Welcome to Part Two of Magnificent Movie Music with Rachel Franklin. In The Great Masterpieces, we narrow our focus to superb films whose music set new standards for film composition, and influenced every movie score that followed.

A terrifying shower scene, young children processing the evils of racism, lethal gun-toting apes on horseback, galactic heroes fighting with The Force – even these simple descriptions bring music to mind. Bernard Herrmann, Elmer Bernstein, Jerry Goldsmith, and John Williams are some of the greatest movie composers, whose works continue to grace screens large and small today. In the interests of time, we’ll examine just one score by each of these masters, discussing what elements make their music so exceptional and influential in the development of movie scoring techniques. Films discussed: Psycho, To Kill a Mockingbird, Planet of the Apes, 2001 A Space Odyssey and Star Wars.

Rachel Franklin

Over the past decade Rachel Franklin has developed a stellar reputation as a speaker about music. Renowned for her wit, scholarship and ability to illuminate even the most complex concert works, her gifts for communication have led to countless lecturing engagements in the region for major orchestras, concert organizations, colleges, adult education groups and many others. She has appeared frequently in such prestigious venues as the Smithsonian Institution, The Library of Congress, and the Peabody Institute, and has given over two dozen broadcasts about music for National Public Radio’s “Performance Today” program. She is the Adult Program lecturer for the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra, giving all their pre-concert lectures for every concert season and presenting six Symphony Study classes for their audiences each year. She is also a yearly presenter and performer for the Academy Art Museum in Easton, MD as well as many other venues in the Washington area.