DEMO RECORDINGS


EXAMPLE MANUSCRIPTS

Bianca
Dance of the Convicts
Padua - Nursery of Arts
Philomel (Song of the Fairies)
Julius Caesar - The Rebel Within
Chorale of Ages

My Score Catalogue on Score Exchange


Mark R. Bannister
Orchestral & Instrumental Composer
for Film, TV & Theatre


ROMEO & JULIET
"O Fortune, Fortune! All men call thee fickle;
If thou art fickle, what dost thou with him
That is renown'd for faith?"

The Polesden Lacey Open Air Theatre Company, PLOAT, for whom I had the good fortune of playing Borachio in their 2004 production of Much Ado About Nothing, put all their intelligence and emotion into Romeo and Juliet in July 2006, directed again this year by Ros Rokison.

Like many of Shakespeare's works, the play demands music that can reflect many complex and competing emotions, and requires a soundtrack that can follow the story's twists and turns.

This production contained many memorable performances, from the likes of Rob Lintott (Romeo), Mandie Black (Juliet), David Longes (Friar Lawrence), Peter Beresford (Benvolio) and David Young (Mercutio). Luckily for me, the cast also included many fine singers, but especially Kevin Wood's tenor and Alys Dreux's soprano.

I approached the music from a romantic orchestral angle, being light to reflect new love in the first half of the show, becoming increasingly dark and richer in sound as the situation becomes more and more dire. The examples here are from the second half. The musical climax arrived at the staged funeral of Juliet, which was placed after Act V Scene 2. Inspired by Mozart, I composed the funeral song, Lacrimosa Dies Illa, in the style of a requiem mass.

Hope in Exile  score  mp3
Juliet Sleeps  score  mp3
Lacrimosa Dies Illa  score  mp3
Civil Blood  score  mp3


ABOUT THE COMPOSER

All music on this website is Copyright © 1998-2017 Mark R. Bannister. All Rights Reserved.