On June 22, 2015, the film music community lost one of its legends when two-time Academy Award-winning composer James Horner died in a tragic accident when his S-312 Tucano MK1 turboprop crashed 100 miles northwest of Los Angeles. He was sixty-one years old.
Throughout the past few years, we here at CINEMATIC SOUND RADIO have produced a plethora of programming dedicated to Horner’s music and we thought it was best to share all of those programs here in one honourary post for you to rediscover again. And if you have never listened to ANY of these shows, then they are new to you.
Before we begin, we would first like for you to listen to a short but touching musical tribute to James Horner by CINEMATIC SOUND RADIO composer David Coscina. After Horner’s passing, Coscina wrote this small piece to be used during our various Horner tribute programs.
The first program produced after Horner’s passing was a four-hour tribute where host Erik Woods shared his love of Horner’s music by presenting 16 of his favourite Horner scores including STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN, BRAINSTORM, FIELD OF DREAMS, BRAVEHEART, THE MASK OF ZORRO and many more. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE SHOW
Soon after that Jason Drury’s brilliant 3-part, James Horner radio documentary premiered. Written, produced, recorded and edited by Jason Drury, and narrated by Amanda Barrow, the show featured interviews with such guests as Nick Redman, Chris Malone, Jason Needs, Jeff Bond, Robert Daniels, Dirk Wickenden, Conrad Pope, Erik Woods, Steve Bramson, James Semple, Chris Malone, Jeff Bond, David Hocquet, Steve Bramson and Tim Greiving. The show also featured excerpts from BAFTA’s interview with James Horner as part of their Conversations With Screen Composers Series at the Royal Albert Hall. CLICK HERE TO BEGIN YOUR JOURNEY.
A year later, Erik Woods produced another four-hour tribute to Horner’s music this time presenting some lesser-known Horner scores including THE JOURNEY OF NATTY GANN, DAD, DEEP IMPACT, BEYOND BORDERS, BATTLE BEYOND THE STARS, UNCOMMON VALOR, VIBES, AN AMERICAN TAIL: FIEVEL GOES WEST, ALL THE KING’S MEN, PAS DE DEUX, SOUTHPAW, THE 33. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN.
Our next James Horner special was dedicated to re-recorded James Horner music. The two-hour program featured performances by The City of Prague Philharmonic, The Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, The Boston Pops Orchestra, The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. Solo performers include flautist Sara Andon, pianist Jean-Michel Bernard, pianist Dan Redfeld, and violinist Mari Samuelsen. Conductors include Nic Raine, John Scott, John Williams, Erich Kunzel, David Arnold, Joel McNeely and John Debney. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE SHOW.
Our last James Horner special was produced in 2020. This program showcased Horner’s artistry in crafting music for the end credits of a film, which offered Horner the opportunity to write pure music that could be enjoyed without visuals; stand-alone compositions that developed the thematic and motivic material introduced in the score, but free of any narrative, dramatic tone or tempo obligations from their cinematic counterpart.
The show featured music from A BEAUTIFUL MIND, CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER, GLORY, WHERE THE RIVER RUNS BLACK, RANSOM, ONCE UPON A FOREST, LIVING IN THE AGE OF AIRPLANES and many more. LISTEN TO THE SHOW HERE.
Also, feel free to listen to additional programming here at CINEMATIC SOUND RADIO that has featured the wonderful music of James Horner. CLICK HERE FOR A LIST OF PROGRAMS.
Please enjoy the programming and we here at CINEMATIC SOUND RADIO would love to read your thoughts about James Horner in the comments section below. All of these shows are also available on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher or wherever great podcasts are found.
