adagio For Strings
Intro: There are two types of movie music. Not good and bad – although that is undoubtedly true – but, firstly, music written specifically for a movie and, secondly, music already written but used to renewed, superb effect in a movie. This is a great example of the latter. For a whole new generation, Barber’s stunning-in-its-own-right Adagio for Strings was given an entirely new relevance through its superb, slow-mo setting in Oliver Stone’s 1986 modern classic. Put it on in the living room and see if you can take the whole 7 minutes to walk to the kitchen.
Composer: Samuel Barber - Adagio for Strings arranged in 1938 is Barber's most popular piece, to the point where he is known almost exclusively for it, at least among the general public.
The Film: This intense drama examines the fight between good and evil among an American infantry platoon in the jungles of Vietnam. Writer/director Stone draws on his own first-hand experiences of combat and takes a close look at the life of foot soldiers, as seen through the eyes of a new recruit.
Schindler’s List - Main Theme
Intro: There are people who don’t like chocolate. There are people who don’t like wine. There are also people who knock John Williams. Hard to believe but true. For some, his staggering ability to turn a tune that captures the essence of its movie is seen as some form of handicap and some even accuse him of being a musical magpie. This is, of course, nonsense. Schindler’s List is another great example of Williams’ ability to set a film in the most perfectly sympathetic landscape, producing, yet again, music that stands up on it’s own when the film is taken away.
Composer: John Williams - winning Williams his fifth Oscar, this haunting and brilliant soundtrack is dominated by his Jewish inspired melodies.
The Film: The war finds businessman Oskar Schindler joining the Nazi party to make a profit and his dedication to the cause and his generous bribes see him rewarded with an enamelware plant in Krakow, whose employees are unpaid Jews. But as time goes by the Nazi atrocities overwhelm Schindler and he becomes determined to protect his workers at all costs.
Saving Private Ryan - Hymn To The Fallen
Intro: Ryan is a clearly a good celluloid name which produces great movies. Ryan’s Daughter, Von Ryan’s Express, The Ryan, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Ok, not sure about the last one. 1998’s Saving Private Ryan was remarkable for many things, not least the way it was shot, it’s score – of course – and, bizarrely, the fact that lots of it was shot on location in Hertfordshire with Tony Blair’s son acting as a runner. If memory serves. Hymn to the Fallen uses trumpets to poignant, military effect. Doctor Zhivago’s first name, by the way, was Yuri.
Composer: John Williams' score is considered to be low-key except for the this end title, Hymn to the Fallen, which beautifully emotes the feelings of fighting for your country: reverence, sorrow and pride.
The Film: After learning that Private Ryan's three brothers have all died in the war, the government attempts to locate him to send him home. The problem is they don't know if he is dead or alive behind enemy lines.
The English Patient - Rupert Bear
Intro: A good movie version of a book can sometimes have the effect of disconnecting the name of the original author and replacing it with the film director. It’s possible, then, that one might think of Anthony Minghella before one thinks of Michael Ondaatje. Music-wise, though, despite sounding like an anagram, Gabriel Yared produced a sumptuous Oscar-winning score, which seems to conceal shifting sand in every crevice. As one newspaper called the film “an aerobic workout for the tear ducts” then hear it and weep.
Composer: Gabriel Yared - the Lebanese composer's score is brim full with wistful romantic love melodies which seem to have a life of their own, spanning time across the film's flashbacks. Against the musical accompaniment, some of these scenes have a serene beauty oblivious to the war being waged elsewhere.
The Film: Set during the Second World War, this epic romance tells the story of a mysterious Englishman found badly burned in the Sahara. His nurse transports him across Europe taking him to a deserted Monastery where he begins to recollect his past and his relationship with a married woman with whom he had fallen in love.
The Magnificent Seven - Main Theme
Intro: Apart from being the most successful person with the name Elmer – unless you count Elmer Fudd or Elmer the Patchwork Elephant – Elmer Bernstein was a true movie master. The Great Escape would be enough to seal anyone’s reputation on it’s own, but if you add in My Left Foot, Cape Fear, The Age of Innocence et al – he even provided the original music for The Blues Brothers – then you have a completely overwhelming body of work. Sadly, although nominated for an Oscar 14 times for his scores, he only won once – for Thoroughly Modern Millie.
Composer: Elmer Bernstein is responsible for some of the iconic theme tunes of the second half of the twentieth century. His theme for The Magnificent Seven must rate as one of the most emotive Western themes ever and after more than forty years it can still cause goose bumps.
The Film: An oppressed Mexican peasant village assembles seven gunfighters to help defend their homes in John Sturges's remake of Akira Kurosawa's classic The Seven Samurai which has become an influential film in its own right.
Lawrence Of Arabia - Overture
Intro: Again, impeccable credentials. David Lean directing, Robert Bolt writing the screenplay from the TE Lawrence book, and Jean Michel Jarre’s dad providing the music. Stories from the shooting of this epic movie abound but a favorite has to be Peter O Toole’s insistence on calling Omar Sharif “Fred” on set. “No one in the world is called Omar Sharif”, he is reputed to have said, “Your name must be Fred”. Marvellous. And marvellous music to match
Composer: Maurice Jarre's oscar-winning classic score is based on three key elements: that dramatic sweeping theme, a great group of Arabian melodies and various atmospheric pieces using plenty of desert drums.
The Film: The seven academy award winner including best picture and best director is the all-time classic film of British Army officer T.E. Lawrence who united the Arab tribes against the Turks during World War I, and became a legend in his own time.
The Lord of the Rings - Main Theme
Intro: For lovers of The Lord of the Rings – and no doubt there are a fair number – there are innumerable outlets for their passion. There are audio books, merchandise, conventions (The One Ring website has, it claims, been “serving middle earth since the first age”. Quite.) and of course, there are the movies and their soundtracks. Canadian Howard Shore is one of those composers who actually writes great tunes – and some composers definitely don’t - the one in here being a pearler. Interestingly enough, he was the very first musical director of America’s iconic Saturday Night Live in-house band.
Composer: Howard Shore - considered by some to have been a surprising choice of composer for this epic trilogy, he silenced his doubters by winning his first oscar for the score which introduces Celtic music for the Hobbits with song contributions from Enya, and many powerful, mystical choral cues.
The Film: Set in Middle-Earth many many years ago, this is the story of a young Hobbit named Frodo, who has in his possession a ring... This ring is needed by the evil Lord Sauron to destroy civilisation and plunge the world into complete darkness. In order to prevent this, Frodo must find a way to the Mount of Doom and destroy the ring.
The Big Country - Main Theme
Intro: Jerome Moross. Not the first name that springs to mind when you think of movie composers. He was a composer and orchestrator working around the first half of the twentieth century and The Big Country is his most lasting score. What a tune, too. To go with the big tune for The Big Country was the big cast –Gregory Peck, Charlton Heston, Jean Simmons, Burl Ives, and so on. Sunday afternoon western at its best.
Composer: Jerome Moross - the score for which Moross is best known and rightfully so, given the way that it effortlessly portrays in music the mental image conveyed by the title. According to Moross, he composed the theme after walking in the flat lands around Albuqueque and went on to receive an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Music Score.
The Film: A powerful tale, in which a sea captain travels west to marry a young woman, but instead finds himself in the middle of a bitter land dispute. Burl Ives' portrayal of the head of a violent family clan won him an Academy Award.
