What is your favourite film music?

I should perhaps report that my particular choice of film music, 'West Side Story', made it to the top three, but in the popular online BBC vote, Bernstein's musical masterpiece was beaten by two other films on Friday afternoon. The top three positions show the breadth of the Sound Of Cinema vote – with Ennio Morricone’s The Good, The Bad And The Ugly missing out on the top spot, while Leonard Bernstein sits at number three with his score for West Side Story. Surprisingly, Bernard Hermann’s renowned soundtrack to Hitchcock’s Psycho - including the notoriously terrifying shower scene - misses out on the top 10 to his other classic Hitchcock soundtrack, Vertigo. Meanwhile, family favourites Mary Poppins and The Wizard Of Oz remain further down the yellow brick road, ranked at 13 and 15 respectively in the vote, beaten to the top 10 by Rogers and Hammerstein’s Sound Of Music, which sits at number nine.

BBC Radio 3 - Afternoon on 3 - Sound of Cinema Live Results Concert

In a chart show-style countdown at 2pm on Friday 27 September, the BBC Concert Orchestra, conducted by Robert Zeigler, played the top 20 Sound Of Cinema soundtracks live on BBC Radio 3 and to a studio audience, from the world-famous Air Studios in London. The vote was part of the BBC’s Sound Of Cinema, a season dedicated to exploring the composers, songs and film scores that form the soundtrack to the big screen. BBC audiences were invited to choose their favourite film soundtrack, voting from a shortlist compiled by a panel of BBC radio’s biggest movie experts and enthusiasts. The panel included BBC Radio 1’s Rhianna Dillon, BBC Radio 2’s Simon Mayo, BBC Radio 3’s Matthew Sweet, Francine Stock from BBC Radio 4, Mary Anne Hobbs from BBC Radio 6 Music, Tommy Sandhu from Asian Network and film music conductor Robert Ziegler. The BBC’s Sound Of Cinema Sound-track list was as follows:

1. Star Wars Main Theme (John Williams)

2. The Good, The Bad And The Ugly (Ennio Morricone, arr. David Arnold)

3. West Side Story (Leonard Bernstein)

4. Lawrence Of Arabia Main Theme (Maurice Jarre)

5. Vertigo (Bernard Herrmann)

6. The Third Man (Anton Karas arr. Cox)

7. Dark Knight Rises Suite (Hans Zimmer)

8. Grease (various)

9. Sound Of Music (Richard Rogers/Oscar Hammerstein II)

10. Apocalypse Now (Wagner)

11. Psycho (Bernard Herrmann)

12. Django Unchained (Bacalov/Morricone)

13. Mary Poppins (Sherman brothers)

14. Billy Elliot (Swan Lake music, Tchaikovsky)

15. The Wizard Of Oz (Harold Arlen, EY Harburg, Herbert Stothard)

16. There Will Be Blood (Jonny Greenwood)

17. Planet Of The Apes (Jerry Goldsmith)

18. 8 ½ ‘Otto e Mezzo’ (Nino Rota)

19. Sholay (RD Burman)

20. Bombay (AR Rahman)[/i]

BBC - Media Centre - Latest news - John Williams' Star Wars Theme voted nation's favourite film soundtrack

As something of a film buff, I would only add that I am not surprised that the Star Wars' music made it to number one. The science fiction epic had a huge impact on my generation! Vertigo was recently voted the greatest film of all time at the BFI, but is the music itself as good? As for The Good, The Bad And The Ugly, Sydney, I suppose that it is all ultimately a matter of taste!



BFI - The Top 50 Greatest Films of All Time

I should add that the music is described as "original music by Sato Yusuke".

Incidentally the actor in the black shirt (named simply "Juri") is said to be half Irish and half Nipponese.