Music is fundamental to our experience of a film, often conveying the themes and atmosphere of a story in a manner just as essential as the images onscreen or the actors' performances. However, the art of composing for motion pictures remains conspicuously absent in most discourse on cinema.
So with this in mind, join Lee as he takes you on a whistle-stop tour of the film music he has been enjoying in this all-new Movie Matters spin-off series where soaring, bombastic, introspective and timeless film scores reverberate.
The track listing is concealed below as I suspect many of you would prefer to be surprised by what composers and pieces of music crop up in this first-ever volume of Movie Matters [Music].
1) John Williams - Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977) - 'The Hologram/Binary Sunset (Medley)' - Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) special edition reissue - Sony Classical
2) Carter Burwell - Miller's Crossing (1990) - 'Opening Titles' - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack: Miller's Crossing - Varèse Sarabande
3) Composed and conducted by Shoji Yamashiro and recorded by GeinÅ Yamashirogumi - Akira (1988) - 'Kaneda' - AKIRA: Original Soundtrack - Victor Music Industries, Demon Records/JVC Records
4) Cyril Ornadel - Die Screaming Marianne (1971) - 'Opening Titles' - no official release known
5) Stelvio Cipriani - A Bay of Blood (1971) - 'Main Theme' - Mario Bava Anthology Vol. 3: Bay of Blood (1971) / Baron Blood (1972) / Rabid Dogs (1974) - Digitmovies
6) Hans Zimmer - True Romance (1993) - 'You're So Cool' - True Romance (Motion Picture Soundtrack) - Universal
7) Jerry Goldsmith with additional music composed by Alexander Courage - Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) - 'Main Title' - Star Trek: The Motion Picture (Soundtrack) 20th Anniversary Special Edition - Sony Legacy
8) Mike Armstrong The House of the Devil (2009) - 'Opening Titles' - no official release known
9) Jamin Winans - The Grey (2011) - 'The City Surf' - Ink (The Complete Soundtrack) - Jamin Winans Label
10) Clint Mansell featuring Slash - The Wrestler (2008) - 'The Wrestler' - The Wrestler (OST) - Black Records
Interspersed throughout the music and the chat, Lee has sourced some choice audio clips featuring the composers and filmmakers sharing anecdotes about their work. Again, details of these clips as well as additional music used in this episode are hidden in case of spoilers.
Audio extracts used: Alexandre Desplat - The Hollywood Reporter Composer Roundtable, Pete Walker and Jonathan Rigby - Die Screaming Marianne Commentary, Tony Scott - True Romance Commentary, Jerry Goldsmith and Robert Wise - Star Trek: The Motion Picture Interview Featurette, Joe Carnahan, Roger Barton and Jason Hellmann - The Grey Commentary.
Additional music taken from Hanna, Akira and Star Trek: The Motion Picture - Director's Cut.
Also, we want to hear from you, our lovely listeners, so please get in touch and request a track you'd like to hear on a future Movie Matters [Music] instalment: include details of the composer, the track name and the film/soundtrack the piece is from and most importantly why you like it.
Disclaimer: All music used in this podcast is for preview/evaluation purposes and we urge you to purchase the tracks you liked or better still the full motion picture scores.
Created, edited and with music/audio selection by Lee Howard
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The Movie Matters podcast returns for an in-depth look at two strikingly similar but remarkably different films: Alain Corneau's 2010 thriller LOVE CRIME (CRIME D'AMOUR), starring Kristin Scott Thomas and Ludivine Sagnier, and its English-language remake, 2012's PASSION, directed by Brian De Palma and starring Rachel McAdams and Noomi Rapace.
