Scala Radio may only be 4 years old but we already have a couple of annual traditions, and one of them is All Movies Monday, 12 hours of film scores every August bank holiday (I feel obliged to add ‘but not in Scotland’ to avoid the wrath of friends and family north of the border).
Every hour is themed according to a composer, genre, director or actor, and listeners vote for their Top 3. The most popular hour themes feature on the day and this year, familiar favourites such as John Williams, Hans Zimmer and Sci-Fi made it to the final list, and I was delighted to see some new additions from the public vote, namely hours devoted to Spies and Crime, James Horner and – thanks to various demands/pleas from Mark Kermode on his Scala show – Jerry Goldsmith.
Another new addition was a special countdown to open All Movies Monday. Scala Radio partnered up with the lovely team at Abbey Road to create an extra online poll: not only did listeners vote for their three favourite hour themes, but they were also invited to vote for their favourite film score recorded at the iconic studios. The prize for taking part and voting?: an exclusive tour at Abbey Road, no less.
Charles Nove presented the countdown of the Top 10 Film Scores recorded at Abbey Road – the first time the public has been able to vote for their favourite – and the winner was Raiders of the Lost Ark by John Williams. You might find that unsurprising, but when you see the longlist of options including Return of the Jedi, also by John Williams, the Lord of the Rings trilogy by Howard Shore, Black Panther by Ludwig Goransson, Eyes Wide Shut by Jocelyn Pook, Skyfall by Thomas Newman and Braveheart by James Horner, I’m sure you’ll also be hard-pressed to decide on just one favourite.
On a personal note, not only is it great fun selecting the music for All Movies Monday – the Scala music team kindly sits back and allows me to schedule the 12 hours’ worth of film scores – and it’s always a challenge to achieve the right balance between playing the hits and throwing in some never-played-before surprises.
I also produced some special programmes in the run-up to All Movies Monday as part of our partnership with Abbey Road, and a way of encouraging listeners to vote in the poll. Film Music at Abbey Road: Composer Spotlight was a 4-part series broadcasting on Sunday evenings in which top composers shared their memories of recording music at Abbey Road, explaining what it is about the studios and the people who work there that are so unique.
In episode 1, I had the pleasure of interviewing Daniel Pemberton to find out about the making of scores for the likes of King Arthur, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse, Amsterdam and – my personal favourite – Steve Jobs at Abbey Road. The double-Oscar winner Alexandre Desplat (The Shape of Water, The Imitation Game, The Queen, Fantastic Mr Fox, The King’s Speech, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt 1 & 2 – all recorded at Abbey Road) was the composer under the spotlight in episode 2, and despite a soul-crushingly temperamental wi-fi connection, managed to communicate over Zoom why he loves Abbey Road and how he enjoys collaborating with the team there.
Harry Gregson-Williams shared some brilliant memories in Episode 3, including recording Arthur Christmas in Studio 2 when none other than Sir Paul McCartney popped in. The final guest was James Newton Howard, whose first experience of walking into Abbey Road was back in the 1970s when he was in Elton John’s band, and he told us how he feels he’s done some of his best work at the studios on films such as Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.
If you’re reading this in September 2023, there’s still time to catch up on some of the episodes at Scala’s website or on the app – and if you’re interested in the making of film music, or simply finding out about the world-famous studios, I think you’ll enjoy them!
