Philip Sheppard

Tag: BBC

  • Human Universe Soundtrack

    Human Universe Soundtrack

    [soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/playlists/53995543″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /]Here’s a preview of my score for Human Universe featuring Professor Brian Cox, which debuts tonight on BBC2.

    We’re going to release the soundtrack on iTunes, Spotify and many other digital music platforms shortly.

    If you’d like to receive a one-off email when this is released, just leave us a short message below naming your favourite track.

    You’ll get a free download of one of my other film scores by way of thanks.

    And, you’ll really be helping us, as the most popular track will become the first track on the album.

  • A Boat to Nowhere

    A Boat to Nowhere

    Inspired by one of my friend Trey Ratcliff’s images, here’s ‘A Boat to Nowhere’ to be heard soon on the BBC ‘Human Universe’ soundtrack.

    This was recorded at Abbey Road in August. [soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/164243601″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /]

  • Human Universe

    Human Universe

    Trey Ratcliff - Death Valley - Mysterious Rocks - low-X2One of my tracks from the forthcoming series ‘Human Universe’ presented by Brian Cox, Featuring Evelyn Glennie with the ESO & Philip Sheppard. The image is another stunner by my dear friend Trey Ratcliff (who’s probably in the desert at Burning Man right now…).[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/164089022″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /]

  • Fantastic Mr Feynman

    richard-feynman

    This Sunday sees the broadcast of Chris Riley’s wonderful account of the life of one of the great thinkers & polymaths of our time, Richard Feynman. I’ve written the music for the film. Here’s are a couple of tracks from the score;[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/91542152″ params=”” width=” 100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /][soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/91544836″ params=”” width=” 100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

    Feynman brilliantly embraced the concept of playing – playing with ideas until they resolved into simple models of extraordinary concepts.

    [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyqleIxXTpw&feature=youtu.be]“But when it came time to do some research. I couldn’t get to work. I was a little tired; I was not interested; I couldn’t do research!… And then I thought to myself, “You know, what they think of you is so fantastic, it’s impossible to live up to it. You have no responsibility to live up to it!”… Then I had another thought; Physics disgusts me a little bit now, but I used to enjoy doing physics. Why did I enjoy it? I used to play with it. I used to do whatever I felt like doing – it didn’t have to do with whether it was important for the development of nuclear physics…. So I get this new attitude… I’m going to play with physics, whenever I want to, without worrying about any importance whatsoever. Withing a week I was in the cafeteria and some guy, fooling around, throws a plate in the air…. I had nothing to do, so I start to figure out the motion of the rotating plate… And before I knew it (it was a very short time) I was ‘playing’ – working, really – with the same old problem that I loved so much, that I had stopped working on when I went to Los Alamos; my thesis-type problems; all those old-fashioned wonderful things. It was effortless. It was easy to play with these things. It was like uncorking a bottle: Everything flowed out effortlessly…. There was no importance to what I was doing, but ultimately there was. The diagrams and the whole business that I got the Nobel Prize for came from that piddling around with the wobbling plate.” –

    Richard Feynman, excerpts from Surely You’re Joking, Mr Feynman

    feynman.jpg-large

  • Radiomovies news…

    I’m on BBC Radio 4’s Front Row tonight to talk about music & journeys.
    I’m with a total hero of mine – Adrian Utley from Portishead – both of us being interviewed by Mark Lawson.
    Here’s a free track for you if you’d like to download it – click through to Soundcloud & it’s free.[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/5680720″ iframe=”true” /]
    Last night saw the first ever collaboration between Impropera & Not so Silent Movies… at the wonderful Kings Place. We improvised a new score, and new operatic narrative to Nosferatu… well, it is nearly Halloween.
    Our next event is on Sunday afternoon. Click here for more details.
    Last month was great fun too – Jarvis Cocker, Dario Marianelli and John Etheridge joined our fabulous house band.
    Here’s Gramophone magazine’s blog about it.
    If you’d like to get more free tracks, or news of gigs – click here.

  • The shipping forecast goes to China…

    There’s a lovely article here about the shipping forecast, which features contributions from BBC Radio 4 friends Zeb Soanes and Kathy Clugston. Here’s a snippet;

    “It’s part of the fabric of this intangible thing called Britishness,” says Soanes.

    “Just like red telephone boxes, Wimbledon, the chimes of Big Ben, the smell of cut grass, scones and jam.”

    And it is probably not something that would make it onto air in every country of the world.

    “It is eccentric, though you only realise when people come from other countries – they are completely baffled by it,” says Clugston.

    They mention the fact that the forecast made its way into the Beijing Olympics closing ceremony within a piece I wrote called ‘This is London’.
    Here’s Zeb featured in that track along with Elspeth Hanson and the London Symphony Orchestra.[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/36930051″ iframe=”true” /]

  • Key Matters BBC Radio 4

    Image by Andrew Lee

    Today, 15:45 on BBC Radio 4 (FM only) UK

    In this second series of Key Matters, presenter Ivan Hewett explores the question of why certain musical keys have become associated with particular moods. For example, why is A major almost always employed by composers to write optimistic, even ecstatic music? And how has E minor become the key of choice for portraying menace and tragedy?

    Cellist and composer Philip Sheppard defines the qualities of E minor on Wednesday with music ranging from Brahms, Elgar and Shostakovich to The Clash.

    Produced in Birmingham by Rosie Boulton.

  • Little Ships on BBC

    Little Ships on BBC

    To mark the 70th anniversary of the ‘miracle of Dunkirk’, 50 of the surviving ‘little ships’ which made the original perilous cross-channel voyage returned to France. Dan Snow presents the programme on BBC2 and BBC1.
    Original music score by Philip Sheppard.
    [tweetmeme source= ‘@PhilipSheppard’ only_single=false]
    If you would like to download some of this soundtrack, join my mailing list here and I’ll send you the link.

    [soundcloud url=”http://soundcloud.com/radiomovies/sets/little-ships” params=”show_comments=true&auto_play=false&show_playcount=true&show_artwork=true&color=4d3d7a” width=”100%” height=”185″ ]
    Here’s the wonderful JB Priestly talking about the Little Ships

    Broadcasts: Thu 3 Jun 2010 21:30 BBC Two, Sat 5 Jun 2010 19:25 BBC Two, Mon 7 Jun 2010 00:20 BBC One.

  • Jeff Buckley Feature on BBC Radio 4

    The forthcoming Radio 4 programme Soul Music features Jeff Buckley’s amazing Meltdown performance of Dido’s Lament.
    [tweetmeme source= ‘@PhilipSheppard’ only_single=false]

    It’s on Tuesday 9th March at 1.30 pm. I’m afraid I’m on there too raving about the man!

    Here’s a previous article I wrote with a shaky bootleg recording too…

  • Henry Mind Of A Tyrant is out

    Fountains Abbey – CD Cover by Lucy Martin

    Finally… the HENRY MIND OF A TYRANT soundtrack to David Starkey’s Henry VIII series is out!

    It’s on UK iTunes now, and US iTunes here.
    Stumble It!
    It’ll get onto Spotify a little while later, followed by all the other major retailers. ‘O Dolce Nocte’, ‘Without Discord’ and ‘Adieu Madame’ are getting some nice attention. Thanks everyone for getting behind this.

    If you don’t want to buy it you can click below and stream the tracks from SoundCloud.[soundcloud url=”http://soundcloud.com/radiomovies/sets/henry-mind-of-a-tyrant” params=”show_comments=true&auto_play=false&show_playcount=true&show_artwork=true&color=ff7700″ width=”100%” height=”225″ ]
    I’ve teamed up with an extraordinary photographer for the artwork, Lucy Martin, and am working on a physical copy of the CD for release in the New Year.

    Thanks to everyone for spreading the word and getting RadioMovies CD label off the ground!

    Recording details:

    HENRY MIND OF A TYRANT

    ISRC CODE: GBLFP0921202

    Label: Radiomovies

    Composer: Philip Sheppard

    See the Anne Boleyn Files too.

    Follow me on Instagram for latest news.

  • This is London…

    Olympic Documentary London Calling – screens this week

    Jimmy and Leona on the bus

    I’ve just heard that this Wednesday (4th March 2009) sees the broadcast of the BBC Documentary ‘London Calling’, which, according to the BBC website;

    …follows the exploits of the Ceremonies Team as they prepare to mount the eight-minute show to mark the official handover of responsibility for the Olympic Games from Beijing to London…

    Sneak Peak here

    I was the music director for the handover, which involved writing a score for the London Symphony Orchestra (based on several well-known traditional British songs as well as The Shipping Forecast and the Greenwich Time Signal) as well as re-arranging the UK National Anthem (in order to make it a bit more lyrical).

    [vimeo http://vimeo.com/1592686]

    The show had to culminate in a well-known song, so, together with co-producer Steve Robson, I recorded Jimmy Page and Leona Lewis performing Whole Lotta Love by Led Zeppelin together with (the brilliant bass player) Guy Pratt and Geoff Dugmore (the most civilised, yet powerful drummer you’ll ever find). We laid down the backing at Olympic Studios with as near to an authentic setup as possible – even down to the risers for the drums and correct amps.

    Hearing that riff played by that man in that room.

    I Love My Job.

    Guy Pratt, Jimmy Page and Geoff Dugmore at Olympic Studios
    Guy Pratt, Jimmy Page and Geoff Dugmore at Olympic Studios http://radiomovies.wordpress.com

    I suspect that the programme will make fairly nailbiting viewing as there were major highs and lows throughout the long development process for everyone, culminating in the adrenalin rush of the show at the Bird’s Nest Stadium – but followed by the revelation that the direct feed of music and sound (which we’d spent months preparing) didn’t appear to find its way from the stadium to TV sets.

    For me there were several moments that still seem a little unreal –

    leona-2
    At the Bird's Nest Stadium before the show

    Firstly, being in Air studios conducting the London Symphony Orchestra, who were blissfully unaware throughout the recording session that the ‘James‘ I was on intercom with in the control room was a certain guitar player…
    Secondly, realising just how technically and musically accomplished Leona Lewis is as an artist. I’ve not worked with many singers in the pop world who can discuss coloratura technique, and operas by Purcell and Bellini. Actually, there was one… Jeff Buckley ! (Check this out…) But Leona can really sing with heart and soul, balanced with quite astounding technique.

    But also… Chris Hoy, Jamie Staff and Victoria Pendleton (plus medals) coming to my place for a drink before the cast party. I think I’ll tell my grandchildren about that…

    Here’s my version of the National Anthem performed by the London Symphony Orchestra and the singers from The National Youth Theatre.[Audio http://radiomovies.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/anthem-july-20th-1.mp3]

    Flag Rehearsal
    Flag Rehearsal

  • Playing with Jeff Buckley

    I’ve just found something on youtube that I’ve been searching for for years – literally…jeff1

    I’ve been so lucky to have been able to play the cello with some of the most amazing musicians, but by far the greatest was Jeff Buckley. Of course he’s shot up the charts recently through his beautiful cover of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah – surely the antithesis of X-Factor..?

    This is Henry Purcell’s Dido’s Lament from Dido and Æneas. But listen to this – Just. listen. to. it…

    [youtube=http://youtu.be/xSVCL262gmU]

    I mean, no-one can sing like that. No-one should be physically able to sing like that.

    Jeff Buckley singing, withpianist Catherine Edwards, violinist Ian Belton and me on cello, in Elvis Costello’s Meltdown Festival, July 1st 1995.

    I remember, this singer arrived really late, just before the show, dishevelled, all cheekbones, cool hair, black jeans and the biggest boots you’ve ever seen supporting a rake thin body.

    He apologised – got out his music – a kid’s exercise book with the lyrics of the songs written out in a crazy biro scrawl. – If a word was written high up the page, well then it meant it was a high note.

    At one point he asked me what country he was in… he was confused between Germany and the UK that day as I think he’d flown in with little sleep.

    And then he sang.

    As Elvis Costello remembers;

    When he started singing Dido’s Lament at the rehearsal, there were all these classical musicians who could not believe it. Here’s a guy shuffling up on-stage and singing a piece of music normally thought to be the property of certain types of specifically developed voice, and he’s just singing, not doing it like a party piece, but doing something with it.

    That’s an understatement… I remember the lights being pretty bright and the silhouette of his frame as he bent almost double to wrench every ounce of meaning from a song written 300 hundred years ago. Better than any classical musician I’ve ever heard.

    As he was singing, a photographer shuffled along past the feet of the audience in the front row at the Queen Elizabeth Hall to get a shot, unaware that they were for that second the most hated person in London, and got a good clout round the head for their troubles from someone who should remain nameless.

    I can’t remember anything straight after that, but Elvis Costello wrote in Mojo:

    My last memory of him was at the little party in the green room afterwards. There were all these people sitting round Jeff who’d never met before – Fretwork, the viol group, a classical pianist and some jazz player – all talking and laughing about music. He’d charmed everybody. I’d much rather remember that than anything.

    I just wish i could find a photo…

    Here’s an extract from a Radio 4 Documentary when I talked about it:

    [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSVCL262gmU]