Great Film Composers: The Music of the Movies

The first edition looks at the decades before the first “talking picture”, 1927’s The Jazz Singer, with Al Jolson in dubious blackface. Movies were silent — or were they? If you were watching a Chaplin comedy in a “fleapit”, perhaps. In a fancier picture house you might enjoy a live pianist ad-libbing to what he saw on screen, and, by 1915, DW Griffith’s blockbuster The Birth of a Nation was distributed with a full score to be played by a live orchestra.

A look at soundtracks of the 1930s, an era that saw many artists head to Hollywood and bring life to films such as The Adventures of Robin Hood, The Wizard of Oz and Jezebel.

A look at the 1940s, an era that saw many composers head to Hollywood to escape the Second World War, with Miklos Rozsa working on films with Billy Wilder and Alfred Hitchcock.

A look at film soundtracks of the 1950s, when the the rise of jazz music influenced the sound of movies inlcuding A Street Car Named Desire, Giant and Dial M for Murder.

Part one of two. A look at the soundtracks of the 1960s, including Henry Mancini's work on Breakfast at Tiffany's and Maurice Jarre's score for Lawrence of Arabia.

Part two of two. More of the soundtracks of the 1960s, featuring a look at the works of composers such as Quincy Jones and John Barry.

Part one of two. A look at soundtracks of the 1970s, when independent film-makers were causing a stir and paving the way for composers like Marvin Hamlisch and Nino Rota.

Part two of two. The work of Jerry Goldsmith, David Shire and John Williams in the 1970s, when they composed music for films including Alien, All the President's Men and Jaws.

Part one of two. Soundtracks of the 1980s, including John Williams' score for ET, Brad Fiedel's music for The Terminator and Wendy Carlos and Rachel Elkind's work on The Shining.

Part two of two. A look at the 1980s soundtracks by Alan Silvestri, Hans Zimmer, Michael Kamen and Maurice Jarre, including scores for The Abyss, Rain Man, Die Hard and Mad Max.

A look at soundtracks of the 1990s, like Carter Burwell's work with the Coen brothers, James Horner's work on Braveheart and Titanic, and Hans Zimmer's music for Thelma & Louise.

A look at the soundtracks of the 2000s and the composers that wrote the scores for blockbusters including Avatar, The Dark Knight and Gladiator.