The Big Score
Introducing Scala Radio, the new home of adventurous music.
IT’S EASTER, and Mark Kermode is talking about The Exorcist. An unsurprising fact in and of itself, given the 55-year-old’s undying passion for the 1973 horror film, but context is everything. The writer and broadcaster is hosting his weekly soundtracks show on Scala Radio and, as part of his regular focus on overlooked scores by great composers, is explaining the connection between Ennio Morricone’s gorgeous theme to John Boorman’s Exorcist II: The Heretic and Lagrime di San Pietro, the haunting cycle of Easter madrigals by Renaissance composer, Orlande de Lassus.
Such impressive, intelligent segues happen regularly on Kermode’s two-hour Saturday afternoon show, which uses the remit of a soundtracks showcase to explore everything from Broadway melodies and ’70s classics to modern composers such as Tatiana Mikova, Lesley Barber, Johan Söderqvist and Javier Navarrete.
Kermode’s show is just one of the many highlights of Scala Radio, the new digital radio station, launched on March 4, that aims to be a new home for listeners who have discovered the modern world of classical and film music through current artists such as Nils Frahm, Ólafur Arnalds, and Jóhann Jóhannsson.
Leading the line-up of presenters is award-winning broadcaster Simon Mayo, whose mid-morning show features celebrity interviews and phone-ins interspersed with pieces by Bach, Grieg, and Ryuichi Sakamoto. Others include Edinburgh-based composer, Luci Holland, who explores fascinating, often experimental gaming soundtracks, and Alexis Ffrench, whose Sunday afternoon show takes time out to focus on rebel composers who used their music to carry political messages.
However, Kermode’s show feels the most tailored to MOJO readers. A recent special on the work of the former Pop Will Eat Itself lead singer, Clint Mansell, highlighted his emotional and sonic range.
Towards the end of Kermode’s Easter show, he reads an email from a listener who thanks him for playing a track from Angelo Badalamenti’s score to David Lynch’s still underrated 1992 masterpiece, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, then asks him to play a track from another overlooked work, James Newton Howard’s score to Lawrence Kasdan’s 1991 film, Grand Canyon.
It’s a lovely moment; two movie nerds sharing their love of modern composers on national radio, and introducing us to incredible music we might have overlooked. “It’s what I love about this show,” says Kermode, and he’s right.