Howard Shore at 80
& cinematic journeys

Jerry Goldsmith’s main title for Paul Verhoeven’s Basic Instinct opens the programme. Edith Bowman’s introduction highlights his mastery of musical suspense: a beguiling, richly evocative score that draws the listener in while creating unease.

The opening title music balances tension, vulnerability and dread. Its chilling, almost hypnotic quality helps establish the psychological world of the film.

The supplied performer credit ends at “Münchner”; the ensemble’s full name needs checking.

Shore’s unsettling writing matches Cronenberg’s story of identity, obsession and duality. The discussion places this score within one of cinema’s enduring director–composer partnerships, encompassing more than a dozen films.

The film opens with faded home movies from Nicholas’s childhood. Shore’s music is sparse and impressionistic, with echoes of Satie and Debussy: gently nostalgic and quietly tender before the story darkens.

The solo piano has a particularly poignant, lonely quality.

Karpman’s work ranges from intimate drama to major Marvel productions. The programme focuses on her sense of storytelling and character in the seven-part Netflix adaptation of John Steinbeck’s East of Eden, written and co-run by Zoe Kazan.

Florence Pugh plays Cathy Ames, whose perspective receives renewed attention in this adaptation. The discussion connects Karpman’s score with the story’s family conflict, generational trauma and struggle between good and evil.

The supplied notes describe an Apple television series about police dispatcher Ian Ridley, who receives a call apparently from his long-missing daughter, Maggie. Hope and desperation drive his efforts to reunite his family, whatever the consequences.

Bowman’s discussion emphasises Waller-Bridge’s balance of intimacy and dramatic tension: music that sounds gentle and minimal on the surface, yet carries considerable complexity and emotional depth.

“Last Seen”, its plot details and the cue title are retained from the supplied transcription; the series identification remains unconfirmed.

Robert Rossen’s American sports drama, starring Paul Newman, turns 65 in 2026. Kenyon Hopkins’ score brings together jazz and modern American classical influences, reflecting a period of change in Hollywood film music.

The 1946 British fantasy romance follows an RAF pilot who survives when a heavenly administrative error leaves him on Earth. He must then argue for his life in a celestial trial.

Allan Gray’s score balances the film’s humour, emotion and imaginative sweep. Paired with The Hustler, it offers another example of music that continues to enchant audiences decades after its creation.

Patrick Doyle brings elegance and lyricism to Robert Altman’s intricate country-house mystery. The discussion draws attention to the score’s period influences, particularly Ivor Novello, and to the restraint of the solo-piano theme.

Alan Silvestri takes over from Jerry Goldsmith for the sequel, creating an expansive symphonic action score. “Sandcastles” captures the adventurous spirit and sense of scale that Bowman identifies as hallmarks of his work.

These two 2001 films make a striking anniversary pairing: Doyle’s quiet elegance alongside Silvestri’s sweeping adventure.

“The Prophecy” represents Shore’s work on the first film of the trilogy, The Fellowship of the Ring.

The title music provides an affectionate conclusion to the birthday retrospective, showing the gentler side of Shore’s range.