MY SIX BEST BOOKS
MIKE BATT, 69, is the songwriter and producer behind a string of Wombles hits and the No 1 Bright Eyes. He also discovered Katie Melua. His latest album as a conductor Holst: The Planets is released on September 7.
THE WASHING OF THE SPEARS by Donald R Morris
Pimlico, £25 I really like military history, though it’s the people, not the conflict, that interest me.
This absorbed me deeply. It’s a history of the Zulu nation including a powerful telling of the Battle of Isandlwana which featured in the Michael Caine movie Zulu.
SOUNDS AND SCORES by Henry Mancini
Out of print The book I reach for most often as an orchestrator and composer. I also rely on Rimsky-Korsakov’s Principles Of Orchestration but he didn’t know how to write close harmonies for five saxophones.
This is particularly good on big bands so, when I try to create the big Hollywood sound, I use Mancini.
NOW WE ARE SIX by AA Milne
Egmont, £8.99 Imaginative, colourful and witty verses such as King John’s Christmas that one would think of as being way above a six-year-old. But Milne had the right attitude and first awoke my ambition to write succinct, funny lyrics accepted by all ages.
THE ANNOTATED HUNTING OF THE SNARK by Lewis Carroll
Out of print I literally tripped over a pile of these in Foyles bookshop in 1982 so I sat down and read it. That’s what made me want to write a musical about it. The brilliance of his language is inspiring.
A HANDBOOK ON THE TECHNIQUE OF CONDUCTING by Adrian C Boult
Out of print I’ve been conducting since I was 18. It’s about how to get 100 players to come on a journey with you.
You need to convey what you want with body language but you also need the baton technique which is where this book comes in handy.
HAWAII by James A Michener
Random House Inc, £15.99 When I was 30, I went on a mad adventure around the world on a boat. I read this as we were going from LA to Hawaii. I’d finished scoring Michener’s Caravans so had got the Michener bug. It’s an epic about people who settled in Hawaii.