This week on “Picture Perfect,” we’ll have an hour of English documentary scores.
In England, unlike in the United States, there is no delineation between “film composer” and “concert composer.” What is often regarded here as “hack work,” there is seen as just another aspect of what it means to be a working artist. There is no disgrace in a composer earning a living, and some of the nation’s greatest musicians – including those in the employ of the Royal Family – have contributed finely-crafted works to its body of cinema.
We’ll hear music by Ralph Vaughan Williams, from “The People’s Land,” Benjamin Britten, from “The King’s Stamp,” William Alwyn, from “The Green Girdle,” and Sir Arthur Bliss, from “The Royal Palaces of Britain.” All four films are patriotic utterances on distinctly English themes.
You may not have seen any of the movies, but the music is beautiful. I hope you’ll join me for selections from English documentaries, this Friday evening at 6 ET, with a repeat Saturday morning at 6; or that you’ll listen to it later, at your convenience, as a webcast, at http://www.wwfm.org.
The complete documentary short, “The Green Girdle,” is posted on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWQDeD4J0As
As is “The King’s Stamp”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gSsJHlLFg4
Thank you, Internet!
PHOTO: It’s not about what you think