Sound of Cinema

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 Bouleva...

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 legen...

Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings is one of contemporary cinema's milestone moments. Now, more than 20 years since it first appeared, Matthew Sweet devotes the whole of this week's programme to the series and to what is one of the most ambitious of all film scores - Howard Shore's remarkable ten-hour epic. Matthew is joined by the musicologist Doug Adams, who worked alongside the composer deco...

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 s...

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 Tif...

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 colla...

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 Par...

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'. Ima...

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 Jo...

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', 'Oc...

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 Graine...

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 w...

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 tren...

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 Bue...

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...

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...

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 Silves...

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 Reca...

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 clo...

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...

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,...

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 C...

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 inc...