Episode 87 - Angela’s Ashes

Though two composers had won Oscars for their scores on previous Alan Parker films, the director didn't reach out to them to write music for his first straight nonmusical drama in almost 10 years. Neither Giorgio Moroder or Michael Gore would have fit the mold for the music needed for "Angela's Ashes," based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning memoir by Frank McCourt. John Williams had read the book and agreed to do the score, opting to forgo any of the typical Irish instruments that he employed seven years earlier for "Far and Away." Host Jeff Commings examines the score's universal appeal through its two themes played on piano and strings, as well as some cues that were not used in the final film version. As this film was unspooling in theaters in late 1999, Williams was ready to conduct a six-part composition for a short film by Steven Spielberg about the American experience. Enjoy a portion of that composition on this episode as well as we move ahead to the new millennium!