Sound Of Cinema - 324. Mike Leigh's Music

SOUND OF CINEMA - 324. MIKE LEIGH'S MUSIC (320kbs-m4a/134mb/58mins)
BBC Radio 3 broadcast: 18th September 2021

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 with composers Andrew Dickson ('Naked', Mean Time' and 'High Hopes') and Gary Yershon ('Peterloo', 'Happy-Go-Lucky' and 'Another Year'). There's jazz from Marianne Jean-Baptiste ('Career Girls') and an excerpt from one of Rachel Portman's earliest scores ('Four Days in July'). And we hear Carl Davis's versions of Gilbert and Sullivan ('Topsy-Turvy').

Mike Leigh's work is celebrated by the BFI in October and November on the Southbank in London and at Home in Manchester, with the release of a new print of his 1993 classic 'Naked', and with the appearance of a new, revised version of 'Mike Leigh on Mike Leigh'.

Gary Yershon - Happy-Go-Lucky (2008) - Opening Credits [Varèse Sarabande]
Andrew Dickson - Naked (1993) - Opening Titles [Caldera]
Andrew Dickson - Meantime (1983) - End Credits [Caldera]
Alison Steadman - Nuts In May (1975) - Opening Titles (Improvised Song)
Demis Roussos - Abigail's Party (1977) - Forever And Ever [Union Square Music]
Andrew Dickson - High Hopes (1988) - Suite [Caldera]
Andrew Dickson - Vera Drake (2004) - Vera Drake [Caldera]
Arthur Sullivan - Topsy-Turvey (1999) - Resolution [Sony Classical]
W. S. Gilbert - Topsy-Turvey (1999) - The Sun Whose Rays Are All Ablaze (The Mikado) [Sony Classical]
Gary Yershon - Mr Turner (2014) - Mr Turner / The Fighting Temeraire [Varèse Sarabande]
Gary Yershon - Peterloo (2018) - In Praise Of The Weavers / To The Fields / Middleton [Amazon Studios]
Gary Yershon - Happy-Go-Lucky (2008) - Trampoline / Journey To Southend / Flamenco Class [Varèse Sarabande]
Gary Yershon - Another Year (2010) - Spring Into Summer / Summer Into Autumn / Into Winter [Varèse Sarabande]
Georges Delerue - Jules Et Jim (1962) - Opening Titles [Doxy Cinematic]
Marianne Jean-Baptiste - Career Girls (1997) - Geezer "B" [Tweed]
Rachel Portman - Four Days In July (1984) - End Titles