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Strand Films, courtesy of the
British Film Institute |
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“That close-up of a kiss is something entirely
new on the screen…It must not reproduce a stale reflex in your musical
mind; you must thrill to the osculation and mentally wolf-whistle with
the more embarrassed section of the great cinema public.”
William Alwyn’s good fortune was to join the British film industry near
the close of the 1930s, just before it ripened in the hothouse of the
Second World War. He became one of Britain’s most prolific composers for
the screen: many of his 70 features are acknowledged classics, among
them Desert Victory, Odd Man Out, The History of Mr Polly and
The Fallen Idol. He was his own man, a Romantic, with little time for atonality or
serialism which he considered a barrier to his communication with the
public. He devised his own alternative to twelve-tone serialism and used
it in his Third Symphony (1955-6) and his score for The Black Tent
(1956). Dissonance was a different matter, and he relished it for scenes
of threat, peril, nightmare or terror, or simply to produce a tension.
After the war, Alwyn’s reputation was
high as both a film and concert composer. Alone with Vaughan Williams he
was granted the distinction of a separate title credit; columnists
mentioned him alongside Bliss, Bax and Walton. As the reputation of the
British film industry declined in the 1950s, so musical snobbery against
those who were its leading lights became unpleasantly raw. In recent
years, however, with sensitive performances of his film and concert
music available on CD, this most appealing of composers has enjoyed
something of a renaissance.
Ian Johnson’s evaluation of Alwyn’s film music places his achievement in
the context of wider movements within the film industry. Detailed film-
and discographies will prove invaluable for enthusiasts of British music
of the 20th century and the history of the British film industry.
Add this title to your shopping cart
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11 illustrations
Musical examples
throughout
360 pages
Binding: hardback
ISBN: 1843831597
Publication date: 25/Aug/2005
Price: $47.95 / Ł25.00
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Picture captions
Alwyn in 1960, a
study by Wolfgang Suschitzky. The two were composer and cameraman on
several documentaries.
Alwyn’s first film score: the
opening page of The Future’s in the Air (1937).
A still from Our Country (1945),
described by Alwyn as “most lovely of wartime documentaries”. It was
directed by John
Eldridge and featured the words of Dylan Thomas.
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