Sound of Cinema

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 Stepfo...

Lalo Schifrin, composer of classic jazz-infused scores for Mission Impossible, Bullitt and Dirty Harry - Matthew Sweet looks back on his career and music. The programme features music from Cool Hand Luke, Enter the Dragon, The Fox, The Four Musketeers, Rush Hour 2, The Amityville Horror and Tango. Lalo Schifrin died in June 2025, and this programme was first broadcast in 2022.

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 i...

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, The Terminator and Gremlins. The Classic Score o...

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, perhaps most famously, 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 Ja...

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 Giacchi...

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 m...

From King Kong to Jason and the Argonauts to Wallace and Gromit, Matthew Sweet looks back at animating the inanimate and the role that music plays in stop motion animation. 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',...

With the arrival of the much anticipated sequel to Top Gun' with us, Matthew turns his thoughts to film music that explores our skyborne aspirations. As well as a cue from the new score for 'Top Gun Maverick' by Lorne Balfe and Hans Zimmer, the programme features music from 'Birdman', 'Carnival Row', ''Hook', 'Captain Marvel', 'Avatar', Danny Elfman's score for 'Dumbo', 'E.T - the Extra-Terrestria...

Canadian composer Lesley Barber talks to Matthew Sweet about her career in film and about writing music for films such as Manchester by the Sea and Mansfield Park.

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 'Int...

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...

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent is a new film, with music by Mark Isham, in which actor Nicolas Cage not only appears but plays the part of himself. Matthew offers this as an excuse to sift through the underscore to Cage's career and features music from films as varied as 'Adaptation', 'Rumble Fish', 'Snake Eyes', 'Face/Off', 'Matchstick Men', 'Ghost-Rider', 'The Croods', 'The Color Out Of...

Matthew meets Bruce Broughton, Hollywood composer of Silverado, The Young Sherlock Holmes and Lost in Space, for a look back at his career in film music.

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 C...

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 Return...

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 '...

'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...

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....

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...