Sound of Cinema

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 L...

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", "M*A*S*H", "Soldier Blue"; "Ryan's Daughter", "Kelly's Heroes", "A Man Called Horse", "Chisum"; "The Music Lovers", "Valerie and Her W...

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...

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 t...

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'...

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...

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 ha...

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 Classi...

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 Fest...

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 Bea...

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,...

Matthew Sweet with a programme of film music inspired by the life and times of Christ.

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...

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 mu...

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 "C...

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 Th...

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 m...

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";...

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,...