Rachel Portman on Emma

As we approach 250 years since Jane Austen's birth, Antonia Quirke speaks to composers who've scored original music for Austen adaptations about their musical choices and also about the music Austen enjoyed. In this episode, Rachel Portman tells Antonia about how she composed her Oscar-winning score for the 1996 film adaptation of Emma, starring Gwyneth Paltrow. Rachel's loved the book since she studied it at school. She talks to Antonia about the importance of devising a main theme for the central character, which could then be shifted and transformed throughout the score. She discusses her process of composition and staying true to the instruments Austen would have known. Together, Antonia and Rachel explore the scene of Mr Knightley's proposal, how the score holds back, before letting go.

With short extracts from:
Rachel Portman, Hugh Webb, Nick Bucknall, Linda Coffin, Main Titles, Emma (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack), Warner Records
Rachel Portman, Sewing and Archery, Emma (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack), Warner Records
Rachel Portman, Hugh Webb, Nick Bucknall, Linda Coffin, Proposal, Emma (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack), Warner Records

Presented by Antonia Quirke
Produced by Camellia Sinclair
Mixed by Ilse Lademann