Soundtracking with Edith Bowman

You can't describe yourself as a podcast about film music without talking to the occasional composer. And we've be joined by a fair few of the best - from Clint Mansell, Justin Hurwitz and Nicholas Brittell to Geoff Barrow, Ben Salisbury and Philip Selway. Without exception, each has cast the projects they've been involved with in a new light and given us exclusive insights into the subtleties of their craft. So we're delighted to finally bring you Daniel Pemberton, in a piece recorded a few months back in his London studio. Daniel is hot property right now. Having worked with Ridley Scott, Guy Ritchie, Danny Boyle and Aaron Sorkin, he's now provided the score for Ocean's 8, which is out around the globe already but in the UK on Monday 18th June. We'll hear examples of his compositions for all these world-class directors throughout the conversation, as well as some cracking stories.

As if we needed an excuse to invite Ron Howard back to Soundtracking, the fact he's directed the latest installment in the Star Wars franchise is a pretty good one. Solo: A Stars Wars Story speaks for itself, telling the backstory of one of cinema's most lovable rogues. And as with all the movies, music plays an integral part - as central to the experience as the narrative, characterisation and special effects. In this instance, John Powell provided a score which takes things in a new sonic direction. Nevertheless, he had the blessing of John Williams, who also composed a brand new theme for Han ...

We all know Hugh Grant, from his floppy haired romantic performances, dad dancing down the stairs at No 10 Downing Street and most recently high kicking his was in pink prison Lycra in Paddington 2.   There is much more than meets the eye with Hugh, particularly when it comes to music and specifically in projects he’s involved in as a producer. He very clearly appreciates and understands the power of music, both for him as an actor but also in how it should be carefully crafted into a film. Currently starring in the BBC Drama A Very English Scandal as the British Liberal Party leader, Jeremy Thorpe, who in 1979 was accused of the attempted murder of his gay ex-lover. It is directed by the award winning Stephen Frears and written by the fabulous Russell T Davis who brought on board his regular collaborator, composer Murray Gold. In this episode you will hear Murrays work for the show along with some familiar pieces of music from Hughs back catalogue. Not least the memorable work done by Badly Drawn Boy for About A Boy.

Our latest guest is a giant of British comedy, whose unerring originality, wit and satirical brilliance have long since earned him global recognition. Armando Iannucci's CV is enviable, with credits including The Day Today, Alan Partridge, The Thick Of It, In The Loop and Veep (for which he won two Emmys). His latest project is The Death Of Stalin, a so-called comedy of terrors about the power struggles which followed the passing of the eponymous dictator in 1953. The film is available on home entertainment formats now, and we strongly recommend you check it out if you haven't already. Musically, The Death Of Stalin allowed Armando to indulge his passion for classical music, with the likes of Shostakovich providing sonic inspiration for Christopher Willis's excellent score. You'll hear plenty of extracts from that, as well as the actual recording of a Mozart piano concerto that may very well have been a matter of life and death.

Our latest episode of Soundtracking is a celebration of all things 007, following an event recorded at the London Film Museum with David Arnold and Don Black.  The pair have Bond in their blood. Don has provided lyrics for some of the most memorable title tunes, while David has scored 5 of the movies - including The World Is Not Enough, Tomorrow Never Dies and Casino Royale. You'll hear plenty of examples of their work, alongside that of the great John Barry, whose themes and score is so inextricably linked to the success of the franchise.   We should say that due to circumstances beyond our control, the sound is pretty poor in places, so many apologies for that. But the music, of course, is of the very highest quality ... 

In what is surely one of the biggest cinematic events of all time, let alone the year, Avengers: Infinity War hit screens around the globe last week, breaking records galore and garnering widespread critical acclaim to boot. So it's with great excitement that we welcome the directors Anthony and Joe Russo to Soundtracking. Boasting a stellar ensemble cast, Infinity War sees numerous characters from the Marvel Universe join forces to prevent intergalactic despot Thanos from destroying, well, everything.  Don't worry, though, there are no further spoilers here, not least because Edith was only allowed to see 20 minutes of the film at the time of recording the interview.  What we do have for you is Anthony and Joe talking about Alan Silvestri's score, their love of needle-drop, Henry Jackman's work on Captain America, the genius that is Mark Mothersbaugh, David Schwartz's screwball approach to the music in Arrested Development and reflections upon Community, which saw the brothers collaborate with Ludwig Göransson. 

Without wishing to sound sycophantic, it's hard to imagine a more humble talent that Garth Jennings. During this episode, he and Edith discuss many of his extraordinary creative endeavours - though on hearing the conversation you'd be forgiven for thinking he'd had next to nothing to do with any of them at all.  Don't be fooled.  Having founded production company Hammer & Tongs with Dominic Leung and Nick Goldsmith in 1993, Garth has been instrumental in a string of iconic music videos and also written and directed Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy, Son of Rambow and most recently Sing.  Oh yes, he's penned a children's book too.  Expect music from composer Joby Talbot, Blur, Fatboy Slim, Betty Wright and more.

It's been a while since we had any acting talent on the show, so it gives us great pleasure to welcome the wonderful John Simm to Soundtracking. John has appeared in many great productions on stage and screen. He is perhaps best known for his roles in Life on Mars as Sam Tyler and Doctor Who as The Master, with recent appearances in Collateral on the BBC and Trauma on ITV. His films include Wonderland, Human Traffic, and 24 Hour Party People - and we'll obviously be featuring tracks from all of these projects throughout the conversation. He's also an accomplished musician, with plenty more about his exploits on that front featuring too. 

It's another very special Soundtracking this week as we take you to the Everyman Cinema in Hampstead, where director Alex Garland and his composers Geoff Barrow and Ben Salisbury came together for a Q&A following an exclusive screening of Annihilation. As you may know, the film hasn't had a cinematic release outside the US. You can, however, watch Annihilation on Netflix, and it's well worth your time if you haven't seen it already. Unusually for us, there a couple of spoilers in this episode too, which is all the more reason to check the movie out. Before Alex joined everyone on stage, Edith caught up with Geoff and Ben in the bar to discuss their other work, specifically on Ex Machina and Ben Wheatley's Free Fire. Their first score together was for Dredd. At least, it would have been had the studio not decided it wasn't suitable for the film. Thankfully, they shared their efforts anyway under the guise of Drokk. And it's with a spot of Drokk that we began - which basically means you're in for a real treat.

This week's episode has been a long-time coming. We reckon Edith spoke to director Todd Haynes just before Christmas - after his latest film Wonderstruck received a 3 minute standing ovation at last year's Cannes film festival - and we've been desperate to share our chat ever since. Well, the moment has come, as Wonderstruck finally gets an official UK release - though you may already have been lucky enough to see it on Amazon.  Based on the bestselling novel by Brian Selznick, who also wrote the screenplay, Wonderstruck intertwines two stories set 50 years apart about children Rose and Ben, both of whom are on quests to find their parents. In a novel twist, Rose's story plays out as a black and white silent movie, which presented various challenges for composer Carter Burwell.  As well of plenty of examples of Carter's score, you'll also hear music from Thom Yorke, David Bowie, Bob Dylan, Billie Holiday and more.