Chris has finally completed scoring two major series – The 5 part BBC1 ‘Landmark’ series, “Empire” presented by Jeremy Paxman, which is scheduled for broadcast in October 2011, and “The Queen’s Palaces” presented by Fiona Bruce, a 3 part BBC1 series which begins on Monday 12 Sept 2011 at 9:00 pm. Chris has also been writing and producing songs for various artists.
Music composed by Chris recently appeared in several other BBC programmes, including:
How do You Solve a Problem Like Lolita?
Lost – The Mystery of Flight 447
Victoria: A Royal Love Story
The Private Life of an Easter Masterpiece
Gods & Monsters: Homer’s Odyssey
Treasures of the Anglo Saxons
Film 2010
Springwatch
Universal Publishing Production Music has licensed several of Chris’s works – some of the above placements resulted from this, as did recent use by The Disney Channel.
East West, creators of many of the world’s finest sample libraries chose a piece by Chris called “Prayer For the Dying” as a demo for their incredible Hollywood Strings library. You can listen to the track here.
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I have been passionate about music from a very young age, playing both classical piano and violin since I was seven years old. During my teens I spent hours at the piano working out how to play songs that I liked... whether they were Pop, Rock or R&B. Writing songs followed naturally, while at the same time I was discovering quality film music by masters such as John Williams and Jerry Goldsmith. This inspired me to learn to compose for film and television. In 1990, a top BBC producer/director, John B Hobbs, was impressed enough to give me a chance at scoring the series "Mulberry", starring Geraldine McEwan. The passion for scoring to picture grew stronger, and the journey continues...
Bloody good Chris!
Thank you John!
Just wanted to say how very much I enjoyed the music for Empire. Exactly the right blends of majesty, misery and poignancy. Stirring stuff which gave a real ‘quality’ feel to the production!
Thank you Steph. It’s always very flattering to receive comments like this, especially when the music usually goes unnoticed by the viewers or gets criticised for interfering with the dialogue! There is a 22 minute ‘montage’ of music from the series in the audio section where you can hear the main themes without Jeremy’s voice intruding, should you so desire!!
Chris:
Just a note of appreciation for your absolutely wonderful work- adding beauty to the lives of millions all these years.
Continued success and happiness to you, as I remain,
Respectfully yours, -Evan
Thank you for the extremely flattering message, Evangelos! It’s nice to feel appreciated for my musical contributions to these excellent BBC series.
Best Wishes,
~Chris
We have just had episode 2 of the Queen’s Palaces aired here in New Zealand. I was just captivated by the music throughout the episode. I’ve just finished listening to the montage on your audio page and thought how wonderful a CD of the music would be. While it certainly enhanced the magic of Windsor Castle in the programme, it seems a shame that that is the only place it can be heard as it stands on its own as beautiful music. Is it available to purchase anywhere?
Many thanks
Hi Mark, and thank you very much for those kind words. At the moment, the music is not commercially available but I am in the process of arranging/recording orchestral suites for most of the BBC series I have scored, including “The Queen’s Palaces”. Some of the recording takes place next month and the rest in early 2013, so I’m hoping to release an album in the first half of the new year, depending on my work schedule with forthcoming BBC programmes. I will keep you posted!
Beautiful music! You are a truly talented composer and I do not hesitate to say that you are now one of my favorites. The music from “The Queens Palaces” series was extraordinary. I cannot wait until a release of the BBC series music. Thank you for bringing some beauty in sound to this sometimes dreary world.
You’re too kind, Fred! Thank you for your appreciation & support. I will do my best to get the album ready by Spring 2013.
Chris the music at the intro to the queens palaces tv series holyroodhouse was absolutely amazing ..love it cannot wait to download/buy it in some capacity
Thank you for the very kind words, Paul. I have already recorded the “Queen’s Palaces” Suite with live orchestra and thanks to my incredible orchestrator Michael Doherty, the Holyrood theme you mention sounds better than I ever imagined it could. We have still to finish arranging the “Seven Ages of Britain” Suite which we will be recording this summer, and then we have to edit/assemble/mix/master everything so unfortunately the album may now not be completed until late 2013. Blame the BBC for keeping me busy!