Wolf Hall - the Music

Available for over a year

The composer Debbie Wiseman created the score for the first BBC television series of Wolf Hall and she’s just completed work on the second part of the story, The Mirror and the Light. She has allowed us to record every part of that remarkable process – from the very first experiments with phrases and themes in her home studio to discussions with series director Peter Kosminsky in ‘spotting sessions’ to match music and pictures. Along the way she has developed specific, subtle themes for the main characters and, most importantly, provided a soundtrack that reflects the mood of each scene and, vitally, the inner turmoils of Thomas Cromwell himself. It's impossible to calculate the importance of this music – until you watch the series with actors and actuality but no soundtrack. It’s noticeably flat and lacks the engagement that a great drama such as Wolf Hall offers. Finally we see Debbie in the huge studio with her small orchestra of world class musicians and singer as she conducts and records the soundtrack. We hear from Damian Lewis, who plays Henry VIII and, like the King, no mean musician himself. And from Claire van Kampen, the early music specialist, who arranges and oversees the in-vision music at the Tudor Court. Produced by Victoria Ferran A Just Radio Production for BBC Radio 3