The Battle of the Somme – a new musical score for the 1916 film by Laura Rossi
The Battle of the Somme was the first British Offensive of the First World War to which cameramen were given access in order to film the front-line action as it took place. The resulting 80-minute film, shot by G.H. Mailins and J.B. McDowell and released in Britain in 1916, made an enormous impression on the public and was seen by at least half the population. In recognition of the film’s importance as a documentary record, The Battle of the Somme has recently been inscribed on UNESCO’s Memory of the World register and re-released on DVD with a new score by Laura Rossi.
Music composed and orchestrated by Laura Rossi
Performed by the Philharmonia Orchestra
Conducted by Nic Raine
Produced by Laura Rossi
Recorded at All Saints Church, London
Engineered by Jonathan Allen
Mixed at Abbey Road Studios, London
Part 1 – 16:17
Part 2 – 11:00
Part 3 – 13:31
Part 4 – 10:35
Part 5 – 16:01
Buy from Virtuosa Records Mailorder Store.
Price £12.00
More excerpts from the score can be heard and 3 short excerpts of the film with Laura’s music at Live music to Silent Film – Somme
Reviews
‘You cannot deny the power of this score; Laura Rossi very adeptly creates an emotional picture through impressive orchestral writing which is at once colourful, honourable, celebratory and moving. The performance by the Philharmonia Orchestra, under Nic Raine, is pristine and the CD package hugely interesting as it features extracts from the diary of a stretcher-bearer from the 29th Division – Fred Ainge, Laura Rossi’s Great Uncle. The Battle of the Somme is a fine memorial of music, for a point in history that should never be forgotten.’
Michael Beek, Music from the Movies
‘And these troops in the mud grinned or stared at us to a new music score by Laura Rossi, brilliantly effective, played with typical dexterity and polish by the Philharmonia Orchestra under the conductor Nic Raine. Whatever piercing image you might pick — the troops’ cheerful waves, the mascot dog dead with its master, the trench channel’s mud and corpses — Rossi’s score and the IWM’s new print will help them to reverberate even further into the future.’
Geoff Brown, The Times
‘A work of emotional depth and beauty… Laura’s music, recorded by the Philharmonia Orchestra and conducted by Nic Raine, reflects the event’s heroism with superlative accuracy… A truly important piece’
Keith Ames, Musician Magazine
‘Haunting Score’
Geoffrey Macnab, Sight and Sound
‘Rossi supplies a rich, subtle and binding score that connects 2008 to 1916.’
Luke McKernan, The Bioscope
‘A thoughtful, elegiac work which wonderfully matched the images.’
Jerome Kuehl, History Today
‘a wonderful contemporary orchestral score soundtrack’
review from www.alt-flix.co.uk
The CD soundtrack is now available from Virtuosa Records. Click here. (or by clicking the ‘Add to Cart’ button above you’ll be taken to the Virtuosa Records PayPal Store)
The DVD will be available from the Imperial War Museum. Click here.