Sound of Cinema BBC Radio 3

Matthew Sweet in conversation with the Oscar-winning composer of Shakespeare in Love, Stephen Warbeck.

Matthew Sweet celebrates 50 years of one of cinema's greatest collaborations - that of director Steven Spielberg and his composer of choice, John Williams.
With music from E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, Indiana Jones, Jaws, Schindler's List and Jurassic Park. Matthew gives us a close encounter with the music for Close Encounters Of The Third Kind as he analyses the scene of humanity's first contact with the alien mothership.

Laura Karpman is best known for her work composing the soundtracks for The Marvels, and the Disney+ series Ms Marvel and What If…
She joins Matthew Sweet from her studio in LA overlooking the Pacific and talks about studying under Milton Babbitt and Nadia Boulanger, scoring for documentaries, attending the Last Night of the Proms and the influence of Benjamin Britten on her score for The Marvels.

This weekend sees the relaunch of Hammer Studios and the release of a new telling of the Dr Jekyllstory, starring Eddie Izzard. Matthew looks back on Hammer’s contribution to cinema and to some of the often inventive and even experimental composers who have created music for the studios since its inception in 1934. Hammer Horror - the vibrantly colourful and distinctive engagements with terror that starred the likes of Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. Films that brought us recurring tales of The Mummy, Dracula and Frankenstein; and music from the likes of James Bernard. But there was so much more to Hammer. The programme includes cues from Doreen Carwithen for Robin Hood, Tristan Carey’s early electronic experiments for Quatermass, Franz Reizenstein’s parody score for The Mummy, Harry Robinson’s musical evocation of Carmilla, and Mario Nascimbene’s pioneering work for One Million Years BC. Plus, of course, classic Hammer moments from James Bernard. And Matthew also talks to composer Blair Mowatt about his score for the new Dr Jekyll film.

What was your experience of a first date at the cinema? Presumably you arrived together - but did you leave separately? Matthew Sweet listens to listeners' experiences of their movie first-dates and - rather appropriately - plays great, thrilling and tragic music from the films.

Matthew Sweet's guest this week is the composer George Fenton. His breakthrough came with Richard Attenborough's biopic Gandhi, since then he's scored over 100 films including Cry Freedom, Shadowlands, The Madness of King George, Groundhog Day and The Wind that Shakes The Barley. He speaks to Matthew about his rich and varied career as well as his assocations with directors such as Richard Attenborough, Stephen Frears, Nora Ephron - and Ken Loach, whose latest film, The Old Oak, is released his week.