Philip Sheppard

Tag: TV

  • 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

  • Across the Milky way

    milky way

    Here’s a track I wrote formerly for a programme called ‘Inside the Milky Way’. I’m gradually reworking the soundtrack for this series into fully developed pieces and releasing them on Bandcamp. Click here for more!

    The image above is taken from a photo I took of a bowl my dear friend Josh Simpson made for me. He’s a total genius, and by coincidence has a strong space connection as his wife is Cmdr Cady Coleman, the astronaut!

  • God in America OST released

    My soundtrack for PBS’s forthcoming series God in America is out now on iTunes.

    We had the launch party for the series in New York the other day together with the lovely stars of the series Michael Emerson (of Lost fame) and Chris Sarandon (Whom I know from The Princess Bride).

    The series also stars Toby Jones – better known to some as Truman Capote and Dobby the house elf!

    Here’s a track from the show… I hope you like it

    [soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/5544791″ params=”show_comments=true&auto_play=false&color=3585be” width=”100%” height=”81″ ]

  • God in America PBS

    My soundtrack for the forthcoming PBS Frontline series God In America is now available. Click here! Please drop me a line if you’d like more details. Here’s a track from the show…

    [soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/5268417″ params=”show_comments=true&auto_play=false&color=3585be” width=”100%” height=”81″ ]

    Details from the press release for more info:

    From the debate over the building of an Islamic center near Ground Zero to the threat by a Florida church to burn copies of the Quran, religion continues to animate American political discourse just as it has since the country’s founding.

    Now, for the first time on television, God in America explores the tumultuous 400-year history of the intersection of religion and public life in America.

    A distinguished list of actors has been enlisted to portray the historical figures. Two-time Emmy winner Michael Emerson of Lost, delivers a powerful performance as Puritan leader John Winthrop; Oscar-nominated Chris Sarandon (The Princess Bride, Dog Day Afternoon) gives a poignant portrayal of Abraham Lincoln’s spiritual journey during the Civil War ; Olivier Award winner and Tony nominee Toby Jones (Frost/Nixon, Harry Potter , W) as George Whitefield, America’s first, national evangelical preacher; Keith David (Crash, Platoon) as abolitionist Frederick Douglass; and Tony Award winner Jefferson Mays (I Am My Own Wife) as the incarcerated Baptist minister Jeremiah Moore.

    Soundtrack by Philip Sheppard.

    A co-production of American Experience and Frontline, the six-hour series airs October 11-13 at 9 p.m. ET on PBS

  • Radiomovies roundup

    It’s been a busy couple of weeks…

    The Tillman Story has been getting the press we had hoped for in the USA – it’s coming to London too in the London International Film Festival. Please go and see it if you get a chance – it’s an important film (despite my soundtrack). He was an incredible man who was let down by his country. Possible soundtrack release on the cards too.

    Relish opened at the Tramshed performed by the National Youth Theatre who I absolutely adore. I first worked with them at the Beijing Olympics, and we hatched this project right after that event. It’s on this week too – nb lots of swearing – especially from a foul-mouthed Florence Nightingale!

    I’ve written and recorded a score for Relentless Lives of the Artists with UNKLE which premiered earlier this week. You can see it here if you like scary dangerous sports...

    Meanwhile I’m in post on a couple of films which I’d love to tell you about.. but that’ll have to wait.

    Here’s a new track called ‘Why I do what I do…’. If you like this kind of thing, then join my mailing list and I’ll send you free tunes![soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/5205635″ params=”show_comments=true&auto_play=false&color=3585be” width=”100%” height=”81″ ]

  • Steal away

    Steal away

    The traditional spiritual ‘Steal Away’ played by an orchestra of cellos, followed by a postlude – solo viola James Boyd. Hope you like it..! This is to be broadcast on the soundtrack to ‘God in America’ – October 10th, 11th, 12th 2010.

    [soundcloud url=”http://soundcloud.com/radiomovies/steal-away-postlude” params=”show_comments=true&auto_play=false&color=be8735″ width=”100%” height=”81″ ]

  • Steampunk strings

    Steampunk strings


    Here’s a sketch I’m working inspired by the incident at the Gare de l’Ouest. A touch of Victorian melodrama with a steampunk symphony orchestra…
    [soundcloud url=”http://soundcloud.com/radiomovies/murder-on-the-great-western” params=”show_comments=true&auto_play=false&color=a38036″ width=”100%” height=”81″ ]

  • Sergio Viera de Mello film premieres on HBO

    This Thursday, Sergio premieres on HBO.

    [soundcloud url=”http://soundcloud.com/radiomovies/always-just-sergio” params=”auto_play=false&player_type=artwork&color=ab741e” width=”425″ height=”425″ ]

    (Soundtrack by Philip Sheppard)

    From the film’s website:

    From his birth in Rio de Janeiro in 1948 to his untimely and tragic death in Baghdad in 2003, Sergio Vieira de Mello led an extraordinary life.

    Vieira de Mello joined the United Nations in 1969 and would devote his life to the organization and its ideals. Known to most as simply ‘Sergio’, Vieira de Mello worked in some of the world’s most volatile and distressed regions. His career spanned assignments in Lebanon, Peru, Bosnia, Sudan, Cambodia, Cyprus, Mozambique, East Timor and Iraq. Working mostly for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Sergio achieved some astonishing successes. These achievements were not easily won. Sergio grew up with the UN, developing several guiding principles along the way.

    When Sergio died he was serving as the United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary General to Iraq. He had managed to find a balance between pragmatism and idealism, principles and compromise. He was the UN’s ‘go to guy’, having spent decades refining his approach. In the words of his friend and colleague Dennis McNamara, Sergio was, “one of the bright stars, maybe the brightest. He was the master magician, mediator, manager, massager of egos.” This was the tragedy of August 19.

  • radiomovies DVD news

    It seems this is the week for DVD releases of some of my recent scores…

    Henry Mind of a Tyrant, Sacred Monsters and Moon Machines are all rolling out now!

    Henry Mind of a Tyrant is released on DVD in the UK:

    stark1Moon Machines finally gets a release on DVD in the US:

    mmThis series was fascinating to work on. The series focuses on the brains behind the mind-blowing technology that got man to the moon more than just the once. If you liked In the Shadow of the Moon (and I hope you did) then you might enjoy this too. My favourite sequences show how the software to run the craft was literally knitted by expert seamstresses using looms.

    Sacred Monsters is released worldwide on DVD by Sadlers Wells:

    cover1

    This show starred Akram Khan and Sylvie Guillem. I wrote the score and toured with the production as onstage cellist (with a great band) for the best part of a year and a half. I hope to post the soundtrack online soon as a free listen (as per my other Akram show; In-I).

  • Henry VIII CD?

    hen-sq

    I’ve had a lot of emails asking about the possible CD release of the Henry Mind of a Tyrant score on CD (and other media). It features Alamire, Fretwork, Dot Allison and Charles Mutter.

    We’re working on it fast… The more messages that come through, the more likely it is to happen so it’s looking good.

    Thanks everyone!

    PS. check back regularly in the Free Bits section as limited edition tracks will appear there often!

  • Henry Mind of a tyrant part 3

    ht-sqJust a reminder that Henry Mind of a tyrant part 3 – Lover – is on Channel 4 tonight at 9pm.

    I got a nice write up in the Radio Times today… very nice of them. I won’t quote it here.

    There’s a video over at C4 here:

    http://www.channel4.com/programmes/henry-viii-the-mind-of-a-tyrant/articles/video-interview-philip-sheppard

    Looking forward to the Henry exhibit at the British Library – hope to have a sneak preview this week as my music’s being used for the launch party.