Recommendations for MUSIC in drama

The addition of a soundtrack to your drama will greatly increase its impact, but there are some things you must consider when choosing what music to use. Most music recordings are copyright and the artist's rights must be respected. Apply to your national or regional recording industry regulators (such as the Australasian Performing Rights Association, www.apra.com.au) for special clearance of publishing and recording rights.

Topical Music Index

Compiled by Narelle Worboys

non-copyrighted

Movie soundtracks are very thematic, so it's easy to find a mood piece to enhance your drama without the forte and pianissimo interruptions that classical music tends to include. Classical music is a fantastic support to dramatic interpretation, however, but it is a vast genre and if you don't have your own music library, it can be difficult to know where to start looking. I have created this index as a means to simplify this process for you. I am continually adding to the list as I find time to catalogue what I hear. Where possible, I have suggested a specific album.

"Perfume" is produced by ABC Classics: Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
"Ladies in Lavendar" is produced by Sony Classical: Sony BMG Music Entertainment.
"Brassed Off" is produced by BMG Classics, a unit of BMG Entertainment.
ICM = In Classical Mood series, produced by International Masters Publishers Pty Ltd. The 1st digit is the album number, the 2nd digit is the track number.


SUBDUED or MELANCHOLIC

Ludvig van Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 14 in C sharp minor: Moonlight Sonata
Peter Tchaikovsky: Chanson Triste


SAUCY or CHEERFUL

Perfume by Stephanie McCallum, intro to track 16: Camille Saint-Saëns: Six études, Opus 11, Toccata


JAUNTY or COOL

Ladies in Lavender soundtrack: Track 10: Zabawa Weselna (Polish Dance)
Perfume by Stephanie McCallum, Track 12: Joseph Guy Ropartz: Jeunes filles: L’Insouciante
ICM 24.1 Jean Sibelius: Karelia Suite, Opus 11, ‘Alla marcia’
ICM 24.4 Bernhard Henrik Crusell: Clarinet Concerto No. 2 in F minor, Third Movement


DOOM or DESOLATION

ICM 6.13 Sergei Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 2, Second Movement
ICM 22.9 Richard Wagner: Tristan and Isolde, ‘Liebestod’
ICM 6.11 Johannes Brahms: Symphony no. 3 in F major, Opus 90, Third Movement
ICM 9.8 Maurice Ravel: Pavane pour une Infante Défunte
Ladies in Lavender soundtrack: Track 9: The Letter
Perfume by Stephanie McCallum, Track 15: Francis Poulenc: Novelette sur un thème de Manuel de Falla

Richard Wagner: The Flying Dutchman, Overture
Frank Bridge: the opening of “The Sea (First Movement) Seascape”
Ludwig van Beethoven: Pastoral Symphony, No. 6 in F major, Storm (Fourth Movement)


WILD or DISCORDANT or CRUEL

ICM 16.9 Igor Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring, Dance of the Adolescents


LOVE or TENDERNESS or COMFORT

ICM 6.1 Franz Liszt: Liebestraum No. 3 in A flat


PIZZAZZ
ICM 24.5 Johan Helmich Roman: Sinfonia in G minor
ICM 24.11 Dag Wirén: Serenade for Strings, Opus 11, ‘Marcia’


QUIET or MELANCHOLIC or SAD or SUPPRESSED
ICM 22.6 Peter Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Opus 74, ‘Pathetique’, Fourth Movement
Ladies in Lavender soundtrack: Track 2: Olga
Ladies in Lavender soundtrack: Track 3: Teaching Andrea
Ladies in Lavender soundtrack: Track 5: Thaïs
Ladies in Lavender soundtrack Track 7: On the Beach


SAD or HAUNTING or TRAGIC

Brassed Off soundtrack: Track 13: We’ll Find a Way
Brassed Off soundtrack: Track 18: Honest Decent Human Beings


ALARM or WARNING or PREMONITION OF DANGER

Brassed Off soundtrack: Track 13 finale: We’ll Find a Way


IN A RUSH or MOMENT OF DECISION or TRAGEDY
ICM 6.3 Gustav Holst: The Planets: the introduction to ‘Venus’


EXCITEMENT or HURRY or ANTICIPATION
Brassed Off soundtrack: Track 14: Clog Dance
William Tell Overture


EXCITEMENT

ICM 22.2 Frédéric Chopin: Étude in C minor, Opus 10 No. 12, ‘Revolutionary’


SATISFACTORY CONCLUSION

ICM 22.11 Ludvig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 5, Opus 67, Fourth Movement
ICM 22.7 Max Bruch: Violin Concerto in G minor, Opus 26, Third Movement