Episodes
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Prehistoric Cinema
To mark the latest release in the Jurassic Park franchise, Jurassic World Rebirth, Matthew Sweet looks at music for films set in prehistoric times, or that feature dinosaurs in a modern setting.
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Walter Murch
Matthew Sweet talks to film editor, sound designer and director Walter Murch about working on Apocalypse Now, the Godfather films, The Conversation, Barton Fink and Return to Oz
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Mythical Creatures
Matthew Sweet is on the hunt for mythical creatures on the big screen. Tune in to escape reality, as we explore film music that transports you to fantastical worlds; from Middle-earth with Howard Shore’s beloved music for The Hobbit, to ancient Greece with Leonard Rosenthal's epic score for Clash...
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Unusual Instruments
Matthew Sweet looks at unusual instruments used in film scores such as the Cristal Baschet which is a favourite of Cliff Martinez in scores such as Drive. He considers the use of unusual technology such as the Blaster Beam used by Jerry Goldsmith in Star Trek: The Motion Picture. He traces the...
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The Telephone
Matthew Sweet dials in, with a playlist of film music inspired by a phone call. Hold the line for classics including Scream, The Conversation and Dial M for Murder. Also featuring Bear McCreary’s score for our featured new release, Drop. To listen on most smart speakers, just say: "Ask BBC Sounds...
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A.R. Rahman
Matthew Sweet is joined by multiple award-winning composer A.R. Rahman to explore his extraordinary career in film music, including his best-known score - Slumdog Millionaire. In an exclusive interview, we hear about his relationship with his father, R.K. Sekher who was also a film music…
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Joe Hisaishi
*** Broadcast as part 4 Extra's The Stories of Studio Ghibli season. Matthew Sweet celebrates the life and work of Studio Ghibli composer, Joe Hisaishi. Tune in for some of his most beloved music, with classic soundtracks including Spirited Away, My Neighbour Totoro and Howl’s Moving Castle. Joe...
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Hans Zimmer on Performance
This special episode of Sound of Cinema features an exclusive interview with the legendary film composer and record producer, Hans Zimmer. Hosted by Matthew Sweet, this programme dives into the growth of live film music, exploring how scores are reworked for the concert platform. With a catalogue...
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Wallace & Gromit and the Music of Aardman Animations
Evil penguins, chickens on the run and the mischievous sheep of Mossy Bottom Farm. Enter the unique musical world of Aardman Animations as Matthew Sweet celebrates the studio's iconic film scores with the release of Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl. Matthew visits the Aardman Animation…
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And the Beat Goes On: Percussion in Film
Matthew Sweet bangs the drum for the inventive ways films use percussion. There's Tan Dun's taiko masterclass of a score in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, the delicate and lyrical marimba in American Beauty, John Williams' ritualistic drums in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and Justin...
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100 years of Ron Goodwin
Matthew Sweet celebrates the centenary of legendary film composer Ron Goodwin - famous for his scores for Where Eagles Dare, 633 Squadron, The Battle of Britain and the Miss Marple films. However, Goodwin's scores are far more varied than military marches, with his music for Hitchcock's Frenzy…
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Bafta Film Awards 2025: Soundtrack Highlights
Matthew Sweet celebrates the film highlights of the year with a focus on the recently announced 2025 Bafta winners. He speaks exclusively with the winner of the Best Original Score - composer Daniel Blumberg, for the film The Brutalist - who tells Matthew about how he travelled to an Italian…
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Warsaw Concertos: Film Music from Poland
Matthew Sweet speaks to actor and director Jesse Eisenberg about using Chopin's music in his latest film "A Real Pain" - the story of two cousins touring Poland to honour their grandmother. Matthew also explores the wider impact Polish music and musicians have had on the world of film music…
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Wolf Hall and Period Music in Film
Matthew Sweet talks to composer Debbie Wiseman about using period music in films. For the TV series Wolf Hall, Debbie wrote original music in a period style, films like Farinelli and Death In Venice use classical music and for the series Bridgerton Kris Bowers created a hybrid of period-sounding...
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Maria Callas and Opera in Films
With the Maria Callas biopic starring Angelina Jolie in cinemas, Matthew Sweet speaks to Maria director Pablo Larrain. The talk about working with Angelina Jolie, being a frustrated musician himself and how Pablo uses music in his films. Pablo also reveals the secrets of bringing Maria Callas…
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Small but Mighty Soundtracks
Defying the convention of massive orchestral scores, Matthew Sweet looks at films that embrace the intimacy of chamber music including: the Syrian-inspired strings of Nainita Desai's For Sama score, The Third Man's iconic 1949 zither melody composed by Anton Karas, Clint Mansell's agonising…
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Alfred Hitchcock
From the driving energy of North By Northwest to the iconic string stabs of Psycho, music is an integral part of what makes Alfred Hitchcock's films stand out. Matthew Sweet finds out what makes them so good and looks at times when Hitchcock and his composers disagreed. To listen on most smart...
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A Celebration of German Film
As part of Radio 3's European Road Trip, Matthew Sweet explores some of the best soundtracks in German cinema. To listen on most smart speakers just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Sound of Cinema".
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The Vatican
What is the sound of Papal Rome? Matthew Sweet explores the music of films set in and influenced by the Vatican. From Morricone's melancholy oboe in The Mission to Hans Zimmer's massed choirs and menacing strings in Angels & Demons. Nino Rota's score for The Godfather Part III exquisitely...
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Comfort films
Presenter Matthew Sweet cosies up with the soundtracks of films that bring comfort to those dark, wintry nights… From the life-affirming joy of Studio Ghibli classic My Neighbour Totoro to the 80s cinema thrills of Raiders of the Lost Ark, he uncovers why film scores don't necessarily need to be...
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Christmas Film Scores
Hop on board the Polar Express! Matthew Sweet's unwrapping the greatest Christmas film soundtracks. We'll be walking in the air with Howard Blake's Snowman and Home Alone with John Williams. To listen on most smart speakers just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Sound of Cinema".
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Cinematic Presidents
In cinema, US presidents have been portrayed as heroes, villains, great leaders who unite the world and hopeless puppets who are the butt of jokes. In this episode, Matthew Sweet casts his vote on classic soundtracks to films including Nixon and Independence Day. Celebrating the 1991 blockbuster,...
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The Roman Empire
With the release of Gladiator II in cinemas, Matthew Sweet brings us the music of the Roman Empire - as told by Hollywood - from Alex North's scores for Spartacus and Cleopatra, Miklos Rozsa's epic music for the equally epic Quo Vadis? and Ben Hur. Matthew is also joined by composer and academic…
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Hollywood composer Marc Shaiman
Sleepless In Seattle, When Harry Met Sally, The Addams Family, Hairspray, Mary Poppins Returns, Marc Shaiman's music has been a part of our lives for over three decades. One time king of the Romcom score, master arranger and songwriter, Marc talks to Matthew Sweet about his career and introduces...
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Westerns
Matthew Sweet saddles up to explore the most iconic soundtracks of the Wild West. Traverse the sweeping landscape with music from Western blockbusters, including The Magnificent Seven and A Fistful of Dollars. Featuring the award-winning score from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, in…
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Cinema Paradiso and the Long Hot Summer
Matthew Sweet packs his bags in search of the films that bring back memories of summer - with music from the hot sun of Roman Holiday and Jean de Florette, the childhood adventures of Swallows and Amazons and UP and the nostalgia of Cinema Paradiso.
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M. Night Shyamalan
This special episode of Sound of Cinema features an exclusive interview with the visionary filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan, known for his masterful blend of suspense, psychological drama, and supernatural elements in films like The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, Signs, and Split. His collaboration with...
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Kiefer Sutherland on Donald Sutherland
With a career spanning 60 years and over 200 films, the late Donald Sutherland was a true acting legend. His son, actor Kiefer Sutherland - best known for his starring roles in 1987's The Lost Boys plus Designated Survivor and 24 - joins Matthew Sweet to look back at his father's life through the...
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It's all lies! Music for films of deceit and fakery...or is it?
With the release of Fly Me To The Moon - in which Scarlett Johansson wants to fake the moon landing - Matthew Sweet uncovers the films in which fakery is the name of the game. From characters stuck in artificial worlds - The Truman Show and The Matrix - to films that lead the audience to question...
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Composer of The Watched - Abel Korzeniowski
Matthew Sweet in conversation with Abel Korzeniowski, the composer of Ishana Night Shyamalan's supernatural horror film The Watched. We'll hear about writing music for 'Emily', the 2022 biopic about Emily Brontë, and the film that won Colin Firth the Best Actor award at the 2009 Venice Film...
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First Women
Matthew Sweet showcases film scores about female firsts and cinematic examples of outstanding achievements by women, and he chats to composer Amelia Warner about her score for the new film Young Woman and the Sea recalling the story of Gertrude Ederle, the first woman to swim the English Channel....
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Cannes Film Festival
Cannes is one of the most prestigious film festivals in the world. In this week’s Sound of Cinema, Matthew Sweet catches up with journalist and film critic Agnes Poirier who is in Cannes to put us at the heart of the festival. She tells of encounters with Jack Nicholson on his way home from a…
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Planet of the Apes
With the release of Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, Matthew Sweet hails cinema's greatest apes. From King Kong to Gorillas In The Mist, apes have proven a constant lure throughout the history of film and in today's programme we'll hear the soundtracks for the very best of them. And Matthew…
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The Ex Factor
From the new Zendaya film "Challengers", to "Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind", every breakup brings its own challenges. Matthew Sweet brings the ice cream and a shoulder to cry on for the films that tackle the subject of exes head on.
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Real Lives and the musical world of cinema biopics
With the release of the biopic about Amy Winehouse, Back to Black, Matthew Sweet explores the stories of lives that have been told on the silver screen.
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Denis Villeneuve
The Sci-fi sequel Dune 2 is one of the most hotly awaited films of the decade. As part of the build-up to tomorrow's Sound of Cinema Day, which anticipates the Academy Awards celebrations, Matthew Sweet talks music with Dune's extraordinary and brilliant French-Canadian director, Denis Villeneuve.
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Stephen Warbeck
Matthew Sweet in conversation with the Oscar-winning composer of Shakespeare in Love, Stephen Warbeck.
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Kris Bowers
The American composer of TV's Bridgerton, The Green Book, Chevalier and King Richard - Kris Bowers, joins Matthew Sweet to talk about his music for the remake of The Color Purple and Origin in a look back on his screen career to date. The programme was first broadcast in January 2024. To listen…
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Survival films
Matthew Sweet musters all his resourcefulness to bring us the music of the best modern survival films as Jodie Comer tackles rising water and raising a child in The End We Start From. Matthew is joined by the composer of the film's score, Anna Meredith, who talks about her experiences of working…
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Spielberg and Williams
Matthew Sweet celebrates 50 years of one of cinema's greatest collaborations - that of director Steven Spielberg and his composer of choice, John Williams. With music from E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Indiana Jones, Jaws, Schindler's List and Jurassic Park. Matthew gives us a close encounter with...
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Laura Karpman
Laura Karpman is best known for her work composing the soundtracks for The Marvels, and the Disney+ series Ms Marvel and What If… She joins Matthew Sweet from her studio in LA overlooking the Pacific and talks about studying under Milton Babbitt and Nadia Boulanger, scoring for documentaries,...
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Hammer
This weekend sees the relaunch of Hammer Studios and the release of a new telling of the Dr Jekyllstory, starring Eddie Izzard. Matthew looks back on Hammer’s contribution to cinema and to some of the often inventive and even experimental composers who have created music for the studios since its...
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First Dates
What was your experience of a first date at the cinema? Presumably you arrived together - but did you leave separately? Matthew Sweet listens to listeners' experiences of their movie first-dates and - rather appropriately - plays great, thrilling and tragic music from the films.
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George Fenton
Matthew Sweet's guest this week is the composer George Fenton. His breakthrough came with Richard Attenborough's biopic Gandhi, since then he's scored over 100 films including Cry Freedom, Shadowlands, The Madness of King George, Groundhog Day and The Wind that Shakes The Barley. He speaks to...
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Family Films
Of all the genre titles the 'family film' is perhaps the trickiest to define. Its intention, clearly, is to entertain and appeal to the whole family - togetherness. But what are the specific ingredients that make it so? Nevertheless, cinema goers seem to have a good sense of what an advertised...
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Zoomorphia
From the Life of Pi to The Jungle Book; His Dark Materials to Wolverine, Matthew Sweet features film music shaped by the fantastical idea of humans as animals. We'll hear of spirit animals, cursed princes, what happens when your parents are turned into pigs (Spirited Away) or your mum becomes a...
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Think Pink
Following the release of Greta Gerwig's Barbie, Matthew Sweet considers cinema's fascination with the colour pink. Many films adopt a colour code to establish the mood and tone of the movie. The colour pink in particular has associations with love, innocence, femininity, charm and fun. In this...
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Destroyer of Worlds
With the appearance of the eagerly anticipated new Christopher Nolan biopic about Oppenheimer, Matthew Sweet turns his attention to film scores bent on destruction, including Ludwig Goransson's score for the new film. The programme includes music from The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, When...
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Stunt Films
With the release of the new Tom Cruise Mission: Impossible film - Dead Reckoning Part 1 - Matthew Sweet focuses on stunt scenes in movies. Carefully planned and choreographed stunts have been a part of cinematic entertainment since the start. Matthew offers a selection of music to match the…
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The Elements
The film Elemental is released this week with a score by Thomas Newman. Matthew looks at how the elements, earth, air, fire and water have been portrayed in movie soundtracks.
About this show
Your weekly roundup of the finest film scores and movie music with Edith Bowman.
Hosted by
BBC Radio 3
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