Sound of Cinema: Recent Episodes
BBC Radio 3
To mark the latest release in the Jurassic Park franchise, Jurassic World Rebirth, Matthew Sweet looks at music for films set in prehistoric times, or that feature dinosaurs in a modern setting.
Matthew Sweet talks to film editor, sound designer and director Walter Murch about working on Apocalypse Now, the Godfather films, The Conversation, Barton Fink and Return to Oz
Matthew Sweet is on the hunt for mythical creatures on the big screen. Tune in to escape reality, as we explore film music that transports you to fantastical worlds; from Middle-earth with Howard Shore’s beloved music for The Hobbit, to ancient Greece with Leonard Rosenthal's epic score for Clash of the Titans. Our final destination is the Isle of Berk, the Viking setting of How To Train Your Dragon - the live action remake, scored by John Powell, is released in cinemas this week.
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Matthew Sweet looks at unusual instruments used in film scores such as the Cristal Baschet which is a favourite of Cliff Martinez in scores such as Drive.
He considers the use of unusual technology such as the Blaster Beam used by Jerry Goldsmith in Star Trek: The Motion Picture. He traces the development of electronics in film music, from 'electronic tonalities' in Forbidden Planet, to the Moog synthesiser in A Clockwork Orange, and the later use of the Chamberlin by Jon Brion in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
We hear unusual instruments in the scores of blockbusters such as Casino Royale (David Arnold), Sherlock Holmes and Dune (Hans Zimmer). And Matthew's Classic Score of the Week, Spellbound by Miklós Rózsa, features the Theremin.
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Matthew Sweet dials in, with a playlist of film music inspired by a phone call.
Hold the line for classics including Scream, The Conversation and Dial M for Murder. Also featuring Bear McCreary’s score for our featured new release, Drop.
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Matthew Sweet is joined by multiple award-winning composer A.R. Rahman to explore his extraordinary career in film music, including his best-known score - Slumdog Millionaire. In an exclusive interview, we hear about his relationship with his father, R.K. Sekher who was also a film music composer. A.R. Rahman tells Matthew about his early success in the Indian film industry, and why he decided to remain in the industry rather than become a rock musician. And we hear about his work in Hollywood on the comedy Couples Retreat.
A.R. Rahman talks about recently turning his hand to directing with Le Musk, a Virtual Reality film he wrote, scored and co-produced that even uses specially created smells to evoke memories in the viewer. And we hear about his new appointment as Honorary President of Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance.
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Matthew Sweet celebrates the life and work of Studio Ghibli composer, Joe Hisaishi. Tune in for some of his most beloved music, with classic soundtracks including Spirited Away, My Neighbour Totoro and Howl’s Moving Castle.
Joe Hisaishi will make his BBC Proms debut this year, performing with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall.
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This special episode of Sound of Cinema features an exclusive interview with the legendary film composer and record producer, Hans Zimmer.
Hosted by Matthew Sweet, this programme dives into the growth of live film music, exploring how scores are reworked for the concert platform.
With a catalogue of iconic soundtracks including Pirates of the Caribbean, Inception, and The Dark Knight, Hans Zimmer is a household name. Tune in to find out how he got started in the music industry, where his inspiration comes from and how he prepares for a live performance.
Sharing the stage in this episode is Debbie Wiseman, the award winning composer behind the music of Wolf Hall, and Bear McCreary, a composer who is celebrated for his work on Battlestar Galactica, God of War and more.
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Evil penguins, chickens on the run and the mischievous sheep of Mossy Bottom Farm. Enter the unique musical world of Aardman Animations as Matthew Sweet celebrates the studio's iconic film scores with the release of Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl.
Matthew visits the Aardman Animation studios in Bristol to meet archivist Tom Vincent, where he encounters uniquely Aardman props, puppets and scores - even a real-life Were-Rabbit.
Matthew also speaks to those involved in Vengeance Most Fowl at work in Abbey Road studios in London: filmmaker, animator and creator of Wallace & Gromit, Nick Park and the film's composers Julian Nott and Lorne Balfe.
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Matthew Sweet bangs the drum for the inventive ways films use percussion. There's Tan Dun's taiko masterclass of a score in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, the delicate and lyrical marimba in American Beauty, John Williams' ritualistic drums in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and Justin Hurwitz's obsessive kit in Whiplash.
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Matthew Sweet celebrates the centenary of legendary film composer Ron Goodwin - famous for his scores for Where Eagles Dare, 633 Squadron, The Battle of Britain and the Miss Marple films. However, Goodwin's scores are far more varied than military marches, with his music for Hitchcock's Frenzy and the first-ever score for brass band, Escape from the Dark.
Matthew also speaks to Helen, the step-daughter of Ron Goodwin, who shares her memories of growing up with an in-demand composer.
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Matthew Sweet celebrates the film highlights of the year with a focus on the recently announced 2025 Bafta winners.
He speaks exclusively with the winner of the Best Original Score - composer Daniel Blumberg, for the film The Brutalist - who tells Matthew about how he travelled to an Italian quarry to record some of the music, and what it was like to actually win the Bafta itself.
There's music from Conclave, The Brutalist and The Wild Robot, plus even some Zoe Saldana and a hint of Trent Reznor's alarm clock....and even a musical jump-scare from Nosferatu....
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Matthew Sweet speaks to actor and director Jesse Eisenberg about using Chopin's music in his latest film "A Real Pain" - the story of two cousins touring Poland to honour their grandmother. Matthew also explores the wider impact Polish music and musicians have had on the world of film music - from Bronislaw Kaper's music for the 1954 monster classic "Them!" to Wojciech Kilar's award-winning scores for "The Pianist" and "Bram Stoker's Dracula".
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Matthew Sweet talks to composer Debbie Wiseman about using period music in films. For the TV series Wolf Hall, Debbie wrote original music in a period style, films like Farinelli and Death In Venice use classical music and for the series Bridgerton Kris Bowers created a hybrid of period-sounding music with hip-hop beats. Matthew asks how the search for authenticity enhances the viewer's experience, and when does it become a distraction?
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With the Maria Callas biopic starring Angelina Jolie in cinemas, Matthew Sweet speaks to Maria director Pablo Larrain. The talk about working with Angelina Jolie, being a frustrated musician himself and how Pablo uses music in his films. Pablo also reveals the secrets of bringing Maria Callas alive through Angelina's singing.
Matthew also explores how films have turned to their natural predecessor, opera, for inspiration. Puccini's Madame Butterfly proves a Fatal Attraction for Michael Douglas, Bernard Herrmann writes his own aria for Citizen Kane, and the Habanera from Bizet's Carmen gives depth and poignancy to widower Carl's pottering in Up!
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Defying the convention of massive orchestral scores, Matthew Sweet looks at films that embrace the intimacy of chamber music including: the Syrian-inspired strings of Nainita Desai's For Sama score, The Third Man's iconic 1949 zither melody composed by Anton Karas, Clint Mansell's agonising quartet from Requiem for a Dream, and a surprising period drama score written for a trio by John Williams.
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From the driving energy of North By Northwest to the iconic string stabs of Psycho, music is an integral part of what makes Alfred Hitchcock's films stand out. Matthew Sweet finds out what makes them so good and looks at times when Hitchcock and his composers disagreed.
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As part of Radio 3's European Road Trip, Matthew Sweet explores some of the best soundtracks in German cinema.
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What is the sound of Papal Rome? Matthew Sweet explores the music of films set in and influenced by the Vatican. From Morricone's melancholy oboe in The Mission to Hans Zimmer's massed choirs and menacing strings in Angels & Demons. Nino Rota's score for The Godfather Part III exquisitely demonstrates both the pageantry of the Catholic Church and Michael Corleone's personal feelings of guilt in the film. Meanwhile, the solo guitar highlights the intimacy between the two protagonists in Bryce Dessner's score for the gripping biographical drama The Two Popes, highlighting the intimacy between the popes of the film's title.
The Vatican has even issued a list of films it deems important so we'll hear the music that they're recommending, such as On The Waterfront, The Lavender Hill Mob and The Wizard of Oz.
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Presenter Matthew Sweet cosies up with the soundtracks of films that bring comfort to those dark, wintry nights…
From the life-affirming joy of Studio Ghibli classic My Neighbour Totoro to the 80s cinema thrills of Raiders of the Lost Ark, he uncovers why film scores don't necessarily need to be twee to warm our hearts…
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Hop on board the Polar Express! Matthew Sweet's unwrapping the greatest Christmas film soundtracks. We'll be walking in the air with Howard Blake's Snowman and Home Alone with John Williams.
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In cinema, US presidents have been portrayed as heroes, villains, great leaders who unite the world and hopeless puppets who are the butt of jokes. In this episode, Matthew Sweet casts his vote on classic soundtracks to films including Nixon and Independence Day.
Celebrating the 1991 blockbuster, Point Break, as it returns to cinemas in the UK.
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With the release of Gladiator II in cinemas, Matthew Sweet brings us the music of the Roman Empire - as told by Hollywood - from Alex North's scores for Spartacus and Cleopatra, Miklos Rozsa's epic music for the equally epic Quo Vadis? and Ben Hur. Matthew is also joined by composer and academic Dr MaryAnn Tedstone Glover to find out if the music we now think of as Roman sounds anything like what the Romans themselves would have heard.
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Sleepless In Seattle, When Harry Met Sally, The Addams Family, Hairspray, Mary Poppins Returns, Marc Shaiman's music has been a part of our lives for over three decades. One time king of the Romcom score, master arranger and songwriter, Marc talks to Matthew Sweet about his career and introduces cues from some of his many scores. As well as those listed above, the programme also features music from Mr Saturday Night, City Slickers, The American President, LBJ, Bros, and Marc's chosen Classic Score of the Week.
Matthew Sweet saddles up to explore the most iconic soundtracks of the Wild West. Traverse the sweeping landscape with music from Western blockbusters, including The Magnificent Seven and A Fistful of Dollars. Featuring the award-winning score from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, in celebration of its 55-year anniversary.
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Matthew Sweet packs his bags in search of the films that bring back memories of summer - with music from the hot sun of Roman Holiday and Jean de Florette, the childhood adventures of Swallows and Amazons and UP and the nostalgia of Cinema Paradiso.
This special episode of Sound of Cinema features an exclusive interview with the visionary filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan, known for his masterful blend of suspense, psychological drama, and supernatural elements in films like The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, Signs, and Split.
His collaboration with composers like James Newton Howard has resulted in some of the most memorable film scores of recent decades, making his insights particularly valuable in the context of Sound of Cinema.
Hosted by Matthew Sweet, the programme dives into the unique role that music plays in Shyamalan’s films, exploring how scores have been integral in shaping the eerie atmospheres and emotional depth for which his work is renowned.
Whether you’re a devoted fan of Shyamalan’s work or simply curious about the intersection of music and film, this episode promises to be a fascinating listen.
With a career spanning 60 years and over 200 films, the late Donald Sutherland was a true acting legend.
His son, actor Kiefer Sutherland - best known for his starring roles in 1987's The Lost Boys plus Designated Survivor and 24 - joins Matthew Sweet to look back at his father's life through the soundtracks of his major films.
It includes music from The Hunger Games (by composer James Newton Howard), Don't Look Now (composer Pino Donaggio), Six Degrees of Separation (composer Jerry Goldsmith) and Pride and Prejudice (by composer Dario Marianelli), this episode also contains insights into what it's like learning about your father through film...
With the release of Fly Me To The Moon - in which Scarlett Johansson wants to fake the moon landing - Matthew Sweet uncovers the films in which fakery is the name of the game.
From characters stuck in artificial worlds - The Truman Show and The Matrix - to films that lead the audience to question what's real and what's not, like The Game, Total Recall and Synecdoche New York, this episode of Sound of Cinema looks at how deception comes across in the music of these fraud-based films...
Matthew Sweet in conversation with Abel Korzeniowski, the composer of Ishana Night Shyamalan's supernatural horror film The Watched. We'll hear about writing music for 'Emily', the 2022 biopic about Emily Brontë, and the film that won Colin Firth the Best Actor award at the 2009 Venice Film Festival, A Single Man. Abel also talks about why Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather means so much to him.
Matthew Sweet showcases film scores about female firsts and cinematic examples of outstanding achievements by women, and he chats to composer Amelia Warner about her score for the new film Young Woman and the Sea recalling the story of Gertrude Ederle, the first woman to swim the English Channel.
The programme also includes music from Pope Joan, Cleopatra, Captain Marvel, Hidden Figures, Suffragette, Radioactive, Amelia, Mary Shelley, and the Classic Score of the Week - Toshiro Mayazumi's music for the 1966 movie The Bible: In The Beginning...
Matthew Sweet in conversation with the Oscar-winning composer of Shakespeare in Love, Stephen Warbeck.
Matthew Sweet celebrates 50 years of one of cinema's greatest collaborations - that of director Steven Spielberg and his composer of choice, John Williams.With music from E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, Indiana Jones, Jaws, Schindler's List and Jurassic Park. Matthew gives us a close encounter with the music for Close Encounters Of The Third Kind as he analyses the scene of humanity's first contact with the alien mothership.
Laura Karpman is best known for her work composing the soundtracks for The Marvels, and the Disney+ series Ms Marvel and What If… She joins Matthew Sweet from her studio in LA overlooking the Pacific and talks about studying under Milton Babbitt and Nadia Boulanger, scoring for documentaries, attending the Last Night of the Proms and the influence of Benjamin Britten on her score for The Marvels.
This weekend sees the relaunch of Hammer Studios and the release of a new telling of the Dr Jekyllstory, starring Eddie Izzard. Matthew looks back on Hammer’s contribution to cinema and to some of the often inventive and even experimental composers who have created music for the studios since its inception in 1934. Hammer Horror - the vibrantly colourful and distinctive engagements with terror that starred the likes of Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. Films that brought us recurring tales of The Mummy, Dracula and Frankenstein; and music from the likes of James Bernard. But there was so much more to Hammer. The programme includes cues from Doreen Carwithen for Robin Hood, Tristan Carey’s early electronic experiments for Quatermass, Franz Reizenstein’s parody score for The Mummy, Harry Robinson’s musical evocation of Carmilla, and Mario Nascimbene’s pioneering work for One Million Years BC. Plus, of course, classic Hammer moments from James Bernard. And Matthew also talks to composer Blair Mowatt about his score for the new Dr Jekyll film.
What was your experience of a first date at the cinema? Presumably you arrived together - but did you leave separately? Matthew Sweet listens to listeners' experiences of their movie first-dates and - rather appropriately - plays great, thrilling and tragic music from the films.
Matthew Sweet's guest this week is the composer George Fenton. His breakthrough came with Richard Attenborough's biopic Gandhi, since then he's scored over 100 films including Cry Freedom, Shadowlands, The Madness of King George, Groundhog Day and The Wind that Shakes The Barley. He speaks to Matthew about his rich and varied career as well as his assocations with directors such as Richard Attenborough, Stephen Frears, Nora Ephron - and Ken Loach, whose latest film, The Old Oak, is released his week.
Of all the genre titles the 'family film' is perhaps the trickiest to define. Its intention, clearly, is to entertain and appeal to the whole family - togetherness. But what are the specific ingredients that make it so? Nevertheless, cinema goers seem to have a good sense of what an advertised family film might have to offer.
Matthew Sweet looks back at this category of film, which seemed to spring into existence in America around the 1930s, and he foregrounds the music of some of the best and most defining examples.
The programme includes music from Home Alone, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, Gulliver's Travels, Honey I Shrunk The Kids, The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, ET - The Extra Terrestrial, Kiki's Delivery Service, Paddington 2 and the Classical Score of the Week - the Harry Gregson-Williams and John Powell score for Shrek.
From the Life of Pi to The Jungle Book; His Dark Materials to Wolverine, Matthew Sweet features film music shaped by the fantastical idea of humans as animals. We'll hear of spirit animals, cursed princes, what happens when your parents are turned into pigs (Spirited Away) or your mum becomes a bear (Brave). And we adopt the mantle of The Batman to root out the animal powers of superheroes. The programme also features music from the new release 'Blue Beetle' composed by Bobby Krlic.
Following the release of Greta Gerwig's Barbie, Matthew Sweet considers cinema's fascination with the colour pink. Many films adopt a colour code to establish the mood and tone of the movie. The colour pink in particular has associations with love, innocence, femininity, charm and fun. In this edition of Sound of Cinema, Matthew focuses on music for films which exploit these ideas of pinkness - for films such as Grease, Batman Returns, Steel Magnolias, Legally Blonde, The Devil Wears Prada, Paddington... and Harry Potter.
With the appearance of the eagerly anticipated new Christopher Nolan biopic about Oppenheimer, Matthew Sweet turns his attention to film scores bent on destruction, including Ludwig Goransson's score for the new film. The programme includes music from The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, When Worlds Collide, Melancholia, Wandering Earth, Deep Impact, Armageddon, The Man Who Fell To Earth, Rogue One - A Star Wars Story, Star Wars - A New Hope. The Classic Score of the Week is Star Trek II - The Wrath Of Khan.
Withe release of the new Tom Cruise Mission: Impossible film - 'Rogue Nation' - Matthew Sweet focuses on stunt scenes in movies. Carefully planned and choreographed stunts have been a part of cinematic entertainment since the start, Matthew offers a selection of music to match the moment. Matthew is joned by Hollywood stunt Co-ordinator Simon Crane (World War Z, Men in Black, Quantum of Solace, The World Is Not Enough, Mr & Mrs Smith, Troy, Lara Croft, Saving Private Ryan, Titanic) who talks about the art of stunt acting, some of his favourite stunts and about the roles of music in stunt scenes. The programme features music from The Dark Knight Rises, The Adventures of Robin Hood, Ben Hur, Golden Eye, Quantum Of Solace, Lara Croft -Tomb Raider, and Mission: Impossible.
With the appearance this week of Wes Anderson's latest film, Asteroid City, Matthew Sweet looks back at one of Hollywood's most distinctive auteur director's films through the music written to serve them. Titles such as the award-winning The Grand Budapest Hotel, The French Dispatch, The Royal Tenenbaums, Moonrise Kingdom and Fantastic Mr Fox.
Jordan Peele films 'Get Out,' 'Us,' and 'Nope' composer Michael Abels discusses his latest project ‘Chevalier’, the story of the real life Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, the illegitimate son of an enslaved African and a French plantation owner, who rises to heights in French society as a composer and master swordsman. Meanwhile Matthew explores music from Master and Commander, Pirates of the Caribbean, Jane Austen's Emma and asks, how do film composers create a soundtrack to the past?
There has been an explosion in the global popularity of contemporary South Korean culture, often referred to by the Chinese word Hallyu - meaning Korean Wave. - which is also being reflected in a current exhibition at Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Matthew Sweet foregrounds music from highly praised films such as Parasite, Snowpiercer, The Handmaiden and Oldboy and also takes a look at the huge interest in Korean TV music for the streaming services, including cues from Jung Jae-il for Squid Game.
Music for film reflecting cinema's engagement with the idea of an over populated planet prompted by the release this week of Chie Hayakawa's Japanese feature, 'Plan 75', with a score by Jeremie Archache and Christophe Musset.The programme also includes music from 'Inferno' by Hans Zimmer, 'Passengers' by Thomas Newman, 'Idiocracy' by Theodore Shapiro, Miklos Rozsa's 'The World, The Flesh and The Devil', Fred Myrow's 'Soylent Green' as well as cues from 'Cloud Atlas', 'Elysium', 'What Happened To Monday' and Craig Armstromg's 'In Time'. Also in the line up is Alan Silvestri's 'Avengers - Infinity War'. The Classic Score of the Week is Jerry Goldsmith's masterly music for 'Logan's Run' from 1976.
With the screen adaptation of Rachel Joyce's novel 'The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry' out this week, scored by folk musician Sam Lee, Matthew Sweet looks at cinema's engagement with the folk tradition.
Matthew Sweet marks Earth Day with a look at screen music composed to celebrate the natural world. He is joined by composer Sarah Class, who has written many scores foregrounding environmental issues and for natural history documentaries, and is one of the chosen composers commissioned to write a new piece for the Coronation of Charles III and Camilla. Sarah talks about her approach to writing for wildlife films.As well as music by Sarah the programme features scores from Hans Zimmer, George Fenton, Frank Churchill, Alex Wurman, Harry Gregson-Williams and Éric Serra.
John Debney, composer of scores for films such as Elf, Jetsons: The Movie, Hocus Pocus and Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ, joins Matthew Sweet for a look back on his prodigious Hollywood career. John has a long association with the Disney studios and he explains to Matthew the extraordinary story of how his Disney career came about, of writing music for films such Bruce Almighty and The Passion of the Christ, and about his latest score for a new film inspired by an American sporting hero.
On Oscars weekend, Matthew looks back on the 70th Academy Award Ceremony, to date the most watched ever Oscars. What was it about the films of 1997 that really caught the public imagination? Featuring classic scores from James Horner (Titanic), Hans Zimmer (As Good As It Gets), Edward Shearmur (The Wings of the Dove), Jerry Goldsmith (Air Force One) and Michael Nyman (Gattaca).
Mark Mothersbaugh's score for the new film Cocaine Bear is the inspiration for this week's programme with Matthew Sweet, who looks at music for films with animals behaving badly. From dogs in an aerial dogfight courtesy of Wallace & Gromit to carnivorous mutant lambs in Black Sheep. Not to mention giant ants, a rogue crocodile and a tornado full of sharks. It's going to get messy.
With the Baftas this weekend and the Oscars imminent, Matthew Sweet meets the German composer/pianist Volker Bertelmann (aka "Hauschka"), the nominated composer in the Best Score category for both the Baftas and the Oscars this year, for the remake of the classic First World War inspired 'All Quiet On The Western Front'. Matthew talks to Volker about his fascination with the prepared piano and about working with "found sound" in his scores. He discusses his long-time collaboration with composer Dustin O'Halloran and his scores for 'Lion', 'Adrift', 'The Old Guard', 'Summerland', 'Ammonite', 'Against The Ice', 'Stowaway', 'War Sailor' and 'All Quiet On The Western Front'.
Matthew is joined by award-winning Icelandic composer Hildur Gunadottir to talk about her screen music, including her scores for Tár and Women Talking.
Matthew Sweet explores listeners' experiences of going to the pictures with their dads while contemplating Stephen Spielberg's new autobiographical film The Fabelmans.
With the current release of Justin Hurwitz's new score for 'Babylon' in cinemas, Matthew Sweet looks at the theme of decadence in the movies through examples of its music. The programme includes notes by Debbie Wiseman for 'Wilde', Jen Anderson for 'Pandora's Box'; 'Caligula' by Bruno Nicolai, Nino Rota's 'La Dolce Vita', Jonny Greenwood's 'Inherent Vice' and Dustin O'Halloran's 'Marie Antoinette'. Philippe Sarde scores with 'La Grande Bouffe' and Craig Armstrong with 'The Great Gatsby'. The programme also features music by John Barry and Georgio Moroder, and the Classic Score of the week is Jerry Goldsmith's 'LA Confidential'. To round things off, a decadent helping of 'Babylon'.
Monsters, spooky atmosphere, terrifying effects, but horror is also a genre exploring ideas about relationships, as Matthew Sweet explains with music for the romance of horror. The programme features cues from classic Hammer Horror by Harry Robertson alongside Wojciech Kilar's 'Bram's Stoker's Dracula'. Also in the programme is some of Roy Budd's score for 'Phantom Of the Opera', some of Maurice Jarre's score for 'Ghost', James Wong's 'A Chinese Ghost Story', Georges Auric's 'La Belle et la Bete', Alan Menken's 'Beauty and the Beast', Carter Burwell's 'Twilight' and Richard Wells' 'Being Human'. And Matthew meets Academy Award-winning composers Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, who discuss their latest score for the new Luca Guadagnino film 'Bones And All'.
The world of the convent has given rise to some interesting and varied cinema - Black Narcissus, Agnes of God, Two Mules for Sister Sara, and not least, this week's new release, Prey for the Devil, a new horror from director Daniel Stamm with music by Nathan Barr. Matthew Sweet looks back at nuns on the screen, lavishly illustrated with the sound of music.
Matthew Sweet in conversation with Lorne Balfe, the prolific, Grammy-winning composer of films ranging from Mission Impossible: Fallout to Churchill. Lorne talks about working with Hans Zimmer, how dyslexia shaped him as a composer, and the day Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson turned up at a recording session.
Vaughan-Williams was very progressive and open minded with regard to the role of the film composer and the merit of the film score. He was keen to “try his hand” at composing for film in the 1940s not least because he thought it would fulfil his need to play a “useful role” during the war years. He wrote his first score for Powell and Pressburger’s propaganda 1941 film ‘The 49th Parallel’ and went on to score another ten films, including the celebrated and ambitious ‘Scott of the Antarctic’. At a time when writing music for film was regarded merely a serviceable and functional undertaking, Vaughan-Williams maintained a characteristic open mind. He considered the comparatively new art form to be rich with potential and could foresee a time when perhaps the symbiotic relationship between music and picture might be creatively and artistically enhanced. His score for Scott of the Antarctic went on to form the basis of his seventh symphony.
In this special edition of Sound of Cinema marking this year’s Vaughan Williams anniversary, Matthew Sweet examines the composer’s personal philosophy on music for film. He features key music moments from the rich legacy the composer left the cinema, considers VW’s decision making when matching music to image, and puts him in context with the work of his British contemporaries. The programme is rich in examples from the composer’s music for the cinema.
Matthew Sweet looks back on the story of widescreen cinema, on some of the films designed especially for it and looks at the impact that the idea has had on film scores.
With the release of the Florence Pugh film Don't Worry Darling featuring a new score by John Powell, Matthew Sweet looks at film music inspired by those disturbing types of community that conceal awkward secrets. The programme features muisc from 'The League of Gentlemen Apocalypse', 'The Most Dangerous Game', 'Get Out', 'Vivarium', 'The Truman Show'; 'Pleasantville', 'Murder By Death', The Stepford Wives', 'Eyes Wide Shut', 'Midsommar', 'the Wicker Man' and 'Don't Worry Darling'. There's also the chance to hear music from Carter Burwell's new score for 'Catherine Called Birdy'.
With the release of the Florence Pugh film Don't Worry Darling featuring a new score by John Powell, Matthew Sweet looks at film music inspired by those disturbing types of community that conceal awkward secrets. The programme features muisc from 'The League of Gentlemen Apocalypse', 'The Most Dangerous Game', 'Get Out', 'Vivarium', 'The Truman Show'; 'Pleasantville', 'Murder By Death', The Stepford Wives', 'Eyes Wide Shut', 'Midsommar', 'the Wicker Man' and 'Don't Worry Darling'. There's also the chance to hear music from Carter Burwell's new score for 'Catherine Called Birdy'.
Gaming has always enjoyed a special relationship with the movies, but title don't always transfer well from one medium to the other. Louise looks at the symbiotic relationship between games and movies and talks to composer Nainita Desai about his music for the upcoming new Sam Barlow game Immortality.
The programme includes music by Stuart Chatwood for Prince of Persia, Henry Jackman for Uncharted 4, Jim Dooley for Epic Mickey 2, and Mark Mothersbaugh for Ratchet & Clank. The programme also has music from Jason Graves for House of Ashes, Harry Manfredini for Friday the 13th and John Paesano for Marvel's Spider-Man.
The Hi Score is Jeremiah Pena's music for Jurassic World Evolution.
Lalo Schifrin, composer of classic jazz-infused scores for Mission Impossible, Bullitt and Dirty Harry, turned 90 this year. Matthew Sweet looks back on his career and music. As well as the afore-mentioned films, the programme features music from Cool Hand Luke, Enter The Dragon, The Fox, The Four Musketeers, Rush Hour 2, The Amityville Horror and Tango.
With the release of a new film inspired by the art of wine tasting and the true story of a Zimbabwean team of professional sommeliers, 'Blind Ambition', Matthew considers film and film music under the wider context of the connoisseur. Who are the great on-screen arbiters of merit and taste? And he talks to the Australian composer Helena Czajka, about her score for 'Blind Ambition'.
The programme includes music from Sideways, Bottle Shock, The Monuments Men, The Thomas Crown Affair, The Best Offer, The Leopard, Goldfinger, Phantom Thread, La La Land, Like Water For Chocolate, and Blind Ambition.
What was it about the 1980s setting that proved so distinctive and right for the hit television series Stranger Things? Matthew Sweet reflects on the spirit of the decade as told through the music of its films. The programme includes music from the Goonies, The Breakfast Club, Wall Street, Witness, Driving Miss Daisy, The Final Countdown, War Games, Terminator and Germlins. The Classic Score of the Week is Jerry Goldsmith's music for Twilight Zone: The Movie.
Hollywood composer Bill Conti joins Matthew to talk about his career and music for film, which has included scores for James Bond, The Karate Kid and, famously, for Rocky. Among other things, Bill talks to Matthew about his early days as a musician and composer in Italy, about 'ghosting', about how he created the score for the original Rocky film back in the mid-1970s, about working on James Bond, and about his love of the great scores from the 'Golden Age' of Hollywood.
Michael Giacchino's new score for 'Thor - Love and Thunder' sets Matthew Sweet thinking about the movie appearances of the ancient gods of the Vikings. The programme includes music by Patrick Doyle, Jerry Goldsmith, Ron Goodwin, Bobby Krlic, Robin Carolan and Sebastian Gainsborough, Trevor Morris, Mario Nascimbene, Natalie Holt, Mark Mothersbaugh, Brian Tyler and the new score from Michael Giacchino.
Matthew Sweet talks to the composer Daniel Pemberton about the extraordinary output of the late Vangelis, of one of film music's best known composers. Featuring music from Blade Runner, Chariots of Fire, The Bounty, as well as some lesser known works from Vangelis's discography.
Matthew Sweet marks the 40th anniversary re-release of 'Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan' with music for the film franchise by Jerry Goldsmith, James Horner and Michael Giacchino.
The programme includes music from the movies 'Star Trek: Into Darkness', 'Star Trek: The Motion Picture', 'Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn' and 'Star Trek III: The Search for Spock'. And the Classic Score of the week is music by Fred Steiner from an early Star Trek TV episode 'Charlie X'.
In 1993 Jurassic Park revolutionised cinema's engagement with visual effects. Now, with the latest Jurassic World with us - 'Jurassic World Dominion' - Matthew Sweet looks back on films that have set out to animate the inanimate, especially those that employ 'stop motion' techniques, and he features examples from scores that greatly enhanced the succes of the process. The programme includes music from the 1976 'King Kong', 'First Men In the Moon', 'Jason and the Argonauts', 'Sen Noci Svatojanske' (A Midsummer Night's Dream) , 'Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit', 'Chicken Run', 'Early Man', 'Anomalisa', 'The Corpse Bride', 'Isle of Dogs', 'Fantastic Mr Fox', and music by Michael Giacchino for the new 'Jurassic World Dominion'.
With the release of Michelle Yeoh's new film 'Everything Everywhere All at Once', Matthew Sweet features music for movies that engage with the science of the multiple universe theory. In particular he looks at the 'Marvel Mulitverse' - "a concept about which we know very little" - and he gives us music from 'Doctor Strange' and the recent Spider-Man films. Also in the programme, the sounds of 'Interstellar', 'Coraline', 'Parallel' and 'Everything Everywhere All at Once'.
It's 50 years since the appearance on screen of John Kander and Fred Ebb's musical Cabaret, and an iconic point in the film career of Liza Minnelli. Matthew looks at that and at other portraits of Berlin's "Weimar Years". The programme includes music from Cabaret, The Blue Angel, Berlin Babylon, Metropolis, Nosferatu, Berlin Alexanderplatz, The Threepenny Opera, and the extraordinary cinematic and musical portrait of the city across a day - 'Berlin - A Symphony of a Great City'.
Thomas Newman is one of Hollywood's foremost composers, one of a great dynasty of musicians stretching back to the Golden Age, he talks to Matthew Sweet about his life and music. Films scores featured in the programme include The Player, The Shawshank Redemption, Wall-E, American Beauty, Bridge Of Spies, Skyfall, 1917, and his new score for Operation Mincemeat, which was released this week.
The subject this week is food as Matthew examines big screen kitchens and lavish gourmet meals to mark the release of a movie about Julia Child and a new Rachel Portman score.
Matthew Sweet talks to Germaine Franco, the first female composer to score a Disney animated feature, 'Encanto', which is nominated for best Original Score at this weekend’s Academy Awards. Matthew invites Germaine to discuss the path that has led her to tomorrow’s Oscar ceremony, about her career in film music and work on titles such as ‘Coco’, ‘How to Train Your Dragon', and ‘Dora and the Lost City of Gold’, about her collaborations with the likes of Michael Giacchino, John Debney and John Powell, and he unpicks some of her thoughts about composing a successful soundtrack for Disney.
(See also this week: Words and Music - Movies tomorrow on Radio 3 and Free Thinking on Tuesday evening on Bruce Lee)
Matthew Sweet ponders the relationship between cinema and cats and features some of its best film feline scores including Roy Webb’s ‘Cat People’, Danny Elfman’s music for Catwoman in ‘Batman Returns’ and naturally enough ‘The Aristocats’. Also in the programme is Henry Jackman's "Puss Suite" from Puss In Boots, Bruce Broughton's 'Homeward Bound', Kira Fontana's 'Kedi', Yuji Nomi's 'The Cat Returns' for Studio Ghibli, Christoper Young's 'Pet Sematary', Hans Zimmer's 'The Dark Knight Rises', and some of Michael Giachino's Cat Woman score for the new 'Batman' film. Matthew also takes a look at the recently released 'The Electrical Life of Louis Wain' starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Claire Foy, with music by Arthur Sharpe. The story of an Edwardian cat-lover and artist, which has a digital and DVD release this month.
With the arrival of the big budget series for TV and streaming, scoring has undergone a transformation in recent years. Matthew focuses on writing scores for the small screen. There's music from 'Doctor Who', 'Twin Peaks', 'Wolf Hall', 'Bridgerton' and 'Dark'. And this week's Classic Score is music from 'Game of Thrones' by Ramin Djawadi.
With Joe Wright's new film out, inspired by the fictional Cyrano de Bergerac and with a score by Bryce and Aaron Dressner, Matthew looks at films that explore the art of wooing. He introduces music by Ilan Eshkeri, Rachel Portman, Luis Bacalov, George Fenton, and John Ottman among others, and he talks to Bryce Dressner about his new score for 'Cyrano'. The Classic Score of the Week is Roy Webb's 'Notorious'.
'Young Sherlock Holmes', 'Silverado', 'Tombstone', 'Lost In Space' are just a few of the films scored by Matthew Sweet's guest, the Hollywood composer Bruce Broughton. Bruce looks back on his career in film and television and chooses the Classic Score of the Week.
With the release of the latest adaptation of Death on the Nile, Matthew marks the portrayal on screen of Agatha Christie's famous detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple.
Matthew Sweet focuses on the theme of motherhood with a selection of music for the screen that's inspried by the release of Pedro Aldomovar's latest film 'Parallel Mothers' featuring an acclaimed score by his regular collaborator, Alberto Iglesias.
The programme includes music from 'Mommie Dearest', 'La Ciociara' ('Two Women') and from several more recent films including 'Power Of The Dog', 'Lady Bird', 'Philomena', 'Arrival', 'Tully', 'The Lost Daughter', 'Goodnight Mommy' - all of which explore contrasting thoughts and ideas about motherhood. The Classic Score of the Week is Krzsztof Komeda's music for 'Rosemary's Baby'.
And there's also a chance to hear music by Sarah Angliss for Romala Garai's new film 'Amulet'.
Matthew Sweet talks to composer Nathan Johnson about his music for films including his score for Guillermo del Toro’s neo-noir film Nightmare Alley which is out this week. Nathan talks about working with his cousin, the director Rian Johnson on films such as the worldwide smash hit Knives Out, Looper, which starred Bruce Willis and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Brick, which also starred Gordon-Levitt. Nathan charts his progress from his early scores, which were made on a very small budget with found sounds and field recordings, to working with a full orchestra at Abbey Road.
With the release of the fifth film in the ‘Scream’ franchise this week, boasting a new score from Brian Tyler, Matthew Sweet foregrounds that whilst reflecting on the overall history and art of the film scream. The programme features music from Brian Tyler and Marco Beltrami and also cues from Jaws, Psycho, Invasion of The Body Snatchers, Distant Drums, King Kong, and others. Matthew looks at the story of the classic ‘Wilhelm Scream’ and talks with actress Ashley Peldon - Hollywood scream doyenne - about how she produces the right scream for the right screen moment.
Matthew looks at music for films that explore the age gap between their characters, inspired by the release of Paul Thomas Anderson's new film, Licorice Pizza, which includes music by Jonny Greenwood.
The programme features music from ‘Room at the Top’, ‘Malena’, ‘The Lost Daughter’, The Reader’, ‘Notes on a Scandal’ and ‘Judy’. This week’s Classic Score is Franz Waxman’s music for ‘Sunset Boulevard’, which was released in 1950.
Radio 3’s ‘Sound of…’ marks the 90th anniversary of one of the most famous of all recording studios, London’s Abbey Road. Presenters Matthew Sweet and Louise Blain team up for a special programme for Christmas to mark Abbey Road’s important and illustrious history of making music for film - and more recently for the gaming world. Together they tour the building, taking a keen interest on the legendary Studio 1 - meeting some of the people who have shaped soundtrack recordings there. The programme is lavishly illustrated with music from the Abbey Road catalogue.
Abbey Road began its venture into film in the early 80s and quickly attracted the likes of Miklós Rózsa, John Williams and Stephen Spielberg, Jerry Goldsmith, and James Horner etc. It continues to play a major role in music for international film. One of the first significant scores to be recorded there was Raiders of the Lost Ark, which was soon followed with prestigious catalogue of titles: The Return of the Jedi, The Last Emperor, RoboCop, Aliens, The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, Skyfall, Gravity, The Shape of Water, Black Panther and so on. Matthew reflects both on the history, in conversation with engineers Merik Stiles and Ken Townsend, and with Hollywood composer James Newton Howard (The Hunger Games, The Dark Knight, Fantastic Beasts) who has recently been recording there. Meanwhile, Louise talks with Isabel Garvey about links with the world of Gaming. Titles such as Final Fantasy and Call of Duty have passed through Abbey Road’s doors. She meets composer Ilan Eshkeri who rectory recorded ‘Ghost of Tsushima’ there, and with cellist Caroline Dale, who explains some of the challenges that face the musician working on soundtracks.
It's 20 years since the launch of Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings so Matthew devotes the whole of this week's programme to one of the most ambitious of all film scores - Howard Shore's remarkable 10 hour Wagnerian epic. Matthew is joined by the musicologist Doug Adams who worked alongside the composer deconstructing some of the incredibly complex ingredients that constitute Shore's musical story-telling. It's a system based on Richard Wagner's leitmotif, where musical themes and statements are used to represent characters and ideas in the films. When these themes are combined and varied symphonically, they present a complete aural picture of the narrative to complement and enhance the story on the screen.
Together, Matthew and Doug unpick some of the main musical ideas in Shore's score and reveal just how far-reaching the music for LOTR is.
Matthew looks back on the career and recordings of soprano Marni Nixon, a "ghost singer" who provided the vocals for several leading actresses often without audiences being aware. With the release this week of Steven Spielberg's new version of 'West Side Story', Matthew considers the 1961 film in which Nixon provided the singing voice of Natalie Wood, without receiving a credit. She was also the singing voice of Deborah Kerr in 'The King and I' and 'An Affair to Remember', and of Audrey Hepburn in 'My Fair Lady'. And she filled in a few of Marilyn Monroe's notes on 'Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend' from 'Gentlemen Prefer Blondes'. Although she was well known on the concert stage as a soprano, and even recorded works of Stravinsky conducted by the composer himself, she was largely unknown as a singer in films, and it was not until more recently that she was finally credited for her soundtrack recordings.
The fashion industry has long links with cinema, both on screen and off. With the release of House of Gucci in mind, Matthew Sweet looks at the relationship between film and fashion, featuring film music in which costume design is a significant aspect of the film or a driving force of the plot.
The programme features music from the films Clueless, Black Panther, The Fifth Element, Breakfast at Tiffany's, À bout de souffle, Spencer, Phantom Thread, Yves Saint Laurent, Coco Chanel and Igor Stravinsky, Coco avant Chanel, Prêt-à-Porter and House of Gucci.
Image courtesy of Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures Inc
With the release this week of 'Cry Macho', Matthew Sweet looks back on the music for the films of Clint Eastwood, both as actor, director and composer. The programme includes music from 'For A Few Dollars More', 'The Outlaw Josey Wales', 'Magnum Force', 'High Plains Drifter', 'Pale Rider', 'Mystic River', ''Letters from Iwo Jima', 'Sully' and 'Unforgiven' and celebrates his musical links and collaborations with composers such as Ennio Morricone, Lalo Schifrin, Dee Barton and Lennie Niehaus. And we end with music by Morgan Kibby from 'Mothering Sunday' which is also out this week.
Image courtesy of Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. Photo: Claire Folger
The release of Edgar Wright's new film 'The Last Night in Soho', where the main character travels back to 1966, prompts Matthew to look back at the film music of that year. It was the time of 'The Good, the Bad and the Ugly', 'One Million Years BC', 'A Man for All Seasons', 'Born Free' and 'The Battle of Algiers'. The programme features muisc from these, plus 'Georgy Girl', 'The Blue Max', 'Is Paris Burning?', 'Dracula - Prince of Darkness', 'Fahrenheit 451' and music from Steven Price's new score for 'Last Night In Soho'.
Transferring a book or idea to the screen can be troublesome, in the week of the long-awaited ‘Dune’, Matthew Sweet selects music for films that have struggled to reach the screen. The programme includes music from 'Apocalypse Now' - including part of David Shire's rejected score - 'Fitzcarraldo', 'Waterworld', 'Heaven's Gate', 'The Man Who Killed Don Quixote', 'Lawrence of Arabia' and 'Dune'.
Image courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures.
Matthew Sweet meets director and composer John Carpenter to talk about writing the music for his films, and his score for 'Halloween Kills', which was released this week. They discuss John's iconic score for the first film in the 'Halloween' franchise, which was released in 1978, his musical collaborations with Alan Howarth and Shirley Walker on 'Escape from New York' and 'Escape from L.A.' and John's scores for 'The Fog', 'Vampires' and 'Village of the Damned'. John explains how he came to work with the great Ennio Morricone who wrote the score for 'The Thing'. And he describes the great pleasure he now gets from writing themes for imaginary films in the 'Lost Themes' series, and the joy that performing his music live has brought him.
With the recent release of the new James Bond film ‘No Time To Die’, Matthew Sweet looks back on the music for Bond villains from John Barry to Hans Zimmer. Included in the programme is music for Bond and the villains in 'Goldfinger', 'Dr No', 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service', 'Spectre', 'You Only Live Twice', 'Moonraker', 'The Spy Who Loved Me', 'Live And Let Die', 'The World Is Not Enough', 'Octopussy', 'A View To A Kill', 'The Living Daylights', 'Tomorrow Never Dies', 'Skyfall', 'Casino Royale', and 'No Time To Die'.
Matthew's theme is skin, featuring music for the screen as varied as The Singing Detective to The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, and prompted by this week's new release, the first Tunisian film to be nominated for an Academy Award, Kaouther Ben Hania's 'The Man Who Sold His Skin' with a score by Amine Bouhafa.
Also in the programme is music by Dan Romer, Jerry Goldsmith, Alberto Iglesias, Ron Grainer, John Williams, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, Harold Arlen and Mica Levi. The Classic Score of the Week is Jerry Goldsmith’s ‘The Illustrated Man’.
Matthew Sweet is joined by director Mike Leigh to talk about his ideas about music for films and to look back on some of the scores for films such as the historical dramas 'Mr Turner', 'Peterloo' and ‘Topsy-Turvy’. He first came to prominence with the Play for Today TV drama ‘Nuts in May’ in 1976, and for many years he was known for his improvised domestic dramas. He tells Matthew about his work with composers Andrew Dickson (‘Naked’, Mean Time’ and ‘High Hopes’) and Gary Yershon (‘Peterloo’, ‘Happy-Go-Lucky’ and ‘Another Year’). There’s jazz from Marianne Jean-Baptiste (‘Career Girls’) and an excerpt from one of Rachel Portman’s earliest scores (‘Four Days in July’). And we hear Carl Davis’s versions of Gilbert and Sullivan (‘Topsy-Turvy’).
Mike Leigh’s work is celebrated by the BFI in October and November on the Southbank in London and at Home in Manchester, with the release of a new print of his 1993 classic ‘Naked’, and with the appearance of a new, revised version of ‘Mike Leigh on Mike Leigh’.
Matthew Sweet with music for films inspired by the world beneath the surface including James Horner's music for 'The 33' and Bernard Herrmann's music for the classic 1959 version of 'Journey To The Center Of the Earth'. This week's featured new release is the First World War drama, 'The War Below' about the miners of Messsines who dug tunnels to employ high explosives deep beneath the Belgium trenches. The new sore is by the Finnish composer Anne Kulonen.
The programme also includes music from Escape From The Dark, The Molly McGuires, Germinal, 10 Cloverfield Lane, The Descent, Beneath The Planet Of The Apes, and Beneath Hill 60.
Matthew also meets compsoer Natalie Holt who talks about her score for the new Phyllida Lloyd film, 'Herself'.
Matthew Sweet with a look and film music for movies with a disruptive vibe reflecting the launch this last week of Michael Caton-Jones's new film 'Our Ladies', about a group of school girls from the Scottish Highlands who spend a day partying, drinking and hooking up in Scotland's capital.
Also in the programme is music for the varioues St Trinian's films, plus 'Rebel Without A Cause', 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off', 'Heathers', 'Suicide Squad', 'Birds of Prey' and the recent 'The Suicide Squad', 'Kick-Ass', and 'The Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out Of The Window And Disappeared'. The Classic Score of the Week is 'West Side Story'.
Matthew Sweet presents a selection of film music inspired by the new film Reminiscence with a score by Ramin Djawadi, with a look at films in which the pursuit of love has to overcome extraordinary obstacles.
Matthew meets Canadian film composer Christophe Beck, who wrote the music for both Frozen films, the Ant-Man franchise and The Hangover trilogy. Initially a music student at Yale where he wrote two musicals with his brother, the pianist Chilly Gonzales, he went on to study film scoring with Jerry Goldsmith at the University of Southern California. Starting out in television he won an Emmy for his work on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, before the cheerleading comedy Bring it On launched his film career. Other credits include Under the Tuscan Sun, Garfield, Crazy Stupid Love, Pitch Perfect, and Trolls.
Christophe talks to Matthew about his latest film Free Guy, his love of modular synths, and how it feels when a film you score flops at the box office.
Producer: Ruth Thomson
Matthew looks back on 40 years of Indiana Jones, with music from the franchise alongside some of the titles from the Golden Age of cinema that inspired both Steven Spielberg and George Lucas to re-imagine the genre. And Matthew also looks at the some of the films that have come in its wake, including Disney's 'Jungle Cruise', which is released this week.
As well as Indiana Jones and 'Jungle Cruise', the programme features music from 'Romancing the Stone', 'King Solomon's Mines', 'Tomb Raider', 'Secret of the Incas', 'The Treasure of the Sierra Madre' and the 1950 version of 'King Solomon's Mines'.
Matthew looks at music for the Tough Guy Movie, especially films featuring the creations of Schwarzenegger, Stallone, Bronson, Eastwood and Willis - heroes with staying power. In particular Matthew looks the changing career of Sylvester Stallone - and the Classic Score of the Week is the 1974 'Death Wish'.
Includes in the programme is music by Roy Budd, Elmer Bernstein, Carter Burwell, Alan Silvestri, Lalo Schifrin, Isaac Hayes, Bill Conti, Ennio Morricone, Jerry Goldsmith, Howard Shore, Brian Tyler and Herbie Hancock Plus a track from Christopher Benstead's score for Guy Richie's new film 'Wrath of Man'.
Matthew Sweet catches up with the prolific American film composer, artist and author Mark Mothersbaugh, founder of art-house band Devo and the composer of a new animated movie The Croods 2. Mothersbaugh talks about his extensive collaboration with the director Wes Anderson as well as why animation is, for him, the acme of artistic opportunities for film composers.
Inspired by the release of Freaky, featuring a new score by Bear McCreary, Matthew Sweet presents a selection of scores for films where characters have either lost track of who they are or who find themselves exchanging their name, their mind, or their body with another.
The programme includes music from Gattaca, Spellbound, 3 Women, Desperately Seeking Susan, Welcome To Marwen, Oxygen, Total Recall, Face/Off, Hands Of Orlac, Self/Less, and Freaky. The Classic Score of the Week is Franz Waxman's music for Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde from 1941.
The programme also features some of Lorne Balfe's music for the newly released 'Black Widow'.
Matthew Sweet marks the return of the Fast and Furious franchise to cinemas, and a new score by Brian Tyler, with a look at film music for fast cars and the quest for speed.
The programme includes music from Hanna, Monte Carlo or Bust, The Great Race, Le Mans 66, Rush, Mad Max Fury Road, Ronin, The French Connection, Black Panther, Bullitt and fromt he enw Fast and Furious film. There's also a close look at Billy Goldenberg's score for Steven Spielberg's early film, Duel.
Matthew Sweet talks to Coventry born Clint Mansell, founder member of the group Pop Will Eat Itself, and one of the most distinctive composers of modern film. His credits include 'Requiem for a Dream', 'The Fountain', 'Black Swan' 'Loving Vincent', 'Rebecca' and many others, including his latest score for Ben Wheatley's new film 'In The Earth'. which is released this week. Clint talks with Matthew about his approach to writing for film, the people who have inspired him, and his regular working relationships with directors Ben Wheatley and Darren Aronofsky. He also speaks about working with the film director Duncan Jones on his sci-fi masterpiece 'Moon' and how significant this was for him, not least because he had idolised Jones's father, David Bowie. And Clint Mansell speaks candidly and movingly about the sudden death of his girlfriend and how this impacted his music for the film High Rise.
Inspired by the Emma Seligman's new film, 'Shiva Baby' featuring an imaginative and unsettling score by Ariel Marx, Matthew looks at music for films that present ideas about anxiety, from Hitchcock to Mel Brooks, to a some of the screen stories of the present day.
Included in the programme is music from High Anxiety, Adaptation, Now Voyager, Inside Out, Arachnophobia, Vertigo, Marnie, The Aviator, Airport, and Airplane. The Classic Score of the Week is Jerry Goldsmith's score for the 1962 Freud: The Secret Passion.
The programme also features an interview with Ariel Marx talking about her imaginative score for the new film, Shiva Baby.
Hollywood composer Joseph Bishara, who has scored all the Insidious and Conjuring films, joins Matthew Sweet to delve into the world of contemporary horror and discuss the presence of evil, the power of silence, and scoring scenes that feature himself – as supernatural villains Bathsheba Sherman and the Lipstick-Face Demon. Featuring Joseph’s music alongside influential scores he admires by John Carpenter, Jerry Goldsmith, Wendy Carlos, and John Corigliano. ‘The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It’ is in UK cinemas this weekend.
Matthew Sweet with music for the road movie genre, marking the cinematic release of the much-garlanded film 'Nomadland'.
Characters in a road movie undergo a journey - usually by car or motorbike - which invariably presents a life-changing experience. They can be journeys about self-discovery, rebellion, reconciliation and sometimes death. Matthew foregrounds some of the best road movie scores including 'Easy Rider', 'On the Road', (inspired by Jack Kerouac's genre-defining novel of the same name), 'The Motorcycle Diaries', 'Little Miss Sunshine', 'To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar'' and 'Locke'. Matthew takes a look at how Erik Nordgren's score works to picture in Ingmar Bergman's 1957 masterpiece 'Wild Strawberries' and reflects on the importance of the road movie in the work of director Wim Wenders. The Classic Score of the Week is Ry Cooder's atmospheric music for 'Paris, Texas'.
Matthew Sweet marks the forthcoming release of Dominic Cooke's thriller 'The Courier', with a new score by Abel Korzeniowski, and focuses on films based on true espionage stories.
Matthew features music from the new film as well as from 'Argo', 'Mata Hari - Agent H21', 'The Good Shepherd', 'Confessions of a Dangerous Mind', 'Black Book', 'Bridge of Spies', 'Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy', 'Red Joan', and cues from Gabriel Yared's and Stephane Moucha's 'The Lives of Others', which is the Classic Score of the Week.
Matthew Sweet looks back on the music for the films of the great French director Bertrand Tavernier, who died earlier this year, including Herbie Hancock's Oscar winning score for the film 'Round Midnight'. The programme includes music by some of France's greatest film composers including Antoine Duhamel and Philippe Sarde and music from revered films such as 'Quai d'Orsay'; 'A Sunday in the Country', 'The Clockmaker', 'Laissez-Passer', 'Death Watch', 'La fille de d'Artagnan', 'La Princesse de Montpensier'.'Coup de Torchon', 'L.627' and 'Daddy Nostalgie'. Matthew is joined by the French film critic Murial Zagha.
A selection of film music written to evoke the start of spring and the idea of rebirth, including scores by Ji Bark, John Williams, Danny Elfman, Isobel Waller-Bridge and David Schweitzer, Nino Rota and Jerry Goldsmith, among others. The Classic Score of the Week is Jerry Goldsmith's music for the 'The Reincarnation of Peter Proud'. Matthew also takes a close look at how music works to picture in the first outing of a new feature for the programme. Today he examines Alexandre Desplat's music for the opening scene of Jonathan Glazer's 2004 film 'Birth'.
It’s 25 years since Rachel Portman composed the music for Emma and collected an Academy Award for Best Soundtrack, the first woman to merit such recognition, since which time there has been an array of talented female composers all eager to follow her lead - and yet a recent survey noted that an annual list of top 250 box office rated films, 94% of them were scored by men. Matthew Sweet marks International Women’s Day with a look at woman who score films, featuring a wide ranging selection of music from across a variety of genres. The programme includes great pioneers of the past, such as Elisabeth Lutyens and Shirley Walker, as well as some of the excitingly diverse, up-and-coming names, hungry for attention now.
With the upcoming release of a full length big screen outing for Tom and Jerry, Matthew Sweet meets composer Christopher Lennertz to talk about his music for this and other films.
As we enter the third decade of the 21st century, Matthew Sweet features a selection of music for film from across the years that has presented its own vision of the 20s, such as Children of Men and Terminator.
Mark Isham, Hollywood composer of 'October Sky', 'A River Runs Through It' and the new 'Judas and the Black Messiah' has scored over 400 films and is a favourite composer with the likes of Robert Redford and Jodie Foster. He joins Matthew Sweet to discuss his career and some of his thoughts on scoring film in a programme that features music from ‘Fire In The Sky’, ‘Blade’, ‘A River Runs Through It’, ‘Of Mice And Men’, ‘Nell’, ‘The Black Dahlia’, ‘Dolphin Tale’, ‘Togo’ and the forthcoming ‘Judas and the Black Messiah’.
Matthew Sweet looks at music for some of the recent On Demand small screen series and in particular at those with a supernatural theme, in the light of the release of the new drama 'Fate - The Winx Saga' featuring music by the Canadian composer, Anne Nikitin.
Other series featured in the programme include ‘WandaVision’, ‘Bridgerton’, ‘Game Of Thrones’, ‘His Dark Materials’, ‘Dark’, ‘Stranger Things’, ‘Hemlock Grove’, ‘Carnival Row’, ‘The Umbrella Academy’, ‘Penny Dreadful’ and ‘Penny Dreadful - City of Angels’. The Classic Score of the Week is Bernard Herrmann’s music for the original 1959 ‘The Twilight Zone’.
The American composer and jazz trumpeter, Terence Blanchard, talks to Matthew Sweet about his career in film music and his artistic association with film-maker Spike Lee. Terence's latest score for One Night In Miami, about a fictionalised meeting between Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali, Sam Cooke and Jim Brown, is out this week. Matthew features music from that and also from The Blackkklansman, Da 5 Bloods, Malcolm X, Harriet, The Caveman’s Valentine, and Eve's Bayou.
With the release of Kornél Mundruczó’s award winning ‘Pieces of A Woman’, with a new score by Howard Shore, Matthew Sweet looks at film music inspired by the idea of autobiography.
'Tis more than just a season of snow-clad backdrops and tinkling soundtracks as Matthew Sweet illustrates in his sparkling assortment of film music for cinematic Christmases.
With the recent on demand release of David Fincher’s new film ‘Mank’, exploring the background to the 1941 classic film, 'Citizen Kane' and starring Gary Oldman as writer Herman J Mankiewicz,, Matthew looks at the music and cinema of Orson Welles. As well as featuring some of the new score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross for the new Fincher film biog, the programme also includes music from Welles's Shakespeare inspired films: 'Chimes At Midnight', 'The Magnificent Ambersons', 'Macbeth' and 'Othello'; plus music from 'Touch of Evil', 'Lady of Shamghai', 'Jane Eyre', 'The Third Man', 'The Other Side of the Wind' and of course, 'Citizen Kane'.
As part of a weekend profiling Radio 3's New Generation Thinkers, Matthew Sweet is joined by film historian Iain Smith, a past member of scheme, for a look at one of his pet interests - how popular English speaking film titles and their music often appear adapted and remade in other countries of the world.
Virtually every major franchise has its equivalent local version in some part of the world. It could be a Turkish or Filipino interpretation of James Bond or an Indian take on Harry Potter. Sometimes the music bares a strong resemblance to the original as well. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the many different takes on the James Bond franchise and Matthew and Iain give particular attention to the "Eurospy" phenomenon of the 60s and 70s.
This sharing of ideas also works the other way round, and Matthew and Iain look at how Hollywood has taken inspiration from French cinema, Bollywood and Japan. The programme includes music from 'True Lies', 'Sommersby', 'UpperSeven - The Spy with Ten Faces', 'OK Connery', 'Kung Fu Hustle', 'Dastak', 'Pearl Harbor', and 'Battle beyond the Stars'. The Classic Scores of the week are Fumio Hayasaka's 'The Seven Samurai' and Elmer Bernstein's 'The Magnificent seven'.
Heaven Can Wait, On Golden Pond, The Champ, The Firm and The Fabulous Baker Boys are some of the best-loved film scores of the past 50 years. Matthew Sweet meets their composer, Dave Grusin, for a look back on a long and distinguished career in film.
Matthew Sweet with a selection of film music inspired by the theme of Halloween, from the classic The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari to more recent manifestations such as - Halloween.
Matthew looks at representations of Halloween in film in the likes of 'E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial' and 'Meet Me In St Louis' and turns to scores from some of the great and scariest horror films, such as Suspiria, The Quatermass Xperiment, Doctor Who, The Night Of The Hunter, Psycho, A Nightmare On Elm Street, The Babadook, Candyman, Insidious, Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark, Sinister, and - the Classic Score of the Week - John Carpenter's influential music for the 1978 Halloween.
With the cinematic release of a new telling of the classic Frances Hodgson Burnett children’s book The Secret Garden, featuring a score by Dario Marianelli, Matthew Sweet looks at this and other music for secret worlds in film. From the fantasy worlds of Lewis Carroll's Wonderland and C.S Lewis's Narnia, to the dinosaur ridden terrains of Jurassic Park and the Valley of Gwangi, the mind of John Malkovich, and the labyrinth of Pan. Our classic score is Dmitri Tiomkin's music evoking the mystical utopia of Shangri-la in Frank Capra's Lost Horizon.
This week's featured new release is The Trial of the Chicago 7, with a new score by Daniel Pemberton, a true story set against the background of protest and unrest of 1968, a year historically regarded as being a watershed for social change. Matthew takes a look at the film and its new score and looks back to some of the many films released in 1968. The year that saw the arrival of 2001 - A Space Odyssey, Bullitt, If, The Lion In Winter, and Zefferelli's Romeo and Juliet.
Photo credit: Niko Tavernise/NETFLIX © 2020
Zbigniew Preisner first came to international attention through his collaboration with the great Polish director Krzysztof Kieslowski, for films such as the Dekalog series, The Double Life of Veronique and the critically acclaimed Three Colours Trilogy. In a week which has seen the release of Preisner's latest soundtrack, for the Norwegian short, 'Mother Didn't Know', Matthew explores his philosophy about writing music for film. He looks back on Preisner's early career in music, his work with Kieslowski and with directors such as Agnieska Holland and Louis Malle, his feelings about Hollywood and the vast body of music he’s produced for international cinema since Kieslowski's death in 1990.
The programme features music from Dakalog, The Double Life of Veronique, Three Colours Blue, A Requiem For My Friend, The Queen Of Spain, The Secret Garden, Damage, Between Strangers, Woman of Berlin, Valley Of Shadows, All About Love, The Beautiful Country, Aberdeen, Forgotten We'll Be, and Mother Didn't Know.
With Christopher Nolan's 'Inception' now back in cinemas alongside the eagerly awaited arrival of 'Tenet', Matthew Sweet looks back on some of the music his films have inspired, including some of the most original scores of recent years, from the likes of Hans Zimmer, James Newton Howard, Benjamin Wallfisch and David Julyan; for movies such as 'Dunkirk', 'Interstellar', 'Momento', 'The Prestige', 'Inception' and 'The Dark Knight Trilogy'.
Matthew Sweet marks the release of the new Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter 'Bill and Ted' adventure - 'Bill and Ted Face The Music' - with a selection of scores for movies which tackle historical subjects, often with an imaginative take on the past. Travelling from the present day back through time he draws on music from 'The Crown', 'Darkest Hour', 'Battle of the Bulge', 'The Imitation Game', 'Downfall' 'Khartoum', 'Free State of Jones', 'Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter', 'Jefferson in Paris', 'Elizabeth' , 'Braveheart', 'Cleopatra'. The Classic Score of the Week is Mario Nascimbene's music for 'One Million Years BC' . The programme also features music by Mark Isham for the new Bill and Ted adventure.
Matthew introduces a selection of music that underscores some of cinema's most tyrannical characters. The programme draws on music from Star Wars -Phantom Menace, You Only Live Twice, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Maleficent, The Hunger Games, V for Vendetta, Nineteen Eighty-Four, The Great Dictator, Man In The High Castle, Appassionata, Animal Farm, Novecento, The Last King of Scotland, Land of the Blind, and the Classic Score of the Week, Miklos Rozsa’s music for Quo Vadis.
Matthew Sweet meets the British-born composer Harry Gregson-Williams for a retrospective on his career in film. He’s been a hugely successful figure in Hollywood film-scoring for the past two decades, with music for the Shrek franchise, The Chronicles of Narnia, as well as having scores for the films of Tony and Ridley Scott, Ben Affleck and the Aardman animations of Nick Park to his credit. In addition to Harry’s back catalogue, Matthew also explores the background and ideas in his recent score for the Disney live-action remake of Mulan.
'Rising Phoenix', a new documentary film charting the history of the Paralympic Games is launched this week with a new score by Daniel Pemberton. Matthew Sweet features some of this music and other soundtracks which have taken their inspiration from the history of the Olympics, at a time originally earmarked for the launch of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics.
The programme includes music from ‘Clash of the Titans’, ‘The Giant of Marathon’, ‘The Games’, ‘Foxcatcher’, ‘Unbroken’, ‘Race’, ‘Munich’, ‘Visions of Eight’, ‘I Tonya’, ‘Bhaag Milkha Bhaag’. The Classic Score of the Week is ..... (well what else could it be?) ........ Vangelis’s distinctive synth sounds for ‘Chariots of Fire’.
Featured this week is 'Project Power', a new film starring Jamie Foxx with music by Joseph Trapanese. The film is centred around a new drug which gives its recipient super powers for up to five minutes. Matthew Sweet foregrounds the music for this and other soundtracks to films inspired by the notion of empowerment. The programme includes music from ‘X-Men: First Class’, ‘Code 8’, ‘Spider-Man 2’, ‘Robocop’, ‘A.I.-Artificial Intelligence’, ‘The Devil’s Advocate’, ‘The Mephisto Waltz’, ‘Carrie’, ‘The Ninth Gate’ and ‘The Umbrella Academy’. The Classic Score of the Week is Miklos Rozsa’s music for ‘The Power’.
Photo credit: Alfonso Bresciani/Netflix
With the 40th anniversary re-release of Mike Hodges’s Flash Gordon into cinemas at the end of the month, Matthew Sweet is joined by guitarist Brian May for a look back on the film's groundbreaking score composed by Howard Blake and Queen. Matthew also takes a timely look back across the decades at music for films that have taken their inspiration from comic strips and comic books. Featured films include 'Modesty Blaise', 'Dennis the Menace', 'Popeye', 'Addams Family Values', 'The Peanuts Movie', and 'The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp'; 'The Belles of St Trinians', 'Barbarella', 'The Perils of Gwendoline' and 'Tamara Drewe'; 'The Adventures of Tintin', 'Dick Tracy' and of course 'Flash Gordon'. The Classic Score of the week is Franz Waxman's music for the 1954 Arthurian inspired adventure epic, 'Prince Valiant'.
And the programme also includes music from the newly released video-on-demand feature, 'The Old Guard' - based on a 2017 comic book by Greg Rucka and Leandro Fernandez and featuring a new score by Dustin O'Halloran and Volker Bertelmann.
Matthew Sweet marks the news of the death earlier this week of the great Italian film composer Ennio Morricone with a look back on his career and music with the Italian film expert Pasquale Iannone.
The programme, which is a revised repeat of programme from 2014, includes film music from Morricone’s early years with the experimental ensemble, Il Gruppo through to his work for Sergio Leone and beyond and features music from much loved classics such as "A Fistful of Dollars" and "The Good, The Bad and the Ugly"; "Cinema Paradiso", "1900", "The Mission" as well as less well known scores such as "The Investigation Of A Citizen Above Suspicion"; "A Quiet Place In The Country" and Morricone's first score, "Il Federale".
The Classic Score of the Week is "Once Upon A Time In The West".
John Williams is one of the most successful and most identifiable of all Hollywood composers, with the likes of Star Wars, Harry Potter, ET, Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones, Saving Private Ryan and Schindler's List to his credit. But what might the Williams legacy be had Steven Spielberg and George Lucas turned to other composers to write their scores? Matthew looks back over John Williams’ long career and celebrates his associations with the likes of Oliver Stone, Robert Altman, Irwin Allen and Alfred Hitchcock. The programme features music from ‘How To Steal A Million’, Lost In Space’, ‘Land Of The Giants’, ‘The Valley Of The Dolls’, ‘Images’, ‘The Long Goodbye’, ‘The Towering Inferno’, ‘Black Sunday’, ‘Family Plot’, ‘The Fury’, ‘Dracula’, ‘The Witches Of Eastwick’, ‘Home Alone’, ‘Memoirs Of A Geisha’, ‘The Book Thief’ and ‘Jane Eyre’. The Classic Score of the Week draws on music for Oliver Stone’s ‘Born On The Fourth Of July’.
Jamie Anderson, whose father Gerry Anderson gave us Supercar, Fireball XL5, Thunderbirds, UFO and Captain Scarlet, joins Matthew Sweet for a look back on the music of Barry Gray, the man who provided the musical voice to Anderson’s classic small screen creations. Together, Matthew and Jamie consider the varied aspects of Gray’s style, his pioneering use of electronics, his working relationship with Gerry Anderson, and his legacy. The programme features key musical moments from children’s TV classics, Supercar, Fireball XL5, Stingray, Captain Scarlet and Joe 90; and also some of the later live action series such as UFO and Space 1999. The Classic Score of the week is Barry Gray’s music for the full length big screen supermarionation feature, ‘Thunderbirds Are Go’.
The multi-instrumentalist musician David Amram describes himself as a 'promising young composer' as he approaches his 90th birthday. This promising young man has created and played seminal scores for films such as The Arrangement and The Manchurian Candidate and has, as jazz musician, performed with the great players of the last century, including Dizzie Gillespie, Thelonius Monk, Charles Mingus and Charlie Parker. In this special interview commemorating Amram's milestone birthday Matthew Sweet talks to the composer about his music, his work with the directors Elia Kazan, John Frankenheimer, about his friendship and collaboration with Jack Kerouac and about his early life as a boxer and his Jewish faith.
Matthew Sweet features a selection of music for films that have been led by actors not yet in or out of their teens. From the likes of Jackie Coogan, Shirley Temple, Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland, to more recent stars such as Jodie Foster, Daniel Radcliffe and Asa Butterfield. The programme is prompted by the release this week, to streaming services, of Artemis Fowl, Disney’s new young adult fantasy based on the novels by author Eoin Colfe. Directed by Kenneth Branagh, it has a new score by Patrick Doyle, and stars 15 year old Ferdia Shaw.
The programme features music from ‘What Ever Happened To Baby Jane?, ‘Finding Neverland’, ‘The Kid’, ‘Bright Eyes’, ‘Captains Courageous’, ‘Babes In Arms’, ‘Hunted’, ‘Willie Wonka And The Chocolate Factory’, ‘The Parent Trap’, ‘Pollyanna’, ‘Taxi Driver’, ‘Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children’, ‘Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone’ as well as music from Patrick Doyle’s new score. The Classic Score of the Week is Miklos Rosza’s music for the 1940 ‘Thief Of Baghdad’ starring Sabu.
Matthew considers films that make a feature of the cinema going experience itself and invites stories and recollections from listeners as part of the programme; and he looks forward to the new re-mastered version of Cinema Paradiso out at the end of the month.
At a time when nearly all cinemas are closed owing to Covid-19, Matthew celebrates the cinema buildings themselves, through scores and films that are either about cinemas, that feature cinemas, or are about enjoying the cinema experience. They could be the great illuminated electric picture palaces of the 30s, the converted local village hall, the drive-in, or the multiplex, each has its own character and story to tell. The programme draws on films as varied as The Magic Box, The Smallest Show on Earth, Army of Shadows, The Chosen (1981), The Blob, Dillinger, Inglorious Basterds, The Last Picture Show, and perhaps not surprisingly, Cinema Paradiso. The cinema is a place of escape, a place of fantasy and wonderment, of shared experiences; as John Updike said:
“The size of the great rear wall measures The breadth of the dreams we have there.”
So, Matthew invites listeners to share their cinema going stories - to record themselves and become an integral part of the programme - a programme in homage to the movie house.
Matthew Sweet focuses on music for mystery films, a genre favourite, where the unexplained disappearance of a character becomes the starting point for adventure. As well as great examples from the past, Matthew also features music from the new film 'Only The Animals' with a score by Benedikt Schiefer, which has just received wide release.
Matthew features music for films which take their inspiration from mankind’s inconsistent relationship with the atom and nuclear energy. The programme is prompted by the release of the new documentary film ‘The Atom: A Love Affair’. Matthew looks at how cinema has adopted an often contradictory relationship with things atomic. He also takes this opportunity to look at writing music for documentaries with the new film’s composer Paul Honey.
The programme features music from the films ‘Radioactive’; ‘X - The Unknown’; ‘Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox’; ‘Superman IV - The Quest For Peace’; ‘Edge Of Darkness’; ‘Goldfinger’; ‘Radium Girls’; ‘ The China Syndrome’; ‘Silkwood’; ‘Grand Central’; ‘Chernobyl’ and ‘The Atom - A Love Affair’. The Classic Score of the Week Is Leonard Rosenman’s extraordinary music for the 1970 post-apocalyptic sci-fi movie, ‘Beneath The Planet of the Apes’.
Danny Elfman is one of the biggest names in film music. His numerous collaborations with Tim Burton include Batman, Edward Scissorhands, and Beetlejuice. He's scored Hollywood blockcusters Men in Black, 50 Shades of Grey, and Spider-Man, and been nominated for four Academy Awards. He's also worked extensively in television writing the themes for Desperate Housewives and The Simpsons.
From his home in Santa Barbara he talks to Matthew Sweet about starting out in the business, working with Tim Burton, and the challenges of 2020.
Online film streaming services have become an influential means of receiving and enjoying film and have created an important platform for new film and for film composers. This week Matthew Sweet looks at some of the current list of films available from a variety of streaming services, focusing in particular on new film, for which streaming has become a major means of distribution whilst cinemas themselves are closed.
Films and scores featured in the programme include ‘The Trolls World Tour’, ‘Proxima’, ‘No Time To Die’, Lord of the Rings, ‘The Rise of Skywalker’, ‘The Hunt’, ‘Ran’, ‘The Fall’, ‘Tumbbad’, ‘Celle que vous croyez’ and the ‘The Willoughbys’. The Classic Score of the Week is ‘La Strada’ marking the 100th anniversary of the birth of Fellini.
With cinemas closed, new releases postponed and audiences turning to film from home, Matthew Sweet ponders the best films and best film music for these hard times.
Hirokazu Kore-eda's film 'The Truth' appeared this week, it stars Catherine Deneuve, Juliet Binoche and Ethan Hawke with a new score by Alexi Aigui. That much is fact. Matthew Sweet features music for films that explore the notion that sometimes the stories we are presented with are very far from the truth.
Music in the programme is taken from the films ‘The Innocents’, ‘The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari’, ‘Gone Girl’, ‘The Girl On The Train’, ‘Rashamon’, ‘The Lone Ranger’, ‘Amarcord’, ‘Detour’, ‘Possessed’, ‘Stage Fright’, ‘Memento’, ‘Notes On A Scandal’ and ‘American Psycho’. Plus, of course, music from the new film.
Matthew Sweet takes his cue from the UK release of Juliano Dornelles's and Kleber Mendonca Filho's award winning film 'Bacurau', with music by Mateus Alves and Tomaz Alves Souza, for an examination of the strange world of the 'Weird Western' and the music written for it. Weird Westerns combine the traditional cowboy film with elements of fantasy, science fiction or horror, and amongst his selection Matthew includes music for 'The Valley of Gwanji', 'Cowboys and Aliens', ''Westworld', 'Wild Wild West', 'High Plains Drifter', 'Rango', 'El Topo', 'Ravenous', 'Bone Tomahawk', and 'Bacarau'.
Academy Award-winner Mychael Danna's scores include Life of Pi, Little Miss Sunshine, The Time Traveller's Wife, and Monsoon Wedding. His regular collaborators include directors Ang Lee, Atom Egoyan, and Mira Nair. He talks to Matthew about growing up in Toronto in the 70s, his love of India, the challenges of scoring animations and writing with his younger brother Jeff. Their new Pixar film Onward is released in the UK this weekend.
(Photo of Mychael Danna, credit: Tyler Curtis)
With the release this week of the acclaimed 'Portrait of a Lady on Fire' with music by Jean-Baptiste Laubier, Matthew considers the impact of "the female gaze" on film- making. He foregrounds films and their associated music that in some way or other deliberately set out to examine the distinctive perspectives of the female viewer. Matthew is joined by the critic Pamela Hutchinson and features music to films such Greta Gerwig's 'Little Women', 'Thelma and Louise', 'Desperately Seeking Susan', 'The Night Porter, 'Wonder Women', 'The Devil Wears Prada', 'The Piano' and the Classic Score of the Week, music by Michel Legrand for Agnes Varda's 'Cleo from 5 to 7'. We also hear music form the Celine Sciamma's new film 'Portrait of a Lady on Fire'.
Matthew Sweet talks to composer Isobel Waller-Bridge about her score for the new film of Emma and looks back at other Jane Austen adaptations over the years. From famous Mr Darcy's like Laurence Olivier and Colin Firth to Gwyneth Paltrow as Emma, and Kate Winslet and Emma Thompson as the Dashwood Sisters. Featuring music by Rachel Portman, Patrick Doyle, and Dario Marianelli, whose 2005 score for Pride and Prejudice is our classic score of the week.
In the weekend of the Academy Awards Matthew Sweet looks at some wonderful film scores over the decades that somehow failed to pick up an Oscar despite their greatness. The programme includes music from Erich von Korngold, Bernard Herrmann, Max Steiner, Leonard Bernstein, Henry Mancini, Nino Rota, Richard Rodney Bennett, John Corigliano, John Williams, James Horner, Philip Glass and Mica Levi. The programme also features music from the nominees for the Best Music Score category at this year's Academy Awards.
In the week that sees the release of Greta Gerwig’s ‘Little Women’ Matthew Sweet focuses his attention on music for films that explore the idea of coming of age. The programme features music for the new film by Alexandre Desplat, as well as other films on the subject, and also looks back on previous scores for screen adaptations of Louisa M Alcott’s classic novel, including Max Steiner's classic 1933 version.
Featured scores include: Leonard Rosenman's 'Rebel Without A Cause'; Jean Constantin's 'Les Quatre Cents Coups'; Michel Legrand's 'The Summer of 42'; Nino Rota's 'Amarcord'; Ron Grainer's 'To Sir With Love'; Richard Addinsell's 'Tom Brown's Schooldays'; Danny Elfman's 'Good Will Hunting'; Jo Hishiashi's 'Spirited Away'; Nicholas Britell's 'Moonlight' and Jon Brion's 'Ladybird'.
As the nationwide BFI Musicals season continues Matthew Sweet celebrates the all-singing, all-dancing world of MGM musicals on film. Featuring Judy Garland, Gene Kelly and Howard Keel in music from Easter Parade, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Show Boat, An American in Paris, and our classic score of the week Singin' in the Rain.
Image © Warner Bros. Ent. All rights reserved. Singin’ in the Rain is showing in selected cinemas as part of the BFI Musicals season.
Matthew talks to the celebrated Los Angeles-based English film composer, conductor and arranger Henry Jackman. Jackman is now hugely successful in Hollywood. In this probing interview he relates his background in classical music to the world of the Hollywood blockbuster.
Matthew Sweet presents music from films with characters who come back down to earth with a bump. Whether it's returning to everyday life after war, surviving an accident or extreme event, or adjusting to life after fame. Our featured new release is Lucy in the Sky, starring Natalie Portman as an astronaut whose suburban life spirals out of control after returning to earth.
Matthew's guest is the Hollywood Sound Designer Midge Costin (Con Air, The Rock, and Armageddon), director of the new documentary 'Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound', who discusses the story of sound in film and how the industry has been comparatively slow to acknowledge the significance of what we hear impacts the way we see. The programme outlines some of the key milestones in sound design alongside music from the films, Armageddon, Wings, King Kong, Citizen Kane, Spartacus, Apocalypse Now, Star Wars - A New Hope, Jurassic Park, A Star Is Born and Black Panther.
Composer Bear McCreary's credits include Godzilla King of the Monsters, 10 Cloverfield Lane, Child's Play, Battlestar Galactica, The Walking Dead, and the PlayStation 4 game God of War. In this exclusive interview he talks to Matthew Sweet about writing for tv, film and games, his love of horror and sci-fi, and the influence of his mentor Elmer Bernstein.
Joker is the new Batman-themed film directed by Todd Philips, a movie which describes the rich psychological back-story of its lead character, played by Joaquin Phoenix. Matthew Sweet uses the major new release to step into the world of films which explain the actions or motivations of their lead characters through a serious psychological event in their past.
Producer: Paul Frankl
With the screen adaptation of Donna Tartt’s novel ‘The Goldfinch’ just released, Matthew Sweet features some of Trevor Gorecki’s score plus music for films on the theme of covetousness. The programme includes an interview with the film’s composer, Trevor Gureckis, plus music for Indiana Jones, Jason and the Argonauts, The Silver Chalice, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, The Thomas Crown Affair, Woman In Gold, and the Classic Score of the Week - Adolph Deutsche’s music for The Maltese Falcon.
Matthew Sweet ventures into deep space and spins a few stellar cinematic discs to mark the launch of ‘Ad Astra’ and a new score from Max Richter. Featuring music from Lost in Space, Sunshine, and Solaris. In it's 40th anniversary year the classic score of the week is Star Trek: The Motion Picture by Jerry Goldsmith.
The big-screen version of Downton Abbey is released this week so the setting for today’s theme is the stately pile or country retreat - the des res much beloved by film makers. Featured music comes from 'The Duchess', 'Pride and Prejudice', 'Mansfield Park', 'The Shooting Party', 'The Remains of the Day', 'The Ruling Class', 'Skyfall', 'Rebecca', and 'Gosford Park. The Classic Score of the Week is Richard Addison's award winning music for the 1972 'Sleuth'.
Matthew's guest is 'Downton Abbey' composer John Lunn.
With the next chapter in the 'It' series released this week, featuring music by Benjamin Wallfisch, Matthew Sweet turns his attention to music that underscores children in the horror genre.
Composer Alberto Iglesias has worked extensively with legendary Spanish director Pedro Almodovar since the late nineties, scoring All About My Mother, Talk to Her, Bad Education, Volver, The Skin I Live In, and Julieta. Their latest collaboration Pain and Glory, starring Antonio Banderas as an ageing auteur is released in the UK this weekend.
Alberto studied music in his home city of San Sebastian, Paris and Barcelona. He cites Stravinsky and Debussy as his biggest influences and has written for the concert stage and ballet.
He talks to Matthew about working in Europe with Almodovar as well as other regular collaborators Julio Medem and Iciar Bollain, and in Hollywood where he's been Oscar nominated for The Constant Gardener, The Kiterunner, and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.
Jed Kurzel's new score for The Mustang, which was released this week, is the spur for a programme looking at the horse in film. Matthew Sweet considers the role of the workhorse with music from John Williams and Ron Goodwin. Velvet Brown features in the National and International Velvet films and Black Beauty also plays a starring role. We go to the races with Seabiscuit, My Fair Lady and the Marx Brothers. The therapeutic role of horses is considered in The Horse Whisperer and The Mustang. And this week's Classic Score is André Previn's music for The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
A look at the history of the Italian-made western, through its music, with Matthew Sweet. A genre that appeared in the mid-60s and soon became instantly recognisable through the music of Ennio Morricone - but not exclusively so.
Matthew Sweet talks to Monica Mancini, the daughter of one of the great icons of film music, the composer Henry Mancini, whose seminal scores for 'Breakfast at Tiffany's', 'The Pink Panther', 'Charade' and many others have worked their way not only into parlance of film buffs but into the hearts and minds of audiences internationally.
A look back on cinematic depictions of 1950's Britain through film music with Matthew Sweet, marking the release this week of 'Tell It To The Bees' - Annabel Jankel's drama set in 1950's Scotland, with music by Claire M Singer.
How should we regard Britain in the 1950's? Matthew Sweet profiles the decade through some of the film music of the time and takes a "rear view mirror" look, courtesy of some more recent films set in the period, which saw the nation transition from post-war austerity into the Swinging Sixties.
Music featured in the programme is taken from the films 'The Happiest Days of Your Life'; 'Doctor In the House'; 'A Kid For Two Farthings'; 'Night And The City'; 'Room At The Top'; 'Night Of The Demon'; 'The Colditz Story'; 'Queen And Country'; 'Wish You Were Here'; 'The Long Day Closes'; and 'Phantom Thread'. The programme also features music from this week's featured new release 'Tell It To the Bees'.
With the release of 'Stuber' this week, Michael Dowse's action comedy about a taxi driver and a terrorist, with music by Joseph Trapanese, Matthew Sweet considers the differing ways in which cars appear in films, and the music that has been created to underscore them.
With the release of the bio-pic ‘Vita & Virginia’ this week, inspired by the correspondence of Vita Sackville-West and Virginia Woolf, Matthew Sweet reflects on the epistolary film - movies inspired by the exchange of letters.
The programme features music from ‘Broadway Melody on 1938’; ‘The Lake House’; ‘Letters to Juliet’; ‘Message In A Bottle’; ‘The Shop Around The Corner’; ‘You’ve Got Mail’; ‘84 Charing Cross Road’; ‘The Shawshank Redemption’; ‘Atonement’; ‘The Letter’ (1940); ‘Dangerous Liaisons’; ‘The Color Purple”; ‘Possession’ (2002) and ‘Vita & Virginia’.
Matthew Sweet meets the British composer Daniel Pemberton who started writing documentary scores aged 17. He's since collaborated with Ridley Scott on The Counselor, Guy Ritchie on The Man from U.N.C.L.E, and Danny Boyle on his Steve Jobs biopic and the newly released Yesterday, for which he wrote original music and Beatles arrangements.
He talks to Matthew about changing his score to All the Money in the World when Kevin Spacey was replaced by Christopher Plummer, manipulating elephant noises through EMS synthesizers in Somerset, and taking inspiration from 'the sound of capitalism' - the famous New York Stock Exchange Bell.
This week sees the final instalment of the Toy Story franchise which in 1995 was the first feature length CGI film. Matthew Sweet considers it and other music from what was a great year of film. Featured scores include 'Die Hard With a Vengeance', 'Se7en', 'Batman Forever', 'Goldeneye', 'Waterworld, 'Twelve Monkeys', 'A Walk In The Clouds', 'Braveheart', 'Il Postino', 'Sense and Sensibility', 'Pocahontas' and of course 'Toy Story'. The Classic Score of the Week is Miklos Rozsa's 'Ivanhoe'. Rozsa died in July of 1995.
Matthew Sweet with a selection of Cold War inspired film music for films centres around the Berlin Wall marking the release this week of Michael Herbig's 'Balloon' with music by Marvin Miller and Ralf Wengenmayr.
Inspired by the release of 'Gloria Bell' with a new score by electronic musician Matthew Herbert, this week's programme with Matthew Sweet, looks back on the synth score, including the work of Jerry Goldsmith, John Carpenter, Carmine Coppola, Vangelis, Wendy Carlos, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, and Daft Punk.
The programme features music from 'The Illustrated Man'; 'A Clockwork Orange'; 'Dark Star'; 'Halloween'; 'The Thief'; 'Midnight Express'; Apocalypse Now'; 'Tron'; 'Chariots of Fire'; 'Tron Legacy" and 'The Social Network'. Matthew also talks to composer Matthew Herbert about his new synth based score for Gloria Bell.
With the release of a new Michael Dougherty film, ‘Godzilla: The King of Monsters’ this week, Matthew Sweet looks at Japanese Kaijū, which draws on ancient myths of giant monsters, and considers its impact on film and film music. As well as music for Japanese features, he also looks at the impact that the genre has had on Western film, from ‘The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms’ to ‘The Meg’.
David Lean was one of Britain’s greatest and most influential film makers, directing epics such as ‘Lawrence of Arabia’, ‘The Bridge On The River Kwai’ and Doctor Zhivago’. Matthew Sweet reflects his work through the music for his films.
The programme makes reference to 'In Which We Serve', 'Bounty', 'Blithe Spirit', 'Brief Encounter', 'This Happy Breed', 'The Ghost Camera', 'Great Expectations', 'Oliver Twist', 'The Passionate Friends', 'Summertime', 'Madeleine', 'The Sound Barrier', 'Hobson's Choice', 'The Bridge On The River Kwai', 'Lawrence of Arabia', 'Doctor Zhivago', 'Ryan's Daughter' and 'Passage To India'.
Roxann Dawson's new film "Breakthrough", with a score by Marcelo Zarvos, is the featured new release and puts Matthew in mind of films that explore the mysterious realm between life and death.
The programme features music from Danny Elfman, John Williams, Joseph Bishara, Alexandre Desplat, Michael Giacchino, Hans Zimmer, Maurice Jarre, Delia Derbyshire, Georges Auric, James Newton Howard and Nick Glennie-Smith. The Classic Score of the Week is John Corigliano's music for the 1980 Ken Russell film, 'Altered States'.
Inspired by 'The Hustle', with a new score by Anne Dudley, a remake of the comedy 'Dirty Rotten Scoundrels' gives Matthew Sweet his cinematic theme this week: the con artist.
Academia has provided a rich backdrop for cinema over the years. With the release of the biopic ‘Tolkien’ this week, based on the life of the Oxford academic and author JRR Tolkien, Matthew Sweet looks at film music written to underscore life at university. The programme features music by John Williams, James Horner, John Dankworth among others.
Matthew Sweet live from Sage Gateshead with a look at cinematic love themes as part of Radio 3's Free Thinking Festival.
Matthew Sweet presents a selection of music for films where things are not quite as they would have us believe, including music by Michael Abels for the new psycho-thriller Us.
He's the man who gave us the music for A Study in Terror, The Final Countdown, and Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan. He worked with John Barry, Henry Mancini and Jacques Cousteau, whistled on the River Kwai, played flute on the Lion in Winter and saxophone on Goldfinger.
Matthew Sweet meets the English film composer John Scott.
Matthew Sweet considers music for the female super hero and talks exclusively to composer Pinar Toprak who's written the score for the much anticipated new Captain Marvel film, released this weekend to coincide with International Women's Day. Featuring music from Wonder Woman, Cat Woman, Super Girl, X Men, The Avengers, and The Fantastic Four, plus a rallying cry for equal pay from Bat Girl in 1972.
Exactly how do you set about composing music for a video game? As part of Radio 3 and 6Music's exploration of video game music - "High Scores" - Matthew Sweet visits the studio of composer Stephen Baysted, who is presently engaged with major Hollywood gaming franchise - to discover some of the unique composing techniques that the medium demands.
Matthew also features a selection of music from some ear-grabbing contemporary gaming scores including those for the remarkably popular Final Fantasy, God of War, Assassin's Creed, Civilisation, Skyrim, and Call of Duty franchises.
Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique epitomises the image of romantic composer as tormented soul. Matthew Sweet looks at how cinematic portrayals of classical composers have taken this idea to heart. The programme considers screen portraits of Liszt, Grieg, Beethoven, Wagner, Paganini, Mozart and of course Berlioz himself, featuring music from 'Lisztomania', 'Song Without End', 'The Magic Bow', 'Song of Norway', 'Magic Fire', 'Immortal Beloved', Copying Beethoven', 'Ludwig', 'Whom The Gods Love', and 'Amadeus'.
Matthew Sweet in conversation with the American composer and pianist Nicholas Britell who created the scores for films such 'Moonlight', 'The Big Short', 'Free State of Jones' and 'Vice' and whose new score for "If Beale Street Could Talk" is shortlisted for both a BAFTA and an Academy Award.
The film franchise is a major part of the modern cinematic world, and the role of the composer is a major contributory factor to the success of the franchise. Matthew Sweet looks back on music for some notable modern franchises and talks to composer John Powell about the way he approached scoring the Dreamworks franchise 'How To Train Your Dragon', the third of which - 'The Hidden World' - has just been launched.
The programme also features music by John Williams, Howard Shore and Brian Tyler.
Matthew Sweet considers the changing face of smuggling in film through the scores that have accompanied them from the high jinks of Whiskey Galore to some of today's more sinister affairs.
Matthew Sweet examines the Alfred Hitchcock/Bernard Herrmann artistic collaboration through the music for their films, including North By Northwest, Psycho, Marnie, and Vertigo. The programme marks the BBC's Icons Season. Alfred Hitchcock features among the short list of Icons in the "Artists and Writers" category in BBC TWO's venture to discover the 20th Century's most important and influential figure.
Further details can be found on the "BBC Icons" website.
Matthew Sweet takes his cue from the newly released 'Stan and Ollie', scored by Rolfe Kent, for a look at music for films featuring notable "double acts", not least from the new Laurel and Hardy inspired film itself.
Featured films include 'The Odd Couple', 'Gunfight At OK Corral', 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid', 'Gentlemen Prefer Blondes', 'Mr and Mrs Smith', 'To Have And Have Not', 'Cleopatra', 'Guess Who's Coming To Dinner', '21 Jump Street', 'Men In Black', 'Silver Streak', 'Night At The Museum', 'Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein', 'The Intelligence Men', 'Coraline', 'Shaun Of The Dead' and the Classic Score of the week is Laurel and Hardy's 'Way Out West'.
There's also a chance to hear part of the new score by Thomas Ades for the new bio-pic about French author, Collette.
Matthew Sweet meets the composer of First Man and La La Land, Justin Hurwitz, who has built an enviable reputation in Hollywood and two Academy Awards from just four films. Matthew looks at his career to date, his exclusive working relationship with director Damien Chazelle, his love of the film musical, and he discusses his four films - 'Guy and Madeline On A Park Bench', 'Whiplash', 'La La Land', and 'First Man'.
Conan Doyle's detective takes to the screens again this Christmas with a new comic film, "Holmes & Watson", with music by Mark Mothersbaugh. Matthew Sweet marks the event with a look back on some of the super-sleuth's celebrated film scores including "The Adventures OF Sherlock Holmes's Smarter Brother", "The Legend of the Hound of the Baskervilles", "Sherlock Holmes - A Game of Shadows", "Young Sherlock Holmes", "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes", "The Voice of Terror", "Sherlock", "Sherlock Holmes In New York", "They Might Be Giants", "Sherlock Holmes", "The Seven Per Cent Solution", "A Study In Terror", "The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes", "Mr Holmes", "Holmes & Watson".
Cinema's consistent love affair with the Robin Hood legend spawns a new film this week, "Robin Hood", starring Taron Egerton in the title role and with music by Joseph Trapanese - another take on the timeless myth of the man who took from the rich to give to the poor. Matthew Sweet examines Robin Hood's screen history and looks at how screen composers have portayed the legend in music .
With music by John Barry, Geoffrey Burgon, Dorothy Carwithen and Korngold's Oscar winning score to the 1938 Errol Flynn classic.
Matthew Sweet takes the theme of magic for his exploration of film music this week to tie in with the release of "Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald".
Veteran Hollywood composer David Shire is responsible for some of film's most iconic scores, including 'The Taking of Pelham One Two Three'; Francis Ford Coppola's 'The Conversation'; and 'All The President's Men'. He joins Matthew Sweet to look back over his long career scoring films.
Featured soundtracks include 'Farewell My Lovely', 'The Conversation', 'The Taking of Pelham One Two Three', 'All The President's Men', 'Zodiac', 'Hindenburg', 'The Big Bus', 'Saturday Night Fever', '2010', 'Short Circuit', 'Norma Rae', and 'Return To Oz'.
(originally broadcast in 2018)
Matthew Sweet takes the release of Peterloo as an excuse to examine film music and culture inspired by life and events in the North of England.
Matthew Sweet presents a special programme from the current "Video Games: Design/Play/Disrupt" exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London exploring the nature and function of modern video gaming music.
Matthew is joined by curator Kristian Volsing and composer and gaming expert Stephen Baysted ("ProjectCARS; "World Of Speed"; Need For Speed: Shift") to discover more about composing music for the medium, the function of music in games, and the current state of gaming itself. Including:
Journey (Austin Wintory) The Last of Us (Gustavo Santaolalla) No Man's Sky (65DaysofStatic) Overwatch (Derek Duke/Neal Acree) Assassins Creed III, SimsAnimals (Winifred Phillips) Zelda (Koji Kondo) Cuphead (Kristofer Maddigan) Red Dead Redemption (Woody Jackson)
A selection of film music inspired by Radio 3's Forests Season presented by Matthew Sweet. Forests have proved a rich environment for film, whether as a place where a character can find his or herself; a place to ponder our relationship with nature and the environment; a place of refuge and escape; or a place of terror and of nightmares. Matthew takes us on a film music journey through the forest vibrant in all its hues, featuring scores as varied as 'Avatar', 'Dawn of the Planet of the Apes', 'Aguirre Wrath of God', 'The Lost City of Z' and 'Friday the 13th'.
Whether it's the threatening and atmospheric environment of the hotel in The Shining or the opulence of the Grand Budapest Hotel these public buildings have excercised more than their fair share of inspiration on filmmakers and film music. Matthew Sweet looks back at the hotel in cinema through some of these film's music in the week that has seen the release of Drew Goddard's mystery thriller, Bad Times At The El Royale.
The programme also features music from 'Plaza Suite', 'Grand Hotel', 'Grand Budapest Hotel', 'Some Like It Hot', 'The Shining', 'The Night Porter', 'Death In Venice', 'Somewhere In Time' and Michael Giacchino's new score for 'Bad Times At The El Royale'.
And there's the chance to hear some of Justin Hurwitz's new score for 'First Man', Damien Chazelle's new film biopic about astronaut Neil Armstrong.
With the release of the new version of A Star Is Born with Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper, Matthew Sweet profiles music for films about stars in the making.
The programme features music from 'Venus In Fur', 'The Red Shoes', 'Svengali', 'The Artist', 'Maps To The Stars', 'Hail Caesar', 'Film Stars Don't Die In Liverpool' and 'Ed Wood'; and he features music from the four different versions of 'A Star Is Born'. From 1937 with music by Max Steiner; the 1954 version with Judy Garland; the 1976 telling with Barbra Streisand; and this week's featured new release with Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga.
As part of the Bernstein centenary celebrations Matthew Sweet looks at music for the films of Elia Kazan including Bernstein's score for On The Waterfront.
The programme also features music from Viva Zapata, Panic In the Streets, Boomerang, Gentleman's Agreement, Pinky, A Streetcar Named Desire, East of Eden, Splendour In The Grass, Baby Doll, and The Last Tycoon.
Matthew Sweet with film music inspired by sea creatures in the week that has seen the release of The Meg with music by Harry Gregson-Williams.
Composer Lorne Balfe invites Matthew Sweet behind the scenes at Air Studios for the recording sessions of the score for the new Mission: Impossible film which is in cinemas this week.
Matthew finds out what goes into recording a Hollywood film soundtrack from the people at Air studios who make it happen. As well as Lorne, he talks to three-time Grammy Award-winning recording engineer Geoff Foster, music editor Cecile Tournesac, conductor Matt Dunkley, orchestra leader Perry Montague-Mason and principal double-bass Mary Scully.
Matthew Sweet considers music for British animation as the BFI mark the 50th anniversary of Yellow Submarine. The programme looks back on scores for some of the classic children's animation titles from the likes of Oliver Postgate and Ivor Wood including 'Bagpuss'; 'Ivor the Engine'; and 'Camberwick Green'; music for Jerry and Sylvia Anderson's 'Thunderbirds'; the 1954 'Animal Farm'; and 'Watership Down' and 'Yellow Submarine'. The programme also features music from Aardmann Animation features 'Chicken Run' and the recent 'Early Man'; as well as Raymond Briggs's 'Ethel and Earnest' and The Snowman'.
And on a similar theme, as Incredibles 2 reaches UK screens this week, there's a chance to hear some of Michael Giacchino's new score.
Matthew Sweet looks back on film scores composed to convey the wonder and terror of Mary Shelley's great creation in the week of Haifaa al-Mansour's new film biopic of the writer.
As well as featuring music by Amelia Warner for the new film, Matthew also offers musical moments from the 1931 James Whale 'Frankenstein'; 'Mary Shelley's Frankenstein'; 'Son Of Frankenstein'; House Of Frankenstein'; 'Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed'; 'I Frankenstein'; 'Victor Frankenstein'; and the 2015 version of 'Frankenstein'.
The Classic Score of the Week is Franz Waxman's "Bride of Frankenstein'.
Matthew Sweet looks at music for films that explore father/daughter relationships in the week of the release of Debra Granik's new movie "Leave No Trace".
Matthew Sweet with film music movies and teamwork in the week of the launch of Ocean's 8 with a score by Daniel Pemberton.
Matthew Sweet talks to the Lebanese-born composer Gabriel Yared, who worked closely with director Anthony Minghella on scores for "The English Patient", "The Talented Mr Ripley" and "Cold Mountain", about his career in film music. Gabriel tells Matthew that he began as a law student and then became a music arranger before studying with the French composer Henri Dutilleux, then breaking into film music with his score for "Betty Blue". And he talks about working with Rupert Everett on "The Happy Prince", released in the UK this week, based on the Oscar Wilde story and featuring a new score from Gabriel.
Matthew Sweet takes this week's launch of new Jurassic World film, "Jurassic World-Fallen Kingdom", to look back at the beginning of the franchise and the film music world of 1993 - a year which film critic Roger Ebert described as an annus mirabilis for cinema.
Films from 1993 featured in the programme include: "Tombstone"; "The Age of Innocence"; "Philadelphia"; "The Fugitive"; "The Piano"; "Shadowlands"; "The Firm"; "Farewell My Concubine"; "Schindler's List"; "Groundhog Day" and "Jurassic Park".
The programme also features music by Michael Giacchino for the new Jurassic World film - "Fallen Kingdom".
Matthew Sweet introduces music for films which explore the idea of the doppelgänger - from "The Prince and the Pauper" and "I Was Monty's Double" to this week's featured new release, François Ozon's "Amant Double" with a score by Philippe Rombi.
The programme features music from 'A Stolen Life', 'I Was Monty's Double', 'The Man In The Iron Mask', 'The Prince and the Pauper', 'Vertigo', 'The Double', 'Adaptation', 'The Double Life of Veronique' and 'Dead Ringers'.
Matthew Sweet with music for films that employ a common theatrical device often used to explore ideas about gender politics - where a woman appears disguised as a man. This programme comes in the week of the release of The Breadwinner, the acclaimed new film about 11 year old Parvana who lives under the harsh Taliban rule of early Twenty-First Century Afghanistan, and which features a new score by Jeff and Mychael Danna.
The programme features music from the 1936 version of As You Like It by William Walton and Patrick Doyle's' score for the more recent adaptation of the same play; 'Twelfth Night', 'Pandora's Box', 'Lola Montez', 'Lord of the Rings', 'Mulan', 'The Messenger', 'Saint Joan' and 'Pope Joan'.
Matthew Sweet with music for films inspired by contemporary British novelists in the week that sees the release of On Chesil Beach based on the novel by Ian McEwan, and featuring a new score by Dan Jones.
Matthew Sweet looks at films that explore clashes of culture and presents a mix of music for the screen which underscore the world as it might appear from the perspective of someone from another world.
Films on his list include "My Favourite Martian"; "Species"; "The Man Who Fell To Earth"; "The Day The Earth Stood Still"; "Vikaren"; "K-Pax"; "The Brother From Another Planet"; ""PK" and "District 9".
The Classic Score of the Week is Jerry Goldsmith's "Star Trek - The Motion Picture".
This week's featured new release is James Cameron Mitchell's "How To Talk To Girls At Parties" featuring new music by Nico Muhly.
Matthew Sweet look at music for films with an overt or subliminal philosophical subtext, in the week of the release of "The Young Karl Marx" which features a new score by Alexei Aigui.
Films and scores included in the programme are "Socrates"; "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure"; "Il Conformista"; "Hollow Man"; "Total Recall"; "Rashomon"; "I Heart Huckabees"; "Interstellar"; "The Mission"; "La Chinoise"; "Week-End" and "Synecdoche New York".
The Classic Score of the Week is Mikis Theodorakis's music for "Z".
Matthew Sweet talks to Academy Award winner Alexandre Desplat on a line to his home in France, about his career in film music in the week that sees the release of his latest score for Wes Anderson's 'Isle of Dogs'.
Alexandre talk about his methodology of writing for film and about the importance of collaboration. The programme draws on scores for 'Le Plus Bel Age'; 'Girl with A Pearl Earring', 'The Beat My Heart Skipped'; ''Rust and Bone'; ''Philomena'; 'The Tree of Life'; 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button'; 'Argo'; 'The Imitation Game'; 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows'; ''The Fantastic Mr Fox'; 'Grand Budapest Hotel' and 'Isle of Dogs'.
Alexandre also chooses this week's Classic Score.
As Lara Croft leaps into cinemas in the latest Tomb Raider film, Matthew Sweet takes on her, pacman and the Super Mario Brothers as he explores the influence video games have had on film and filmmakers.
Matthew Sweet rounds up a mob to explore crowd scenes in film, live from the Free Thinking Festival at Sage Gateshead,.
Matthew Sweet dusts off his tux and strolls back in time to the red carpet of the 1940 Oscars. It marked the year of The Wizard of Oz, Goodbye Mr Chips and Mr Smith Goes to Washington but it was Gone with the Wind that stole the show.
1939 had been a golden year for cinema. Among the scores and films that Matthew looks at are Erich Korngold's 'The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex'; Ferdinand Heinz Provost's 'Intermezzo'; Alfred Newman's 'Wuthering Heights'; Richard Addinsell's 'Goodbye Mr Chips'; Anthony Collin's 'Nurse Edith Cavell'; Aaron Copland's 'Of Mice And Men'; Max Steiner's 'Dark Victory'. 'Ninotchka'; 'Stagecoach'; 'The Wizard of Oz' and of course 'Gone With The Wind'.
Matthew talks film music with Angela Allen, the hugely prolific English script and continuity supervisor of nearly a hundred movies, including The African Queen, The Dirty Dozen and Murder on the Orient Express.
Matthew Sweet looks at movies, music and monsters in the week of the release of the acclaimed new film by Guillermo del Toro 'The Shape of Water'.
Matthew considers the monstrous films of Universal Studios from the 1930s onwards; the work of movie creature makes Ray Harryhausen, Phil Tippett and Rick Baker; and features music from films such as 'The Blob', 'The Mummy Returns', 'The Creature From The Black Lagoon', 'The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms', 'Gorgo', 'The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad', 'The Valley of Gwanji', 'Starship Troopers', 'Dragonslayer', 'American Werewolf in London', 'The Thing', and 'Alien', as well as Alexandre Desplat's music from the new film 'The Shape Of Water'.
Matthew Sweet with a selection of film music exploring the theme of lies and deception in the week of the release of 'The Mercy' about the tragic story of yachtsman Donald Crowhurst boasting a new score by Golden Globe winner Johann Johannsson who died suddenly on 9 February 2018.
The programme also features music from 'Pinocchio'; 'Suspicion'; 'Presumed Innocent'; 'Dirty Rotten Scoundrels'; 'The Invention of Lying'; 'The Talented Mr Ripley'; 'True Lies'; 'M.Butterfly'; 'Where Eagles Dare'; 'The Usual Suspects' and 'The Mercy'. The Classic Score of the Week is Fumio Hayasaki's music for 'Rashomon'.
Matthew Sweet with film music on the concept of the muse reflecting a theme of this week's new release, 'Phantom Thread' with a new Oscar nominated score by Jonny Greenwood.
The programme also features music from the 1947 Rita Heyworth musical 'Down To Earth'; 'Shakespeare In Love'; 'The Invisible Woman'; 'The Girl With A Pearl Earring'; 'La Belle Noiseuse'; 'Surviving Picasso'; Carl Dreyer's 1927 'Michael'; 'Taxi Driver'; 'Broken Blossoms'; 'La Notte'; 'Pulp Fiction'; Elton John's music for 'The Muse'; and the Classic Score of the Week, Dmitri Tiomkin's 'Dial M for Murder'.
Matthew Sweet presents a selection of film music inspired by ideas of patriotism and promoted by this week's new release, Richard Linklater's 'Last Flag Flying'.
Matthew Sweet presents a selection of film music inspired by the theme of power, in particular the abuse of power, prompted by the release of Steven Spielberg's new film 'The Post'. Amongst Matthew's selection is music for 'Caligula'; 'The Last King of Scotland'; 'Paths of Glory'; 'A Few Good Men'; 'Compliance'; 'All The King's Men (2006)'; 'La Mani Sulla Citta' (Hands Over The City); 'The Insider' and 'Citizen Kane'. The programme also features part of John Williams's new score for 'The Post'.
Matthew Sweet takes this week's new release, the acclaimed "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri", which has a new score by Carter Burwell and looks at how this and other film scores present ideas about grief. Among Matthew's selection are the 1939 version of 'Wuthering Heights'; 'A Monster Calls'; 'Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close'; 'Manchester By The Sea'; 'Message In A Bottle'; 'Up'; 'Truly, Madly. Deeply'; ''Three Colours -Blue'; 'Don't Look Now'; 'Jackie' and 'Still Life'.
SoundOfCinema.
Matthew Sweet on the film music of Franz Waxman and in this, the second of two programmes, the focus is on the post war years - a time which gave us some of Waxman's greatest scores from Sunset Boulevard to Taras Bulba. Matthew also looks at Waxman's major contribution to the classical musical life of America through the annual Los Angeles Music Festival which Waxman created and ran, and at how his remarkable musical gifts helped establish the sound of Hollywood in the years following the Second World War. The programme includes comment from Waxman's son John.
Featured films include "Humoresque"; "The Paradine Case"; "Sunset Boulevard"; "A Place In The Sun"; "Peyton Place"; "Sayonara"; "The Spirit of St Louis" and "Taras Bulba".
Matthew Sweet with the first of two programmes marking the 50th anniversary of the death of one of cinema's greatest musical figures from the Hollywood Golden Age - Franz Waxman.
In today's programme Matthew focuses on Waxman's pre-War years, from his first work in film in Germany in 1930 for Frederick Hollander on The Blue Lamp and with Fritz Lang, to his breakthrough years in Hollywood with James Whale and Alfred Hitchcock. Featured films include "Bride of Frankenstein"; "Captains Courageous"; "The Philadelphia Story"; "Rebecca"; "Rear Window"; "A Christmas Carol"; "Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde" and "Objective Burma!".
Matthew Sweet reflects on the impact of the Russian Revolution and music for Soviet film as part of the "Breaking Free" season, with scores for Battleship Potemkin, Alexander Nevsky, War and Peace, and The New Babylon.
Lenin declared "that of all the arts the important for us is the cinema" recognising the propaganda potential that it offered and means of spreading the message of Bolshevism across Russia. His enthusiasm for cinema prompted a surge of inventive film making that has given the world some of its most discussed and influential cinema, featuring scores from some of the leading composers of the day. Matthew charts Soviet Cinema through its music, from Eisenstein to Tarkovsky, with scores by Dmitri Shostakovich, Sergei Prokofiev, Edmund Meisel, Vyacheslav Ovchinnikov and Eduard Artemiev, among others.
Matthew Sweet explores the whodunnit genre with a varied line-up of suspicious looking film scores in the week of the release of the new version of Agatha Christie's classic "Murder On The Orient Express".
The original Orient Express boasted a much loved classic score by Richard Rodney Bennett. The new film, with a starry ensemble cast and directed by Kenneth Branagh, has music by Branagh's regular musical collaborator, Patrick Doyle.
The programme also features music from "Death On The Nile"; "Evil Under The Sun"; "Le Grand Alibi" "8 Women"; "Gosford Park"; "The Draughtsman's Contract"; "Sleuth"; "Clue" and "Murder on the Orient Express".
Matthew Sweet interviews composer and musician Nitin Sawhney, who has scored music for over 50 films, including the new film "Breathe" directed by Andy Serkis, and music for TV including "Human Planet".
Clip from "Breathe" - Robin (ANDREW GARFIELD), Diana (CLAIRE FOY) and Dr Clement (STEPHEN MANGAN) the director of the Disability Research Foundation are visiting Teddy's (HUGH BONNEVILLE) workshop where he is working on a new version of the wheelchair. Writer William Nicholson. Director Andy Serkis.
Matthew Sweet with music for films inspired by the Disaster Movie genre in the week of the release of "Geostorm" featuring music by Lorne Balfe.
An often ensemble cast, pitted against difficult odds, caught in the drama of overcoming cataclysmic events, the Disaster Movie has its antecedents in the pioneering days of cinema but it reached its peak in the 1970s. But as one of the latest examples of the genre, "Geostorm" has discovered, having finally been released after several years of post production and aborted publicity campaigns, the events of Disaster Movies have a unhappy knack of being pre-empted by real life.
The programme features music from "Meteor", "San Francisco", "The High and the Mighty", "Airport", "The Poseidon Adventure", "The Towering Inferno", "Airplane", "When Worlds Collide", "Krakatoa - East of Java", "Dante's Peak" and "Geostorm".
Live from Wellcome Collection as part of Why Music? The Key to Memory, a weekend of events, concerts and discussions exploring music's unique capacity to be remembered.
Matthew Sweet is joined by pianist and film music authority Neil Brand for a live programme exploring the importance of memory on the working of music for film. Matthew and Neil discuss and illustrate how musical recollection informs a viewer's reading of a film; how it can heighten emotional response; how at times it can even suggest psychological depths to narrative and character that run counter to our perception of the image.
They explore the 'Casablanca' effect and consider the interesting and novel ways in which our received or instinctive repertory of musical sounds, offers a collective cultural reference with the ability to evoke mood, setting, empathy and humour.
With Blade Runner 2049 hitting cinemas Matthew Sweet dons his trilby and gumshoes and prowls the mean streets to bring us music from some of the best neo-noir films around. He'll be hunting replicants in the rain-drenched neon of Los Angeles, snowbound in Fargo, spinning webs of lies with The Usual Suspects and caught in a tangled trail of corruption in Chinatown.
Matthew Sweet in conversation with one of today's leading Hollywood figures, Michael Giacchino, composer of "The Incredibles", "Up", "Ratatouille" for Disney/Pixar and for his collaborations with JJ Abrams on the "Star Trek" movies; and also for his work on the new "Star Wars" films, "Jurassic World" and "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes". The programme marks Michael's forthcoming 50th Birthday and his special Gala concert at London's Royal Albert Hall on the 20th October.
Matthew Sweet looks at music associated with Alexander Korda's famous Denham Film Studios which between the 1930s and 50s were a major part of British cultural life bringing us films such as Things To Come, A Matter Of Life and Death, Henry V, Great Expectations and Brief Encounter as well as the famous "Denham Concerto". The Classic Score of the Week is Charles Williams's "The Dream of Olwen" from the 1947 film 'While I Live'. Matthew also looks at Denham's life post-1950 when it became one of the most important centres for recording film music - playing host to Bernard Herrmann, John Barry, Jerry Goldsmith and John Williams, among many others.
Matthew Sweet looks at representations of Queen Victoria in film with a programme of film music inspired by the release of "Victoria and Abdul" featuring a new score by Thomas Newman.
The programme marks the reverent and the irreverent on film, about a monarch whose reign saw the advent of cinema and whose Diamond Jubilee in 1897 was one of the first events to receive the multi-camera treatment. Featured music include scores for "Elizabeth in London"; "Assassin's Creed Syndicate"; "Pirates! In An Adventure With Scientists"; "Mr Turner"; "From Hell"; "The Wrong Box"; "The Man Who Would Be Queen"; "The Life Of Vickie"; "Young Victoria" and "Mrs Brown". The Classic Score of the Week is Anthony Collins's "The Great Victoria".
Matthew Sweet meets the Golden Globe, Emmy and Ivor Novello award nominated composer Benjamin Wallfisch. With his music for A Cure for Wellness, Annabelle: Creation and Dunkirk already in cinemas this year we'll get a sneak peak at his latest soundtrack for It, as the terrifying clown, Pennywise, floats onto the big screen once again.
Matthew Sweet with a film music inspired by London's historic East End, prompted by the release of "The Limehouse Golem" which features a new score by Johan Soderqvist. The film, by Juan Carlos Medina, stars Bill Nighy as a Victorian detective, troubled by a case of bizarre and perplexing murder. The plot is inspired by the novel of the same name by Peter Ackroyd.
Matthew focuses on the more colourful aspects of East London - as has appealed to film makers - of Charles Dickens, Opium Dens, Jack the Ripper and the Krays. Featured films include "Oliver"; "From Hell"; "Time After Time"; "The Verdict"; "Broken Blossoms"; "It Always Rains on Sundays"; "Sparrows Can't Sing"; "Legend"; "Eastern Promises" and "The Long Good Friday".
Matthew Sweet marks the release of Kathryn Bigelow's "Detroit" with music from films featuring urban chaos and trouble on the streets - from historic riots in cities across the US to dystopian visions of the future in Mega-City One, Gotham City and Springfield. Including scores by Howard Shore, John Tavener and Hans Zimmer. The Classic Score of the Week is Bernard Herrmann's music for Francois Truffaut's first colour film - Fahrenheit 451.
Matthew Sweet with underwater film music marking the release of The Odyssey, based on the career of the pioneering French underwater explorer Jacques Cousteau: from deep sea diving adventures scored by Eric Serra, John Barry and Alan Silvestri, to claustrophobic U-boat classics with music by Klaus Doldinger and Leigh Harline.
ProducerRUTH THOMSON
PresenterMatthew Sweet.
Matthew Sweet presents a selection of film music inspired by the space opera genre following the release of Luc Besson's "Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets" with a new score by Alexandre Desplat.
The programme looks at some of the earliest examples of space operas, including "Flash Gordon" and "Buck Rogers", defining the genre, and features music from the likes of "Battlestar Galactica", "Battle Beyond The Stars", "Star Trek - Beyond", "Dune", "The Last Starfighter", "Serenity", "Jupiter Ascending", "The Fifth Element" and of course, "Star Wars" which perhaps did more than any other film to establish the musical sound of space opera.
Matthew Sweet with a Sound of Cinema for Gay Britannia exploring homosexual presence and portrayal in British and American movies prior to the UK Sexual Offences Act of 1967 and its partially decriminalisation. Among the films and scores that Matthew features are The Maltese Falcon, Rebel Without A Cause, Rope, Spartacus and Ben-Hur.
Matthew Sweet with music for films about contact with new worlds, new people and extra-terrestrials, in the week of "Arrival", a new Sci Fi film with a score by Jóhann Jóhannsson.
The programme features music from "The New World"; "1492 - Conquest of Paradise"; "The Mission"; "The Abyss"; "First Men In The Moon"; "The Terrornauts"; "The War of the Worlds"; "Close Encounters of the Third Kind"; "ET - The Extra Terrestrial" and "Arrival".
Matthew Sweet looks forward to the forthcoming release of Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk with a look at how film and film music portray historic battles. The programme features music from "Sink The Bismarck", "The Battle of Britain", "The Battle of the Bulge", "The Sands of Iwo Jima", "The Battle of Algiers", "Passchendaele", "Waterloo" and "Zulu". Plus a chance to hear part of Hans Zimmer's new score for "Dunkirk".
Forty years ago this week cinema audiences were introduced to the Galactic Empire, Death Star and Tatooine as the very first Star Wars film - A New Hope - opened in the US. With its Academy Award winning score by John Williams it heralded a new era in music for the movies.
Today Matthew Sweet celebrates its 40th birthday and explores what other scores were making waves in 1977; the year that saw James Bond save the world from Karl Stromberg and his toothy henchman Jaws, Alvy Singer woo Annie Hall, and Tony Manero disco dance his way through his Saturday nights.
Matthew Sweet presents a selection of film music and takes a look at some of diverse range of films inspired by the Arthurian legends in the week of the release of Guy Ritchie's new film "King Arthur: Legend of the Sword" with a score by Daniel Pemberton.
The programme includes music by Trevor Jones, Miklos Rozsa, Franz Waxman, Hans Zimmer, Jimmy Van Heusen, Lerner and Loewe, Anne Dudley and ... Monty Python?
The Classic Score of the Week is Ron Goodwin's "Gawain and the Green Knight".
Matthew Sweet with a selection of film music inspired by the political world of Washington DC, in the week of the release of 'Miss Sloane' with a score by Max Richter.
The programme looks at some of the many films covering the Nixon era, but also looks back at the ways that Washington has been covered in American cinema from the time of Frank Capra's "Mr Smith Goes to Washington" through to films like "Wag The Dog", "Bulworth", "Advise and Consent", "Lincoln", "Clear and Present Danger" and "Enemy of the State". The Classic Score of the Week is David Shire's music for Francis Ford Coppola's "The Conversation".
Matthew Sweet with a selection of music reflecting the film career of pioneering Hollywood genius Erich Wolfgang Korngold, featuring examples from the scores for A Midsummer Night's Dream, Captain Blood, Juarez, The Adventures of Robin Hood, The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex, The Sea Hawk, The Constant Nymph, Kings Row, Escape Me Never, and Magic Fire.
(first broadcast in 2017)
Matthew Sweet with a selection of music inspired by films that take inspiration from the works of Shakespeare in the week of the release of William Oldroyd's film "Lady Macbeth".
While the cinema has brought many famous adaptations of Shakespeare's plays to the screen, the story of The Bard's influence on film is far greater. Matthew Sweet presents a selection of soundtracks for films that have taken Shakespeare's stories as the source material for new plots - some quite literal, others a little more subtle. The programme features a Spaghetti Western versions of Hamlet, a submarine reworking of Romeo and Juliet, and a mediaeval Japanese take on King Lear.
Featured film scores include music for 'Theatre Of Blood', 'Chimes At Midnight', 'All Night Long', 'Forbidden Planet', 'Prospero's Books', 'McLintock!' and 'The Lion King'.
The Classic Score of the Week is the film soundtrack to Leonard Bernstein's 'West Side Story'.
Matthew Sweet with a selection of film music reflecting wartime propaganda in the cinema and the wartime spirit, inspired by Lone Scherfig's new film "Their Finest" with a score by Rachel Portman, released in cinemas this week.
For the Easter weekend Matthew Sweet goes on a cinematic egg hunt encountering music by Jerry Goldsmith, Lalo Schifrin and Bernard Herrmann along the way. There are some bunnies too, courtesy of Donnie Darko, Watership Down and Fatal Attraction... The 1948 Oscar-winning score to Easter Parade is the classic score of the week.
Matthew Sweet presents a programme of film music marking Radio 3's Uproot festival, held in Hull - the 2017 UK City of Culture. The programme is inspired by films associated with one of the driving forces of British cinema, Hull-born Joseph Arthur Rank. His Rank Organisation films were famously prefaced with a sequence featuring a man striking a giant gong, and they brought us some of our best loved titles, and with them, some great scores: "In Which We Serve", "Brief Encounter", "A Matter of Life and Death", "Genevieve", "Reach for the Sky", "Carve Her Name with Pride" etc.
Matthew Sweet marks the BFI's retrospective of the films of the pioneering German director and screenwriter Rainer Werner Fassbinder with a look at his collaboration with composer Peer Raben. Plus music from some of Fassbinder's favourite films including Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, The Night of the Hunter, and Johnny Guitar.
Matthew Sweet explores the subject of the eye in cinema through an anthology of film music culminating in the music for Nicolas Pesce's new horror film "The Eyes of My Mother".
"The eye is a magical, paradoxical organ. Soft, vulnerable, worryingly penetrable - and yet an instrument of mastery and control." Matthew explores the many ways in which the eye takes a central role in film and features music from Polanski's "Macbeth"; Maurice Jarre's score for "Les Yeux Sans Visage"; Cocteau's "Orphee"; the 1981 and 2010 versions of "Clash Of the Titans"; Les Baxter's music for "The Man With The X-Ray Eyes"; "Clockwork Orange"; "The Parallax View"; "Nineteen Eighty-Four"; "Eye In The Sky"; "Lost Highway"; "Peeping Tom" and "The Eyes Of Laura Mars". The Classic Score of the Week is Bernard Herrmann's "Psycho".
In a live edition from the Free Thinking Festival at Sage Gateshead, Matthew Sweet is joined by Guy Austin, Founding Director of the Research Centre in Film and Digital Media at Newcastle University, for a jaunt through the history of music for French cinema.
France was one of the first nations to recognise the possibilities of cinema and through the pioneering work of figures such as Auguste and Louis Lumière and Georges Méliès, it quickly established the foundations for a new form of art and entertainment.
Matthew and Guy begin at the beginning, on a whistle-stop tour of the story of French Film, to the present, taking in scores for films such as L'Atalante; Les Enfants du Paradis; French Cancan; The Red Balloon; Rififi; Les Quatre cents coups; À bout de souffle; Hiroshima mon amour; Betty Blue; Jean de Florette; The City of Lost Children and Intouchables.
The Classic Score of the Week is Michel Legrand's music for Les Parapluies de Cherbourg.
Matthew Sweet meets composer, conductor and arranger Anne Dudley for a focus on her music for film in the week of the launch of Paul Verhoeven's acclaimed new film "Elle". One time member of the 80s synth band Art of Noise, Anne has an extensive catalogue of film scores from across 30 years in the industry and is one of the few women to win an Oscar for her music.
The programme includes music from "Black Books"; "Buster"; "The Pope Must Die"; "Knight Moves"; "The Crying Game"; "The Grotesque"; "The Full Monty"; "American History X"; "Monkeybone"; "The Miracle Maker"; "Tristan and Isolde" and "Elle".
And Anne chooses the Classic Score of the week.
Matthew Sweet with film music inspired by the Raj in the week of the release of "The Viceroy's House" with a score by AR Rahman.
Matthew Sweet considers film music written to accompany films concerned with family matters, following the release of "It's Only the End of the World", with music by Gabriel Yared.
The programme features music from "The Royal Tenenbaums", "The Incredibles", "The Addams Family", "The Godfather", "The Sound of Music", "Little Women", "Mary Poppins", "Star Wars", "A River Runs Through It", "The Family Way" and "August: Osage County"; and the Classic Score of the Week is Alfred Newman's music for "How Green Was My Valley".
Matthew Sweet with film music inspired by the moon in the week of the release of "Hidden Figures", with music by Hans Zimmer, Pharrell Williams and Benjamin Wallfisch.
The Moon features in a variety of ways in the history of film, from werewolves and romance to the stuff of hard science. It today's programme we hear music from "Road To Morocco"; "An American Werewolf in London"; "The Wolf Man"; "By The Light Of The Silvery Moon"; "The Princess Kaguya"; "Apollo 13"; "A Grand Day Out"; "The First Men In The Moon"; "Woman On The Moon"; "Iron Sky"; "2001 - A Space Odyssey"; "Moon"; "Destination Moon" and "Hidden Figures".
Matthew Sweet with Philip Lane on the film music career of William Alwyn, composer of over 80 scores including "The Magic Box", "The History of Mr Polly", "The Swiss Family Robinson" and "The Crimson Pirate".
Matthew discusses Alwyn's contribution to British film with Philip Lane, and finds out more about Philip's tireless work to track these sometimes lost scores down and bring them before the public. Volume 4 of the CD series "The Film Music of William Alwyn" has just been released with the BBC Philharmonic conducted by Rumon Gamba.
The programme includes highlights from across William Alwyn's career including music from "The History of Mr Polly"; "The Master of Ballantrae"; "Manchester - A City Speaks"; "Desert Victory"; "The Rocking Horse Winner"; "Svengali"; "The Card"; "The Swiss Family Robinson" and "They Flew Alone".
The Classic Score of the Week is Alwyn's music for the 1946 film "Odd Man Out".
Matthew Sweet goes on a treasure hunt with a selection of film music inspired by classic stories of secret maps and lost booty in the week of the release of "Gold" with music by Daniel Pemberton.
The programme includes music from "Treasure Island", "Pirates of the Caribbean", "The Deep", "Raiders of the Lost Ark", "King Solomon's Mines", "Jason and the Argonauts", "The Good, The Bad and the Ugly" and "Gold".
Matthew Sweet with music for films with a pacifist theme in the week that has seen the launch of Mel Gibson's new film "Hacksaw Ridge" with music by Rupert Gregson-Williams.
The programme features music from "Gandhi", "The Day The Earth Stood Still", "Doctor Who and the Daleks", ""Starship Troopers", "Howl's Moving Castle", "La Grande Illusion", "King and Country", "Paths of Glory", "The Victors", "Hair", "Born On The Fourth Of July", "Friendly Persuasion", "Witness" and "The Great Dictator" - as well as part of Rupert Gregson-Williams's new score.
Matthew Sweet features music by Mica Levi for the new film 'Jackie' in a focus on film music for the pivotal year 1963. The year in which JF Kennedy was assassinated, and when in the film world Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor gave us "Cleopatra".
The programme features scores from 'It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, World', 'Charade', 'The Leopard', '55 Days at Peking', 'The Great Escape', 'The VIPs', 'Cleopatra', 'McLintock!', 'Promises! Promises!', 'Move Over, Darling' and 'The Birds'.
Matthew Sweet looks at the 21st-century film musical in the week of the launch of Damien Chazelle's "La La Land" with music by Justin Hurwitz - who had a huge success with "Whiplash" a couple of years ago.
From the 1970s and 1980s, the film musical declined in popularity, but re-appeared with renewed vigour - darker, and with an edge - at the start of the new century, in films such as "Chicago" and "Moulin Rouge". The programme features music from "Chicago", "Les Miserables", "Moulin Rouge", "Mamma Mia", "Dancer In The Dark"; "London Road"; "Into The Woods", "Frozen" and "Nine" - and also features some of Justin Hurwitz's music for "La La Land".
Matthew Sweet looks at the influence of Schoenberg on film music - not least in the scores of Leonard Rosenman, Miklos Rozsa, Scott Bradley, Jerry Goldsmith, David Shire, Ernest Gold, Johnny Mandel, Humphrey Searle, Benjamin Frankel and Elisabeth Lutyens.
Although Schoenberg never wrote a score to accompany an actual film he was very interested in the medium and lived his final years in Hollywood where several of the leading Hollywood composers attended his composition classes. His revolutionary ideas about "twelve tone" composition made a sizable impact on film music as Matthew explores and illustrates in this programme.
Matthew Sweet and Neil Brand with the second of two programmes charting scores in which composers brought new ideas to the world of film music.
In today's programme they look at scores from the late 60s to the present and feature music by John Barry; Michel Legrand; John Williams; Jerry Goldsmith; John Carpenter; Danny Elfman; Thomas Newman; Hans Zimmer and Johann Johannsson.
Matthew Sweet and Neil Brand look back on the Golden Age of the cinema in the first of two programmes charting scores in which composers rethought the nature of film music.
In today's programme music by Camille Saint-Saëns; Eric Satie; Max Steiner; Kerry Mills and Hugh Martin; Dmitri Tiomkin; Leith Stevens; Bernard Herrmann and Ennio Morricone.
Matthew Sweet with film music inspired by the magic and romance of the ballet in the week that sees the launch of the Klaus Badelt score for "Ballerina".
The programme includes music from "Black Swan", "Mao's Last Dancer", "The Red Shoes", "The Intelligence Men", "Exposed", "The Bandwagon", "Black Tights" and the Classic Score of the Week is "On Your Toes".
Matthew Sweet with music for films that explore ideas of heredity and genetics in the week of the launch of the Irish-British thriller "I Am Not A Serial Killer".
In Billy O'Brien's new film, based on Dan Wells's novel, a fifteen year boy, a diagnosed social-path, lives in fear that he is fated to become a serial-killer. The music for the film is by Adrian Johnston who has given us scores for "Becoming Jane" and the 2008 big screen version of "Brideshead Revisited" as well as music for some of Stephen Poliakoff's film dramas.
The programme also includes music from "The Elephant Man"; "The Island of Dr Moreau"; "Splice"; "Jurassic Park"; "Never Let Me Go"; "The Boys From Brazil"; "Gattaca" and "Creation". The Classic Score of the Week is Ernest Gold's music for "Inherit The Wind.
Matthew Sweet explores music for films reflecting the depictions of indigenous peoples in the week that has seen the launch of Disney's "Moana". In particular he focuses on Native Americans on the screen. Drawing on music from Peter Pan to the present, Matthew looks at how stereo-typical portrayals have gradually given way to more rounded representations. The programme includes music from the films of John Wayne; "A Man Called Horse"; "Dances With Wolves" and "The Revenant". The Classic Score of the Week is Max Steiner's music for "The Searchers".
Matthew Sweet introduces a selection of film music inspired by the role of women during times of war in the week of the launch of "Allied" with a new score by Alan Silvestri.
The programme draws from films about historic women at the sharp end of battle, including music by Nina Humphreys for "Boudica"; Eric Serra and Mischa Spoliansky's music for films about Joan of Arc; and Craig Armstrong/AR Rahman's score for "Elizabeth - The Golden Age". The Classic Score of the Week is Erich Korngold's "The Sea Hawk".
Other scores in the programme include Stephen Warbeck's music for "Charlotte Gray"; Anthony Collins's "Odette" and Georges Delerue's "Mata Hari, Agent H21".
Matthew Sweet with music and conversation with one of Hollywood's most successful and prolific composers, James Newton Howard, whose latest score is for the JK Rowling inspired film "Fantastic Beasts, And Where To Find Them", which was released on Friday.
James talks about his working relationship with the director M Night Shyamalan and films such as "The Village"; his work for Disney and films such as "Dinosaur" and "Maleficent"; his work for "King Kong", "The Dark Knight" and "The Hunger Games". James also choses the Classic Score of the Week.
Matthew Sweet with film music on the pleasures and pains of parenthood in the week of Derek Cianfrance's new film "The Light Between Oceans" with music by Alexandre Desplat.
The programme also features music from "East of Eden", "Big Fish", "Bicycle Thieves", "Two Women", "Room", "The Royal Tenenbaums", "The Parent Trap", "What Maisie Knew", "Kramer vs. Kramer", "Mrs Doubtfire", "Losing Isaiah" and "Solomon and Sheba".
Matthew Sweet with a selection of music outlining a brief history of Black British cinema, from the work of Paul Robeson in the 1930s to recent films such as "Belle" and "Twelve Years A Slave".
The American actor and singer Paul Robeson made a terrific impact on the UK when he arrived here in the 1930s, performing Jerome Kern's "Showboat" at Drury Lane and appearing in British films of the period such as "King Solomon's Mines"; "Song of Freedom" and "Sanders of the River".
The programme goes on to feature music from films such as "Pool of London" from the '50s, and jazz-infused social realist films such as "A Taste Of Honey" and "Sapphire"; to films such as "Babylon" and "Pressure" (the first feature-length drama to be directed in Britain by a black film maker), and culminates in some of the more recent restorative history films such as "Belle" and "Twelve Years A Slave".
Broadcast as part of Radio 3's exploration of issues of diversity and inclusion, connecting audiences with pioneering music and culture.
Matthew Sweet marks the 70th birthday this weekend of Howard Shore, in conversation with the composer, with a look back on his many scores for films to date, which include titles like "The Fly"; "Silence of The Lambs"; "The Aviator"; "Hugo" and "The Lord Of The Rings".
Howard talks about his working methods; his collaborations with directors David Cronenberg and Martin Scorsese; about writing music for Tolkien; and he introduces some of his concert music too.
Matthew Sweet with film music about people leading double lives in the week that has seen the release of the thriller, "The Girl on the Train" with music by Danny Elfman.
The programme also features music from "Total Recall", "The Life of Pi", "The Double Life of Veronique", "Albert Nobbs", "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty", "As You Like It", and from films inspired by Robert Louis Stevenson's novella 'Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde' - including the Classic Score of the Week, Franz Waxman's music for the 1941 "Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde".
Matthew Sweet looks at music featured in the films of Stanley Kubrick with Richard Daniels of the Kubrick Archives live from Radio 3 Sound Frontiers at London's Southbank Centre.
Matthew Sweet is live at London's South Bank Centre celebrating film music from the year 1946 - when the Hays Code determined the coulds and the could nots; when Noir was at its height; when UK cinema going was at its peak.
The films and music featured in the programme include Alfred Hitchcock's "Notorious" with a score by Roy Webb, Miklos Rozsa's "The Killers", Max Steiner and "The Big Sleep", Dimitri Tiomkin and "Duel In The Sun", Georges Auric's music for Jean Cocteau's "Beauty And The Beast", Allan Gray and "A Matter Of Life And Death, Alan Rawsthorne and "The Captive Hearth", John Ireland's "The Overlanders", Mischa Spoliansky's "Wanted For Murder" and Hugo Friedhofer's "The Best Years Of Our Lives".
Matthew Sweet introduces film music inspired by gangsters in the week of the launch of Brad Furman's new film "The Infiltrator".
As well as Chris Hajian's music from "The Infiltrator", the programme also features music from "The Godfather", "Once Upon a Time in America", "The Roaring Twenties", "Road to Perdition", "The Untouchables", "The Long Good Friday", "The Krays", "Bugsy Malone" and selections from this week's Classic Score, "Get Carter".
Matthew Sweet meets the award winning film composer Dario Marianelli, creator of scores for films such as Atonement, Pride and Prejudice, The Brothers Grimm and Anna Karenina, in the week of the launch of his latest score, for Travis Knight's fantasy film "Kubo and the Two Strings".
200 years ago this year, a group of English literati, holidaying in Switzerland, which included the poet Lord Byron and his physician Dr John Polidori, Mary Shelley, her step-sister Claire Clairemont, and her husband Percy Bysshe Shelley, decided to pass the summer evenings entertaining each other with the telling of supernatural stories. The seeds were sown for one of the most enduring of all horror tales - Frankenstein. Matthew Sweet introduces a selection of film music inspired by the Frankenstein story in the week of the release of Luke Scott's debut feature "Morgan". The programme highlights music from the Universal Studios series of films from the '30s and '40s; from the Hammer Collection of the '60s and '70s; and from some of the more recent cinematic incarnations of the story.
Matthew Sweet introduces music written for movies associated with the great British cinematographer, Douglas Slocombe, who died earlier this year at the age of 103.
The catalogue of his films includes some of the greats of the last 75 years - Matthew reflects on his career and pays tribute with music from "Close Encounters of the Third Kind"; "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom"; "The Lavender Hill Mob"; Kind Hearts and Coronets"; "The Man In The White Suit": "Dead of Night"; "The Servant"; "The Lion In Winter"; ""The Italian Job; "Rollerball"; "The Blue Max"; "Jesus Christ Superstar"; and "Julia".
Matthew Sweet with film music inspired by the works Roald Dahl including John Williams's new score for Steven Spielberg's new big screen version of The BFG.
The programme also features music from "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory", "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", "The Witches", "James and the Giant Peach", "36 Hours", "The Night Digger", "You Only Live Twice", "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" and "Fantastic Mr Fox".
Matthew Sweet with music for films mapping female power and male anxiety - in the week that has seen the launch of the remake of Ghostbusters starring Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon and Melissa McCarthy. The programme features scores by James Bernard, David Arnold, Angelo Badalamenti, Brian Tyler, Jerry Goldsmith, Patrick Doyle, James Newton Howard and Theodore Shapiro. The Classic Score of the Week is "Some Like It Hot".
Matthew Sweet with film music with a jungle setting, including the Sherman Brothers' "Jungle Book", Ennio Morricone's "The Mission", Maurice Jarre's "Gorillas in the Mist", Jerry Goldsmith's "Rambo" and Max Steiner's classic 1933 score for "King Kong". This week's new release is Rupert Gregson-Williams's "The Legend of Tarzan".
Matthew Sweet reflects on the film music of the great French film composer Georges Delerue, who composed over 350 scores including much of the music for the films of François Truffaut - a composer once described as "the Mozart of cinema".
The programme features scores from "Steel Magnolias"; "Hiroshima Mon Amour"; "Cartouche"; "Anne of The Thousand Days"; "Le Mépris"; "Day for Night"; "Tirez Sur Le Pianiste"; "Le Dernier Métro"; "Jules et Jim"; "Day of the Jackel"; "Something Wicked This Way Comes" and "Agnes of God".
With the release of Liza Johnson's new drama comedy "Elvis & Nixon" - a look at America in December 1970 - Matthew Sweet reflects on the score for this, and for other films actually made in this year. A year that brought us the likes of "Love Story", "Airport", "MAS*H", "Soldier Blue"; "Ryan's Daughter", "Kelly's Heroes", "A Man Called Horse", "Chisum"; "The Music Lovers", "Valerie and Her Week of Wonders" and "The Railway Children".
The Classic Score of the Week is Frank Cordell's music for "Cromwell".
Matthew Sweet with film music inspired by the American Civil War including the Classic Score of the Week - Max Steiner's "Gone With The Wind". Featured scores include those for "North and South"; "Lincoln": "The General"; "Gettysburg"; "Copperhead"; "Glory"; "The Outlaw Josey Wales; "Dances With Wolves"; "The Beguiled" and "Sommersby". The featured new score is Martin Phipps music for "The Keeping Room".
Matthew Sweet with a selection of film music inspired by the court room drama - including the classic score of the week - Franz Waxman's music for Hitchcock's "The Paradine Case".
Matthew Sweet looks at music for films that tackle the subject of racial prejudice in the week that has seen the launch of the film "Race" about the life of athlete Jesse Owens, with a score by Rachel Portman. The programme also includes music from Quincy Jones' "The Color Purple" and "In the heat of the night", Herman Stein's score for the 1965 film "The Intruder", Terence Blanchard's music for the 1992 biopic "Malcolm X" and his classic score of the week is Elmer Bernstein's "To kill a mockingbird" from 1962.
Matthew Sweet looks at film music inspired by Lewis Carroll's Alice, in the week of the release of the new Disney film, "Alice Through The Looking Glass". Matthew looks at music for some of the many films based on the Alice books and also films that are more indirectly inspired by them, including Dmitri Tiomkin's music for the 1933 "Alice in Wonderland"; John Barry's 1974 version; Richard Hartley's score for the 1999 TV version; and music by Danny Elfman for Tim Burton. The programme also features music by Howard Shore for "The Last Mimzy"; Christian and Joe Henson for "Malice in Wonderland"; Christophe Beck for "Phoebe in Wonderland" and Don Davis's music for "The Matrix".
The Classic Score of the Week is Sammy Fain's and Oliver Wallace's music for Walt Disney's 1951 animated "Alice in Wonderland".
Matthew Sweet introduces film music inspired by the idea of "mutant" beings in the cinema - from the science fiction, horror and the superhero genres.
As well as music from the new film X-Men Apocalypse, the programme features music from "Them!"; "Tarantula"; "Battle for the Planet of the Apes"; "The Omega Man"; "The Incredible Shrinking Man"; "Hunger Games: Catching Fire"; "The Amazing Spider Man" and "The Mutations". The Classic Score of the Week is the 1958 version of "The Fly".
Matthew Sweet explores the trend among composers of creating music for films that do not actually exist. Matthew looks at music for "Imaginary films", music written for films that don't exist and also scores for lost films. He interviews Nick Phoenix and Thomas Bergersen from the production company "Two Steps From Hell" about the new phenomenon of "Epic Music" - a genre of orchestral music that has appeared from their creation of music for film trailers, which is often different from the music that features in the final film. The Classic Score of the week is from "Gaslight", a film that was nearly lost as Matthew explains.
Matthew Sweet introduces a selection of film music inspired by the idea of 'The Entertainer' in the week of the launch of Stephen Frears's new film "Florence Foster Jenkins", with music by Alexandre Desplat.
The programme features music from "Behind The Candelabra"; "Limelight"; "L'Illusioniste"; "La Strada"; "Yankee Doodle Dandy"; "Annie Get Your Gun"; "Calamity Jane" and "Marguerite". The Classic Score of the Week is "Singin' In The Rain".
Matthew Sweet presents music from films set in and after the Holocaust including Laszlo Melis's score to Son of Saul which won Best Foreign Language Film at this year's Academy Awards, and Alfred Newman's music for The Diary of Anne Frank, our classic score of the week.
Matthew Sweet is joined by Award winning Hollywood composer Brian Tyler whose credits include over 70 films including blockbusters such "Avengers: Age of Ultron", "Iron Man 3" and the "Fast and Furious" franchise. Brian has composed a new score for the film "Criminal" which was launched in cinemas this week, and in May he will be giving a concert of his music with the Philharmonia at London's Festival Hall.
Tyler is especially known for his large orchestral, high octane scores associated with the action thriller and the superhero genres. He talks to Matthew about his work to date, his affection for someof the great film composers of the past, and about creating music for some of the biggest selling box-office successes of our time.
Matthew Sweet features music for films on the theme of "Genius" including music for the new Matthew Brown film about mathematician, Srinivasa Ramanujan - "The Man Who Knew Infinity", with music by Matthew's brother, Coby.
Also in the programme, music by James Bernard, Alexandre Desplat, Stanley Myers, Harald Kloser and Thomas Wander, James Horner, James Newton Howard, Barrington Pheloung, Jeff Beal, Elliot Goldenthal and Gary Yershon. The Classic Score of the Week is Miklos Rozsa's music for the 1956 Van Gogh bio-pic "Lust for Life".
Matthew Sweet looks at music for the films of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger who created some of Britain's best loved and innovative classic films. The programme features music from "The 49th Parallel"; "A Matter of Life and Death"; "Black Narcissus" - and the Classic Score of the Week, Brian Easdale's music for "The Red Shoes".
Matthew Sweet with film music inspired by the cinematic portrayal of Batman and Superman in the week in which the movies pit one comic strip hero against the other in Zack Snyder's "Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice".
Matthew considers the background and origin of both cartoon superheroes and features some of the earliest Batman/Superman screen music - written by composers such as Sammy Timberg, Leon Klatzkin, Lee Zahler and Mischa Bakaleinikoff. And of course there are also the more familiar scores as well, from Neal Hefti, Danny Elfman, Shirley Walker, Elliot Goldenthal and Hans Zimmer.
The Classic Score of the Week is John Williams's iconic music for "Superman - The Movie".
Matthew Sweet looks at music for films about "Soulmates" in the week of the launch of Charlie Kaufman's "Anomalisa" with a new score by Carter Burwell.
The programme features music from "Amelie"; "An Affair To Remember"; "Casablanca"; "The Lake House"; "Love Actually"; "Les Parapluies de Cherbourg"; "The Lobster" and "The Double Life of Veronique".
Ahead of Radio 3's International Women's Day celebration this Tuesday Matthew Sweet presents music from films made by female directors, from Hollywood big hitters Kathryn Bigelow and Jane Campion, to European auteurs Agnieszka Holland and Antonia Bird. He also talks to composer Olga Neuwirth, who writes concert works as well as hybrids of film, theatre and performance art, and who has written the score for Goodnight Mommy, an Austrian horror film released in the UK this week.
Matthew Sweet with a selection of film music inspired by "crime and punishment" prompted by the Hollywood remake of "Secret In Their Eyes" with music by Emilio Kauderer. The programme also includes music from "To Catch A Thief"; "The Lavender Hill Mob"; "The Asphalt Jungle"; "Breathless"; "The Green Mile"; "Minority Report" and "Judge Dredd" and the Classic Score of the week is Duke Ellington's music for "Anatomy of a Murder".
Matthew Sweet looks back on the film career of Malcolm Arnold, including excerpts from "Hobson's Choice", "Bridge on the River Kwai", "Hard Times" and "Roots of Heaven". Matthew's classic score of the week is from "The Belles of St Trinian's".
Matthew Sweet with music for films about whistle-blowers, Cassandras and Enemies of the People in the week that sees the launch of the Ibsenesque "Concussion" starring Will Smith.
The programme features music from "I Robot"; "When Worlds Collide"; "The Bible - In The Beginning"; "Noah"; "Silkwood"; "The Village" and "The Parallax View". The Classic Score of the Week is John Williams's music for "Close Encounters Of The Third Kind".
Matthew also casts a thought on this weekend's BAFTAs.
Matthew Sweet presents a selection of film music inspired by the fears of communist infiltration in Hollywood in the late 40s and 50s and the persecution of the "Hollywood 10" and others, in the week of the launch of Jay Roach's new film "Trumbo" with music by Theodore Shapiro.
The programme features music from "Red Dawn", "Silk Stockings", "The Day The Earth Stood Still", "High Noon", "Inherit The Wind", "The Eternal Sea", "The Caine Mutiny", "On The Waterfont", "Spartacus" and "Exodus".
Matthew Sweet introduces a selection of film music inspired by images of poverty and riches in the week of the launch of "The Big Short" with a score by Nicholas Britell.
Nicholas Brittell's work with Hans Zimmer on the score for "12 Years A Slave" won him great praise, since which he went on to score Natalie Portman's directorial debut film, "A Tale of Love and Darkness".
The programme includes music from "Cabaret"; "The Gold Diggers of 1933"; "The Kid"; "The Great Gatsby"; "The Bicycle Thieves"; "Cinderella"; "Teorema"; "Elysium" and "The Bonfire of the Vanities". The Classic Score of the Week is Erich Korngold's music for "The Prince and the Pauper".
Matthew Sweet with music for films about those cut off from conventional living. Those left to their own devices include Mowgli, Tarzan and Romulus & Remus.
The programme features music from "Edward Scissorhands"; "L'Enfant Sauvage"; "The Enigma of Kasper Hauser"; "Greystoke - The Legend of Tarzan"; "Princess Mononoke"; "The Jungle Book (1942)"; "Romolo e Remo"; "Lord of the Flies"; "Tangled"; "Nell" and "The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe". The featured new release is Lenny Abrahamson's "Room" - with music by Stephen Rennicks.
Matthew Sweet counts down through some of great movie scores featuring numbers in the title in the week that has seen the launch of Quentin Tarantino's new film The Hateful Eight with a new score by Ennio Morricone.
The programme includes music from "Apollo 13", "Twelve Years A Slave", "The Ten Commandments", "9", "8 Femmes"; "The Seven Year Itch" alongside scores by Alfred Newman, Malcolm Arnold, Randy Newman and Elmer Bernstein, Philip Glass and Marco Beltrami, Jerry Goldsmith and Ennio Morricone.
Matthew Sweet looks at some of the experimental ventures in music for film from composers who have strived to create new sounds and evoke new aural worlds to underscore the movies.
Recorded as part of Radio 3's New Year - New Music Season, the programme features scores by Bernard Herrmann, Jerry Goldsmith, Ennio Morricone, Philip Glass, Peter Maxwell Davies, Jon Brion, Bebe and Louis Baron, Mario Nascimbene, Hans Zimmer, Basil Kirchin, Mr Ozio, Carter Burwell and Nathan Johnson.
Matthew Sweet presents music from film adaptations of the works of Charles Dickens: including scores for his festive favourite A Christmas Carol by Richard Addinsell and Danny Elfman.
With the release of "Star Wars - The Force Awakens", Matthew Sweet looks back on John Williams's music for the celebrated movie franchise.
Matthew Sweet looks at film, music, and Iceland and is joined by the award-winning composer Johann Johannsson, whose scores include The Theory of Everything and Sicario.
Matthew Sweet looks at film music inspired by the battlefield hot on the heels of the release of Hunger Games, Mockingjay 2. The Classic score of the week is Rosza's El Cid.
The programme also includes music from the films Troy, Alexander, Fury, Saving Private Ryan, Atonement, Ran, 47 Ronin, and The Lord of the Rings.
Matthew Sweet is joined by producer Christine Langan and composer George Fenton to celebrate 25 years of BBC Films in the week that has seen the launch of The Lady In The Van
The programme also features music from "Iris", "Billy Elliot", "Mrs Brown", "Becoming Jane", "Miss Potter", "The Duchess", "Notes On A Scandal", "Jane Eyre", "Philomena", "A Cock and Bull Story", "Mrs Henderson Presents" and "Brooklyn".
Matthew Sweet is joined by composer Jocelyn Pook, whose music features in Eyes Wide Shut, Heidi and Brick Lane to talk about her work in film.
As the new James Bond movie, "Spectre" reaches cinemas, Matthew Sweet is at London's Barbican Centre as part of "Sound Unbound" to celebrate the great music from this most beloved of movie franchises. Composer Neil Brand joins Matthew to look back over past Bond scores, plus we hear from Spectre composer Thomas Newman.
Matthew Sweet introduces music for films exploring the theme of witchcraft prompted by the release of "The Last Witch Hunter" with music by Steve Jablonsky. The Classic Score of the Week is Roy Webb's "Cat People".
Matthew Sweet introduces scores for films that question the way we think about the cinema, and about other things as well....
The programme features music from Birth of a Nation; The Assassination of the Duke of Guise; Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs; The Seven Samurai; The Magnificent Seven; The Robe; Midnight Cowboy; Taxi Driver; The Young Sherlock Holmes; Avatar;and the Classic Score of the Week - Jaws.
Matthew also considers whether film can change our ideas about society in the week that has seen the launch of Sarah Gavron's new biopic, "Suffragette", with music by Alexandre Desplat.
Matthew Sweet presents music from films featuring a range of assassins, hitmen and sharp shooters. Our classic score of the week is David Amram's 1962 score for The Manchurian Candidate, the Cold War thriller starring Frank Sinatra and Janet Leigh. The featured new release is Sicario with a score by Johann Johannson.
Matthew Sweet reflects on film music which revels in the history and culture of Scotland.
Matthew Sweet explores the music of Hammer Horrors and other films made by the eponymous British production company. Founded in 1934 the company acquired the film rights to BBC radio series such as Dick Barton: Special Agent before going on to launch its iconic Horror series in the mid-fifties with hits including The Curse of Frankenstein, Dracula, and The Mummy. Featuring horror scores by composers James Bernard, Tristram Cary, and Benjamin Frankel, as well as music from Hammer's highly successful comedy films and only space western...
Matthew Sweet meets prolific American composer Marco Beltrami, pupil of Jerry Goldsmith and arguably the foremost creator of the modern horror film soundtrack. ("Scream", "Mimic","Carrie", "The Omen"). There is much more to Beltrami besides. His credits also include "I Robot", "The Hurt Locker", "The Woman in Black", "The Homesman", "Terminator 3", "3:10 to Yuma". Beltrami has just teamed up with Philip Glass to create the score for the new "Fantastic Four" film, released this week.
Matthew Sweet turns his attention to music written for films based on real lives and true events in the weekend of the launch of "True Story" - a film inspired by a real tale of identify theft.
Music featured in the programme includes "Schindler's List" ; "Battleship Potemkin"; "Malta GC"; "The Fall of the Roman Empire"; "Cleopatra"; "Zulu" and "Apollo 13".
The Classic Score of the Week is Franz Waxman's "Taras Bulba".
Matthew Sweet presents a tribute to the film composer James Horner who died suddenly last month. A regular collaborator of directors Ron Howard and James Cameron, Horner was nominated for ten Academy Awards and won two for his work on Titanic. Famously prolific he scored more than 100 films, including numerous blockbusters such as Braveheart, Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind and the highest grossing film of all time, Avatar. The programme includes never before broadcast interview material with Horner recorded at his home in California in 2013, in which he reflects on his own career and present day Hollywood.
Matthew Sweet on film music inspired by man and machine in the week of the launch of the latest in the Terminator series. Matthew joins composers Hans Zimmer and Lorne Balfe who talk about their new score for the film Terminator Genisys.
Also in the programme, James Horner's music for Bicentennial Man; David Arnold's Stepford Wives; Howard Shore's Hugo; Mark Mothersbaugh's Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs; Michel Sanvoisin's Little Dorrit (with a little help from Verdi); Philippe Sarde and Tess; Elmer Bernstein's Wild Wild West; Steve Jablonsky's Steamboy; and the Classic Score of the Week is Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times - a sneak preview of a soon to be released recording from Timothy Brock.
Matthew Sweet with a selection of film music written for characters who find themselves on the wrong side of the law in the week that has seen the release of John Maclean's "Slow West" with a score by Jed Kurzel.
Matthew's Classic Score of the Week is Erich Korngold's 1935 "Captain Blood".
Matthew Sweet excavates samples of prehistoric film music in the light of the launch of the latest movie in the Jurassic Park franchise - Jurassic World.
The programme features scores from "When Dinosaurs Ruled The Earth"; "The Lost World"; "Valley of Gwangi"; "Dinosaur" and "Ice Age" as well as music by John Williams and Michael Giacchino. The Classic Score of the week is Mario Nascimbene's music for "One Million Years BC".
Matthew Sweet presents an edition of music from spy movies, featuring scores from gritty Carré-esque espionage films to James Bond action fantasies.
This week's new release is Paul Feig's "Spy", starring Melissa McCarthy, with a score by Theodore Shapiro.
Other featured films include "The Lady Vanishes"; "The Third Man"; "On Her Majesty's Secret Service"; "The Spy Who Came In From The Cold"; "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" and Matthew's Classic Score of the Week - Roy Webb's music for Alfred Hitchcock's "Notorious".
Matthew Sweet looks at music for films inspired by the spirit world in the week of the release of the remake of "Poltergeist" with a new score by Marc Streitenfeld.
The programme also features music by Christopher Young from "Drag Me To Hell" and Marco Beltrami from "Woman in Black". There is Humphrey Searle's music for "The Haunting", Danny Elfman's for "Corpse Bride", James Horner's "Casper", John Williams' only score for Alfred Hitchcock and Jerry Goldsmith's atmospheric score for the original "Poltergeist". The Classic Score of the Week is Bernard Herrmann's "The Ghost and Mrs Muir".
Matthew Sweet turns his attention to the celebrated Ealing Comedies from 1947-57 and the composers who wrote the music for them, including Georges Auric, Benjamin Frankel, Tristram Cary and Ernest Irving.
Matthew Sweet presents film music inspired by classic novels in the week of the launch of Thomas Vinterberg's new version of Thomas Hardy's "Far From the Madding Crowd" with music by Craig Armstrong. Craig Armstrong talks to Matthew about his new score and introduces cues from it.
The programme also includes music by Constant Lambert from the 1948 Anna Karenina; from Rachel Portman for Nicholas Nickleby from 2002; Richard Addinsell's theme from A Tale Of Two Cities from 1958; Mychael Danna's score for Vanity Fair from 2004; and Richard Robbins's score for Howards End from 1992. The Classic Score of the Week is Alfred Newman's 1939 "Wuthering Heights".
Matthew Sweet presents the second of two programmes looking at music from classic Westerns, including scores by Alfred Newman, Carter Burwell and Jonny Greenwood. Classic score of the week is Elmer Bernstein's "Magnificent Seven".
Matthew Sweet presents the first of two programmes of music from classic and modern Westerns, including scores by Dimitri Tiomkin, Elmer Bernstein and Ennio Morricone. Classic score of the week is Tiomkin's "High Noon".
Matthew Sweet meets composer Patrick Doyle for a look back on his film composing career to date in the week that sees the release of his new score for Disney's Cinderella.
With the release of Russell Crowe's directorial debut in The Water Diviner, Matthew Sweet features some of its music and looks at a selection of film music with an antipodean connection.
Matthew Sweet features film music inspired by the folk tale in the week that sees the UK release of Isao Takahata's acclaimed Studio Ghibli animation The Tale of the Princess Kaguya.
The programme also includes music from "The Company of Wolves"; "The Brothers Grimm"; "Blancanieves"; "Belle et la Bete"; "Excalibur"; "King Arthur"and "The Secret of Roan Inish".
The Classic Score of the Week is Erich Korngold's "The Adventures of Robin Hood".
Matthew Sweet looks at music specially written for the important growth area of Video Gaming and marks the 2015 BAFTA Gaming Awards, the winners of which which were announced this week. He looks back on the history of the music and highlights some of the key scores, including The Legend of Zelda, Battlefield 2, Ys, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Halo Reach and Final Fantasy. He looks at its relationship with film music and how major orchestras are taking up this repertoire. He also features music from the winner of the Best Score in this year's Awards.
Cartoonist Alison Bechdel created an influential means of measuring the significance of the role woman play in film: Does the film contain a conversation between two women about something other than a man?
Reflecting International Women's Day on Sunday, Matthew Sweet features music for films that pass the Bechdel Test.
Featured scores includes "Thelma and Louise", "Gone With The Wind", "Silence Of The Lambs", "The Portrait Of A Lady", "The Princess Mononoke", "Orlando", "Annie Get Your Gun". The Classic Score of the Week is Alfred Newman's "All About Eve".
Matthew also profiles scores by some of the foremost women film composers, including Lesley Barber, Lisa Gerrard, Doreen Carwithen, Rachel Portman, Anne Dudley, Jocelyn Pook, Laura Rossi and Debbie Wiseman.
@bbcradio3 #womensday.
Matthew Sweet is joined by conductor Robert Ziegler in the second of their two programmes profiling the film music of Jerry Goldsmith - the Classic Score of the Week is modern classic, the 1999 "Star Trek - The Motion Picture". The programme also includes music from Goldsmith's scores for "Twilight Zone - the movie", "Alien", "Total Recall", "Logan's Run", "Basic Instinct" and "Gremlins".
Matthew Sweet is joined by conductor Robert Ziegler in the first of two programmes reflecting on the scores of one of the great figures of film music - Jerry Goldsmith.
The Classic Score of the Week is Goldsmith's score for the 1976 film "The Omen", and there's also music from Goldsmith's scores to "Lonely are the brave", "Patton", "Chinatown", "Freud", "Planet of the Apes" and "Poltergeist".
In the week of the much anticipated release of "Fifty Shades of Grey", Matthew Sweet features the Danny Elfman score and considers film music inspired by obsession.
The programme includes music from Of Human Bondage; American Beauty; The Talented Mr Ripley; Perfume: The Story of a Murderer; Peeping Tom; Lolita; Eyes Wide Shut; Fatal Attraction; Last Tango In Paris and Sleeping With the Enemy.
The Classic Score of the Week is Bernard Herrmann's "Vertigo".
Matthew Sweet with film music inspired by heritage - the Classic score of the week is Copland's "The Heiress" and the new release, Michael Giacchino's score for "Jupiter Ascending".
Matthew Sweet considers music written to enhance the character of the movie detective. The Classic Score of the week is David Raksin's 1944 music for Laura which features one of film music's most enduring themes.
Also in the programme is music for The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, Seven Per Cent Solution, The Adventures of Tintin, Dick Tracy, The Maltese Falcon, Devil In A Blue Dress and Murder On The Orient Express.
The featured new release is Paul Thomas Anderson's Inherent Vice introducing Thomas Pynchon's LA detective Larry "Doc" Sportello - and a new score by Jonny Greenwood.
Cinema's urban landscapes can be threatening and challenging. Matthew Sweet introduces film music evoking the darkness and the light of the city including "Metropolis" and "Bladerunner".
The Classic Score of the Week is Anton Karas' "The Third Man" and the programme also features music from "La Dolce Vita", Jacques Tati's "Playtime"; "The Dark Knight Rises"; "Roman Holiday" and "Wings of Desire".
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Matthew Sweet with a selection of jazz inspired film music including Justin Hurwitz's new score for "Whiplash" and the Classic Score "A Streetcar Named Desire" by Alex North.
The Sound of Music with Julie Andrews is 50 years old - in the week of the release of Sondheim's screen version of Into The Woods, Matthew Sweet looks back on the last half century of the screen musical.
Matthew Sweet introduces music written for films inspired by the acting profession hot on the heels of the launch of Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's new drama, "Birdman - The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance".
The programme includes scores from "Shakespeare In Love"; "All About Eve"; "Being Julia"; "Theatre of Blood"; "A Double Life"; "Kiss Me Kate"; "42nd Street"; "Les Enfants du Paradis"; "The Last Metro"and "The Artist".
The Classic Score of the Week is Charles Chaplin's "Limelight".
There is also a chance to hear music by Johann Johannsson for the recent Stephen Hawking bio-pic "The Theory of Everything".
With the latest instalment of Peter Jackson's Tolkien-inspired films launched on Friday - "The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies", Matthew Sweet looks at film music and sagas. The programme features music from "Harry Potter"; "The Twilight Saga"; "The Godfather"; "Ocean's Eleven"; "Three Colours Blue"; "From Russia With Love"...... and "The Hobbit".
Composer Howard Shore talks about the twenty hours or more of music he has composed for the Tolkien films.
The Classic Score of the Week is John Williams's "Star Wars".
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Matthew Sweet is joined by Oscar-winning composer Steven Price for a review of music written for British Sci Fi films, recorded on London's South Bank as part of the BFI Sci Fi Festival -"Days of Fear and Wonder".
Matthew and Steve begin their survey with Arthur Bliss's famous score for the HG Well's inspired film "Things To Come". They look at the work of James Bernard and Tristram Cary for the Quatermass films and reflect on scores for "The First Men In The Moon"; "2001 - A Space Odyssey"; "Alien"; "Brazil"; "Flash Gordon" "The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy"; "Sunshine"; "Inception"; "Under The Skin" and "Gravity".
Matthew Sweet meets Lorne Balfe, composer for the new animated comedy The Penguins of Madagascar. The programme explores how Balfe set about writing music for this offshoot to the one of the biggest movie franchises in recent years - the "Madagascar" series - and looks at some of Balfe's other work for film and for computer games.
The classic score of the week is Ralph Vaughan-Williams's "Scott of the Antarctic".
Matthew Sweet with film music inspired by contest and competition in the arena, from sporting prowess to the gladiatorial - including music for the The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1.
Matthew Sweet presents a live edition from Radio 3's Free Thinking Festival of Ideas at Sage Gateshead with composer Max Richter, whose credits include music for "Shutter Island", "Waltz with Bashir" and "Sarah's Key".
Matthew explores Max's approach to writing for film and features scores from "Waltz with Bashir", "When We Leave", "Sarah's Key", "The Congress" and his music for the forthcoming "Testament of Youth", based on the life story of Vera Brittain. Max has chosen this week's classic score which is Vyacheslav Ovchinnikov's music for Tarkovsky's 1966 masterpiece, "Andrei Rublev".
Matthew Sweet profiles scores for films inspired by notions of time, space and travel prompted by Christopher Nolan's new film "Interstellar".
The programme includes music by Bill McGuffie from "Daleks - Invasion Earth 2150 AD"; by David Arnold from "Stargate"; by Alan Silvestri from "Back to the Future"; Miklos Rozsa from "Time After Time"; John Barry from "Somewhere In Time"; Nathan Johnson from "Looper"; and by Michael Andrews from "Donnie Darko".
The classic score of the week is Russell Garcia's score for the 1960 version of "The Time Machine".
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Matthew Sweet introduces a selection of film music in homage to the late Richard Attenborough. Matthew's guest is the composer George Fenton who collaborated with Attenborough on many films: "Gandhi"; "Cry Freedom"; "Shadowlands"; "In Love and War"; "Grey Owl". The programme also features music from "The League of Gentlemen"; "Sea of Sand"; "The Great Escape"; "Seance on a Wet Afternoon"; "Whistle Down The Wind"; "Jurassic Park"; and "Closing The Ring".
The Classic Score of the Week is John Addison's "A Bridge Too Far".
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Matthew Sweet with a selection of music for films inspired by puzzles and games prompted by this week's new release, "The Maze Runner" with music by John Paesano.
The Classic Score of the Week is Michel Legrand's music for "The Thomas Crown Affair".
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Matthew Sweet with a selection of music for films on the subject of innocence and guilt prompted by the release of David Fincher's "Gone Girl" with a new score by Trent Reznor.
The programme also features music from "To Kill A Mockingbird"' "In The Heat Of The Night", "Who Framed Roger Rabbit", "The Green Mile" and "The Fugitive".
The Classic Score of the Week is Bernard Herrmann's for Hitchcock's "North By Northwest".
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Matthew Sweet with a selection of music for film that began life on the small screen, including Harry Gregson-Williams's score for Antoine Fuqua's new release - The Equalizer.
The programme also includes music for big screen versions of "Mission Impossible"; "The Addams Family", "Zorro", "Twin Peaks", "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen", "Star Trek", "Monty Python","The Avengers" and "The Muppets".
Matthew's Classic Score of the Week focuses on Barry Gray's music for Gerry Anderson's "Thunderbirds Are Go".
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Matthew Sweet with a selection of film music inspired by the piano to coincide with the launch of the thriller "Grand Piano" with a new score by Victor Reyes.
The programme also includes music from "The Pianist"; "Song Without End"; "Shine"; "The Piano"; "The Legend of 1900"; "The Fabulous Baker Boys"; and takes a look at some of the so called "Denham Concertos".
The Classic Score of the Week is Richard Addinsell's "Warsaw Concerto" for "Dangerous Moonlight".
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Matthew Sweet introduces a selection of music for film inspired by the LGBT movement in the weeekend that has seen the release of Matthew Warchus's film "Pride", with a score by Christopher Nightingale.
Matthew Sweet with a selection of film music inspired by the theme of memory, in the launch weekend of Rowan Joffé's "Before I Go To Sleep" featuring a new score by Ed Shearmur.
The progrmame includes music for "Cinema Paradiso"; "Le Temps Retrouvé"; "Hiroshima Mon Amour"; "Rashomon"; "Total Recall"; "Inception"; "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind"; from composers such as Jon Brion, Hans Zimmer, Jerry Goldsmith, Fumio Hayasaka, Giovanni Fusco, Jorge Arriagada, and Ennio Morricone.
The Classic Score of the Week is Miklós Rózsa's music for "Spellbound".
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Matthew Sweet profiles one of India's most succesful composers, the "Mozart of Madras", A.R. Rahman, whose film scores have changed the sound of Indian cinema. The programme coincides with the release of two new films featuring A.R. Rahman scores - "Million Dollar Arm" and "The Hundred-Foot Journey".
In this dip into the world of Rahman we hear music from "Lagaan"; "Roja"; "Bombay"; "Taal"; "Warriors of Heaven and Earth"; "Elizabeth - The Golden Age" and "Couples Retreat".
The Classic Score of the Week is A.R. Rahman's music for Danny Boyle's "Slumdog Millionaire".
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Matthew Sweet with a selection of music for film inspired by the human brain, from the thoughts of great geniuses to the creations of mad scientists.
Featured scores include: Hans Zimmer and Lorne Balfe's for "Megamind"; James Horner's for "A Beautiful Mind"; Mark Mothersbaugh's for "The Royal Tenenbaums"; Carter Burwell's for "Being John Malkovich"; Angelo Badalamenti's for "City of Lost Children"; Randy Newman's for "Awakenings"; plus music by Eric Serra for this week's featured new release: "Lucy".
The Classic Score of the Week is Franz Waxman's "The Bride of Frankenstein".
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Matthew Sweet presents the second of two programmes exploring the rich art and dolce vita of the Italian film composer Nino Rota. Matthew is joined by Richard Dyer, Professor of Film Studies at Kings College London, who's the author of a study of Rota called "Music, Film and Feeling".
In today's programme Matthew and Richard look at the special relationship between Rota and fellow Italian film director Federico Fellini, which spawned movies such as "Casanova", "Eight & a Half", "The White Sheik", "La Strada" and "Amarcord" - and the Classic Score of the Week, Fellini's "La Dolce Vita".
Matthew Sweet presents the first of two programmes exploring the rich art and dolce vita of the Italian film composer Nino Rota. Matthew is joined by Richard Dyer, Professor of Film Studies at Kings College London, who's the author of a study of Rota called "Music, Film and Feeling".
In today's programme Matthew and Richard take a general overview of Rota's extensive output, including the scores for "The Godfather", "War & Peace", "Rocco and his brothers", "Purple Noon", "Treno Populare", "The Glass Mountain" - and the Classic Score of the Week, Zeffirelli's "Romeo and Juliet".
Matthew Sweet introduces a selection of film scores inspired by love and tragedy prompted by this week's featured new release, Michel Gondry's romantic fantasy film Mood Indigo, starring Audrey Tautou and with music by Etienne Charry.
Matthew's Classic Score of the Week is Francis Lai's "Love Story".
Matthew Sweet introduces a selection of film music inspired by visitors from outer space inspired by the week's featured new release: David Green's "Earth to Echo" with music by Joseph Trapanese.
Featured scores include: Alan Silvestri's "Contact"; Tristram Cary's " Quatermass and the Pit"; Danny Elfman's "Men in Black" and Eric Serra's "The Fifth Element".
The classic score of the week is John Williams's "E.T. - The Extra-Terrestrial".
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Matthew Sweet introduces a selection of simian inspired film music for the week that has seen the release of the latest in the Planet of the Apes series of movies: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes with music by Michael Giacchino.
He looks back on some of the scores that have been created over the past 46 years for the celebrated science fiction saga - from Jerry Goldsmith's "brilliantly strange and alienating" first score, to music by Danny Elfman and Patrick Doyle.
The programme also includes other ape inspired scores: Elmer Bernstein's Buddy; Maurice Jarre's Gorillas in the Mist; Paul Sawtell's Tarzan and the Huntress; Johnny Dankworth's Sands of the Kalahari; James Newton Howard's Outbreak.
Matthew's Classic score of the Week is Max Steiner's King Kong.
Matthew Sweet with music for films recalling the world's great artists in the week that sees the UK theatrical release of the second part of Peter Greenaway's "Dutch Masters Trilogy".
The programme includes music by Michael Nyman; Georges Auric; Elliot Goldenthal; Alexandre Desplat; Gabriel Yared; Nicholas Ward-Jackson; Jeff Beal; Frank Cordell and Krishna Levi.
Films: "Lust for Life"; The Draughtsman's Contract"; "Moulin Rouge"; "Frida"; "Girl With A Pearl Earring"; "Camille Claudel"; "Caravaggio 1610"; "Pollock" and "The Rebel".
The Classic Score of the week is Alex North's "The Agony and the Ecstasy".
Matthew Sweet with film music inspired by movies about old age, prompted by this week's new release: "The Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out Of The Window And Disappeared", with music by Matti Bye.
Matthew's Classic Score of the Week is Franz Waxman's music for "Sunset Boulevard".
The programme also includes music from "Up"; "Driving Miss Daisy"; "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel"; "On Golden Pond"; "Iris"; "The Hunger"; "Cocoon" and "Wild Strawberries".
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Matthew Sweet looks at music for films set against the background of the First World War, including the Classic Score of the Week, Joseph Kosma's music for Jean Renoir's movie masterpiece, La Grande Illusion. The First World War prompted a cinematic response even before the War was over and it has continued to exercise the film maker's imagination ever since. From Charles Chaplin's Shoulder Arms in 1918 to Steven Spielberg's recent War Horse, the stories and commentaries are varied and include some of the great moments in film and film-music (The African Queen; The Blue Max; Sergeant York; Lawrence of Arabia).
Matthew Sweet talks to Hollywood composer John Powell about film scores for computer-animated features such as "How To Train Your Dragon", the much anticipated sequel to which is scatter-released over the next few weeks.
The programme also includes music from "Puss in Boots"; "Antz"; "Shrek"; "Ice Age - The Dawn of Dinosaurs": "Prince of Egypt"; "The Black Cauldron" and "Mr and Mrs Smith". The Classic Score of the Week is prompted by John Powell and comes from "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers".
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Matthew Sweet looks at film music inspired by inventors following Friday's launch of "The Young and Prodigious TS Spivet". As well as music by Denis Sanacore from Jean-Pierre Jeunet's new film, the programme also includes Mark Isham's "October Sky"; Danny Elfman's music for Tim Burton's "Charlie And The Chocolate Factory"; Mark Mothersbaugh's "Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs"; Patrick Doyle's "Mary Shelley's Frankenstein"; Howard Shore's "The Fly"; James Horner's "Honey I Shrunk The Kids"; Alan Silvestri's "Back To The Future" and the classic score of the week - William Alwyn's "The Magic Box".
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Matthew Sweet meets composer Rachel Portman in the week that sees the launch of Amma Asante's "Belle", featuring a new Rachel Portman score.
Rachel Portman is one of the most successful and distinctive British film composers with an extensive catalogue of film scores to her name.
Matthew meets Rachel at her London home and looks back on a career that stretches beyond her music for the 1989 Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit, through Chocolat, The Duchess, Oliver Twist, Sirens, Benny and Joon, The Manchurian Candidate, The Cider House Rules and the Academy Award-winning Emma.
The programme also features music from Rachel's new score for Belle.
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Matthew Sweet introduces music inspired by screen villainesses in the week that sees the launch of Robert Stromberg's film, "Maleficent" - inspired by Disney's vindictive fairy in "Sleeping Beauty" and starring Angelina Jolie - with a vast new orchestral score by James Newton Howard.
Other scores featured in the programme include: George Fenton's "Dangerous Liaisons"; Jerry Goldsmith's "Basic Instinct"; Hans Zimmer's "Sherlock Holmes"; Henry Jackman's "X Men - First Class"; Henry Mancini "Mommie Dearest"; Jack Nitzsche "One Flew over The Cuckoo's Nest"and Alan Menken's "The LIttle Mermaid". The Classic Score of the Week is Franz Waxman's "Rebecca".
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In the week that sees the release of "Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return", Matthew Sweet looks back on some of the film music that has been created for the adaptations of L Frank Baum's stories of Dorothy and her friends in the land of Oz - not least the much-loved classic starring Judy Garland, in this, its 75th anniversary year.
The programme also features music from The Wiz, Journey Back to Oz, Return to Oz, Oz the Great and Powerful, plus others - and part of Toby Chu's new score for "Legends of Oz".
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Matthew Sweet takes musical inspiration from this week's new Godzilla film - the fictional filmic monster who has been inspiring metaphors and mayhem for the past 60 years.
This week Matthew looks at music for films which convey other meanings below the surface. His selection includes music by Alan Silvestri for Forrest Gump; Harry Gregson-Williams music for "The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe"; Leonard Rosenman's music for "Star Trek" and Clinton Shorter's for "District 9". There is also music for "The Time Machine", and the Classic score of the Week is Akira Ifukube's music for the first in the Japanese Godzilla series.
The programme also features the latest film appearance of Godzilla with music by Alexandre Desplat.
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Matthew Sweet looks at the music for the Japanese phenomenon that is Studio Ghibli in the week that sees the release of Hayao Miyazaki last film, "The Wind Rises".
The celebrated Japanese animation studio has produced some acclaimed titles including "Spirited Away", "The Princess Mononoke", "Laputa - Castle in the Sky"and "Porco Rosso". Aviation is often a prevailing theme of the films, reflecting Miyazaki's years growing up around his father's business in the Japanese aviation industry. Matthew talks to Justin Johnson of the British Film Institute about the films, and about the BFI's current Studio Ghibli Festival; and features work from one of the studio's foremost composers, Joe Hisaishi.
Matthew also turns his attention to other great film scores inspired by the theme of aviation, including The Battle of Britain; The Sound Barrier and The Aviator.
Matthew Sweet looks at the music of the Newman Dynasty of film composers, founded by Alfred and including David, whose score features in "Tarzan", released this week.
Alfred Newman scored over 200 films, won 9 Academy Awards and is considered one of the most important figures in the history of Hollywood film music. He was also head of a great dynasty of film composers: brother Lionel, sons David, Thomas and daughter Maria, and nephew Randy Newman; and the dynasty continues on into the next generation.
Matthew selects examples from the Newman catalogue and includes music from this week's featured new release, "Tarzan", with a new score by David Newman.
The Classic Score of the week is Alfed Newman's "How The West Was Won".
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Matthew Sweet with film scores inspired by robots, cyborgs and artificial intelligence in the week that sees the release of Wally Pfister's "Transcendence" and a new score by Mychael Danna. Matthew's Classic Score of the Week is Gottfried Huppertz's music for Fritz Lang's "Metropolis".
Also in the programme is music by Bruce Broughton, John Williams, Bernard Herrmann, Thomas Newman, James Horner, Paul Misraki and David Arnold.
Matthew Sweet introduces film music for superheroes including the new score for The Amazing Spiderman 2 by Hans Zimmer and the Classic Score of the Week - John Williams's Superman.
While superheroes have been with us since the 1930s, and they have made occassional forays into movies from that time, it was really the arrival of Superman in 1978 that fired the public's imgaination with the cinematic superhero - helped, in no small way, by John Williams' classic score. Matthew considers some of the succesful "superhero" soundtracks that have emerged in the past 35 years, including the music for Batman; The X-Men and Spiderman.