The Genius of Film Music 1960-1980

North - Cleopatra Symphony*
Rota - The Godfather – A symphonic portrait*
Waxman - The Ride of the Cossacks
Herrmann - Psycho – A narrative for string orchestra*
Kaper - Mutiny on the Bounty*
Goldsmith - Star Trek – The New Enterprise*

John Mauceri conductor
London Philharmonic Orchestra

*Arranged by John Mauceri.

Welcome to Hollywood and the golden age of movie music, where the shift to ‘talkies’ and the arrival of hundreds of émigré musicians from the great orchestras of central Europe formed a perfect storm of creativity. As Alex Ross observed in The Rest Is Noise, an actress could hardly serve a cup of coffee in a mid-century movie ‘without having fifty strings swoop in to assist her.’ Waxman, Herrmann, North and Rota were no shrinking violets but as such they delivered some of the most emotional and involving orchestral music written for film.