Of all the films Steven Spielberg has given us, it is the story of a boy’s unlikely friendship with a marooned alien that will forever be held in the hearts of audiences. It is perhaps the director’s greatest cinematic achievement, perfect on every level, and a film that will enchant many generations to come. It … Read more
The gunning-down of eleven Israeli athletes prior to the 1972 Munich Olympics shocked the world. George Jonas’ novel Vengeance provided the source material for Spielberg’s weighty drama about the elite Israeli task force who were assigned to hunt down those responsible for the murders. The resulting film, which starred Eric Bana and Daniel Craig, is … Read more
When he heard that a motion picture based on Arthur Golden’s novel Memoirs of a Geisha was being produced, Williams reached out to director Rob Marshall, asking if he might be considered for the job of scoring the music. Once he’d recovered from the surprise of the question of course the answer was a resounding … Read more
John Williams is one of the most respected and successful composers for cinema of all time, with an incredible 49 Oscar nominations to date, among them five wins. Born in Long Island, New York in 1932, John Towner Williams was exposed to music early by his father who was a jazz drummer and percussionist for … Read more
Ahoy me hearties, hold on to your seats for a musical voyage on the high seas! Walt Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean film series first appeared in cinemas in 2003 and this evening’s piece is a medley of highlights from the third film At World’s End. The fantasy swashbuckler films follow the adventures of Captain … Read more
John Williams is one of the most respected and successful composers for cinema of all time, with an incredible 49 Oscar nominations to date, among them five wins. Born in Long Island, New York in 1932, John Towner Williams was exposed to music early by his father who was a jazz drummer and percussionist for … Read more
The complex layers of frenetic activity that collectors had begun to hear in Williams’ writing by the early 1990’s are completely absent from Schindler’s List. Instead, Williams approaches the horrors on screen with a beauty so primordial that the score is dripping with romantic heartbreak at each of its harmonic turns. The primary theme meanders … Read more
Williams wrote scores for all six of the Star Wars films between 1977 and 2005. His scores for the double trilogy count among the most widely known and popular contributions to modern film music. For the grand symphonic scores of the Star Wars films, Williams revived a technique called leitmotif, which is most famously associated … Read more
Ron Goodwin was born in 1925 in Plymouth. He was a professional trumpet player with the Harry Gold band and composed arrangements for the Ted Heath and Geraldo Big Bands. Much of his output was backing music for films, television and radio. He is best known for his film scores, and as musical director for … Read more
For young composers trying to break into the film, television and videogames industry, one of the hardest things is finding material to score in order to show off their abilities. It’s very rare that they are able to use new footage that has not already had a soundtrack recorded on it, so you will often … Read more
