James Horner - Field of Dreams

While "Avatar" is doing well at the box-office, we look at one of James Horner's highly regarded soundtracks from 1989. The unusual story of Field of Dreams demanded a subtle treatment from the soundtrack, and Horner delivered a score which is ethereal and dreamy but building to moments of considerable power. More...

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• Star Trek
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• Top 50 UK albums

John Williams - Home Alone

Christmas has a homely feel to it, and the delightful Home Alone soundtrack taps into that feeling. John Williams creates some original Christmas Music, some cartoon-ish music for the baddies and some great action set pieces. Listening to this, you are transported to a world where chestnuts are roasting on an open fire. More...

Restoration by James Newton Howard

Restoration is a Period Drama released in 1995 with an excellent score from James Newton Howard which deserves a closer look. Not only has the composer captured the period feel and blended beautifully with music by Henry Purcell, but he also heightens the film's dramatic flow to great effect. More...

Hellraiser The Chronicles

Although some of the images in the Hellraiser Trilogy may be disturbing to some, the soundtracks are a good demonstration of how music can enhance film. Christopher Young set the standard for the original dark movie, and then turned it up a notch for the sequel Hellbound: Hellraiser 2. Randy Miller took over when the franchise was beginning to run out of steam, but this Limited Edition Box Set brings all 3 scores together in a superb package. More...

Ryuichi Sakamoto

As a film composer Ryuichi Sakamoto is probably best known for two exceptional scores, and curiously he starred in both films. In "Merry Christmas Mr.Lawrence" in 1983 he played the onscreen part of Capt. Yonoi and 4 years later in "The Last Emperor" he played the role of Amakasu. Though both scores used a wide instrumental mix, the earlier film concentrated more on synthesiser sounds, while in the later film (for which he shared the best score oscar) Sakamoto concentrated on the orchestral tracks while David Byrne and Cong Su provided most of the traditional Chinese music. More...

"Waltz with Bashir" by Max Richter

Waltz with Bashir is a wonderfully warm, romantic, but also harrowing film by Ari Folman. Equally the soundtrack is a very moving piece of work by composer Max Richter which complements the film perfectly. With this score the composer has finally obtained proper worldwide exposure, winning the hearts of music critics and musicians around the globe. The score was nominated for an Annie Award for Best Music in an Animated Feature and, most importantly, won the European Film Awards for Best Composer in 2008. More...

Classical Download
Click here to view and download all your favourite classical music.

Bach Violin
Bach composed the Violin Sonatas and Partitas which features the beautiful Chaconne.

"The Reel World" by Jeff Rona

Hal Leonard Books has just published a new and completely revised second edition of The Reel World by composer Jeff Rona. The book details the technical, business, and creative aspects of becoming a successful film scorer. Based upon his significant experience in the field, the author shows how to work with the many different professionals involved in filmmaking without diluting the essential element of creativity. This revised edition includes a wealth of new interviews with some of Hollywood’s top film scorers including John Williams, Carter Burwell, James Newton Howard, Hans Zimmer, Mark Isham, Wendy and Lisa and more. Check out an extract of the book, and receive a 20% discount on online purchases. More...

Star Trek: The Music

With a new Star Trek movie hitting theatres soon, we take a look at the music of Star Trek. Over the past 40-plus years, the Star Trek Universe has brought us 11 major movies and 5 television series (not to mention the animated series, video games and some song singles), and that is a lot of music! Many composers have played a part in creating this music. In the "Star Trek" movies, Jerry Goldsmith has dominated, with James Horner, Leonard Rosenman, Cliff Eidelman, and Dennis McCarthy providing very able support. The Television Series have employed many more composers with Dennis McCarthy and Jay Chattaway playing major roles, following in the footsteps of the father of Star Trek music Alexander Courage who started it all off in 1966. More...

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

French composer Alexandre Desplat is a good choice for a quirky film like The Curious Case of Benjamin Button where the main character ages backwards. Desplat rightly treats this as a magical fairytale but with an element of involving realism. The music is light and delicate in texture with a number of recurring themes, but never repetitive as they are always evolving. Harp and strings are quite prominent throughout but many other instruments have a say, including a saxophone which blends well with the film's source music of jazz tracks which are included on CD2 of the double album. More...

Elmer Berstein by Jeffrey Dane

Did you know that Elmer Bernstein is the only film composer to have been nominated for an oscar during each decade from the 1950s onward? Jeffrey Dane looks at the life and work of the composer with a particular focus on Cecil B. DeMille's "The Ten Commandments". More...

Christopher Young: Murder in the First

Christopher Young made his name with horror movies such as Hellraiser. While he is often thought of as a "horror composer" (composers can be type-cast like actors), the non-horror movies that he has scored have shown him to be an extremely versatile composer. One such movie is Murder in the First, where the composer has created a very moving score. More...

Around the World in 80 Days

We voyage around the world with Victor Young's oscar-winning score for Around The World in 80 Days. The movie was a lavish production with many locations and cameos from lots of stars. The music reflects those locations, and takes us on a grand adventure accompanied by the main theme which became a hit song for Bing Crosby. More...

2010: A Video Game Odyssey

There has always been a creative cross-over between film and video games, and game music now rivals film music in its inventiveness and importance. In our first article of 2010, we survey the vast world of video game music and point out some of the key milestones on its path to greatness. More...

Bruce Broughton's Young Sherlock Holmes

Though well-known as a TV composer, Bruce Broughton made a big splash in 1985 with two excellent film scores - Silverado and Young Sherlock Holmes. With its genre-twisting opportunities, Young Sherlock allowed the composer to deliver a top-notch score full of action and excitement. More...

Conan The Barbarian by Basil Poledouris

When it comes to Sword and Sorcery Fantasy films, Basil Poledouris set the standard with his score to Conan The Barbarian. This has the expected macho sword-wielding heroics in abundance, plus a touches of mysticism and some personal dramatic moments. More...

Franz Waxman by Jeffrey Dane

In the early days of Hollywood, many film scores were written by conservatory trained composers from Europe. They may have been tempted by the financial rewards of a career in film music, or in some cases they were looking to escape from the troubles brewing in 1930s Europe. Franz Waxman was one of those immigrants who became a very successful composer in his adopted country. Jeffrey Dane gives us an overview of this remarkable man with some very revealing insights. More...

Javier Navarrete - Pan's Labyrinth

2006 was a very exiting year for film soundtracks, and gave the award committees a lot of excellent material to choose from. Javier Navarrete's score for Pan's Labyrinth stood out as a deserving entry among many notable scores from well-established hollywood composers. The music of "Pan's Labyrinth" has the focus and simplicity of traditional story-telling, and therefore stands very well on its own, even away from the outstanding film for which it was created. Although all the music is based upon a simple melody, a lullaby in waltz tempo, the complete soundtrack is surprising varied and transports the listener into a child's fantasy world inhabited by strange creatures. More...

Bernard Herrmann - Taxi Driver

This week we revisit a favourite film score when we find it in an unusual format. "The Vinyl Classics" series has re-released a number of classic soundtracks in a format which looks exactly like a small but perfectly formed LP. Although black in colour and unlike any other CD, it will play on your CD player, and Taxi Driver is a soundtrack which needs to be revisited from time to time. It was composer Bernard Herrmann's last soundtrack but, among a whole career of superlative scores, this is one of his best and fully matches the performances we see on screen. In central position there is a jazz feel with a wonderful sax solo, which sums up the view of New York as witnessed by the Taxi Driver. More...

The Doctor Who Prom Concert

Two British institutions come together for the first time this month, with a special Doctor Who Prom Concert in the Royal Albert Hall which features a mix of Classical and Doctor Who Music. The music of composer Murray Gold will feature alongside that of Copland, Holst, Wagner, Prokofiev and Turnage. The show will be presented by Freema Agyeman (who plays Martha Jones in the series) with Daleks and Cybermen, and a specially filmed scene written by departing producer Russell T Davies, starring David Tennant as the Doctor. For more about the music from the series, see our reviews of the two Doctor Who CDs covering music from Series 1 and 2 and from Series 3.

Vic Mizzy (1916-2009)

We sadly report the passing of composer Vic Mizzy. Though most famous for the iconic themes to the TV programmes "The Addams Family" and "Green Acres", his career was much broader than this. His early career saw several chart hits as a song-writer, before he made the transition into television and film music. A common feature of his music seemed to characterise the man himself - full of good-natured humour. We have collected the best examples of his work on youtube. More...

Marc Shaiman - Musical Director at Oscars

Marc Shaiman (The Addams Family, City Slickers, Hairspray) will be Musical Director for next year's Oscars. He was also Musical Director at the awards 6 year's ago and has been nominated several times for his film music. More...

John Williams documentary

An historic documentary about the film music of John Williams has been posted on YouTube. Made during the making of "Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back" this features extracts from previous films plus comments from George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. The documentary is in 6 parts and you can start from the link marked "Star Wars Music by John Williams" on our John Williams page. The audio is poor quality at the very start but this improves.