"You could not POSSIBLY have a whole album of the Poirot tune itself - it would be a crushing bore. Each track should remind you of a particular story". Therefore it was natural to include these on the CD. Recently, I discovered that he has commented on the Amazon page of the previous album, responding to criticism that he has not included all the different variants of the theme: "Every Poirot film for which I composed the music had its own sub-theme. Since Christopher Gunning has just announced the release of a new 'Poirot' album (see this blog post), I thought I might add a few more words on this post.
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'I've Forgotten You' from 'Yellow Iris') and Samuel Karl Bohn (who composed additional music for Series Twelve, most notably the 'new' Poirot theme in Hallowe'en Party). Redemption (from 'Murder on the Orient Express') Finally, there are some composers of additional material for the series, including Fiachra Trench (who I believe stepped in for much of Series Two because Gunning was unavailable at the time.ĮDIT: this seems to be confirmed on Gunning's website in 2013, where his contributions for the series are detailed as series 1 & series 3-9), Neil Richardson (who composed additional music heard/seen on screen, e.g. I find this rather amusing, because actor David Suchet has been playing the clarinet in his leisure time for several years!įour of Henson's tracks are available on YouTube (at the time of writing): 1. Moreover, he explains that he thought the clarinet to be "very much the instrument I hoped to use to characterise Hercule". He mentions his 'brief' from the producers, who instructed him to "offer hints of the period setting, coupled with the characterful nature of Hercule, and the cinematic ambitions of ITV’s flagship drama brand". Interesting if you like soundtracks/composing. In a blog post, Henson describes the process of scoring the episodes. Personally, I find the music for Murder on the Orient Express some of the absolute best of the entire series. Not that McKeon didn't include it, but Henson seems to be doing it more frequently. It seems a conscious decision - whether by him or the production team - to link his scores more closely to Christopher Gunning's, especially in the sense that several elements of the theme tune are retained throughout the scores of his episodes. He was asked to do the most recent series (2009-2010) and returned for the final series, too (2013). I must admit, however, that Christian Henson is much more to my liking. However, in light of the stories he scored, I think the music works well within the context of the films. McGinty's Dead (2007)) Personally, having listened to his scores both on his website and in the films, I prefer the ones that are somewhat more sentimental in flavour, like the end music to The Mystery of the Blue Train, to the somewhat dark and moody ones that seem to scream MURDER in capital letters. 2 with notable Philip Glass-like highlights to create a most enchanting score that adds immeasurably to the proceedings." (Douglas Payne, sound insights blog, on the score for Cards on the Table (2006)) "Stephen McKeon’s score, a surprisingly successful mix of Philip Glass and John Williams, is remarkably effective in achieving these ends, though the curious use of the melodica, a keyboard instrument, now suggests the music of the Harry Potter films a bit more than is appropriate." ( Douglas Payne, sound insights blog, on the score for Mrs.
"In only his second Poirot film, composer Stephen McKeon notably melds Shostakovich’s Jazz Suite No.
Below are some comments from a blog I'll most probably come back to in a later post. Some of his tracks are available on his web site. The series changed tone quite drastically with Stephen McKeon. As of 2013, a new album has been released, featuring all the above tracks (apart from 'The Plymouth Express' and 'Death in the Clouds'), in addition to three previously unreleased tracks. The Plymouth Express (9:29) Two of these are available on YouTube at the moment: The Plymouth Express and The Belgian Detective. See below for the track list: Hercule Poirot - The Belgian Detective (2:30)
But it does appear from time to time on places like YouTube. This recording has been almost impossible to get hold of over the years (and it still is!). Their names are linked to their respective web sites.Ĭhristopher Gunning's music is available on a CD released in 1992. I will briefly try to outline the three composers who have worked on the series over the years: Christopher Gunning (1989-2004), Stephen McKeon (2005-2008) and Christian Henson (2009-2013). Moreover, music is a vital element of the series in most people's eyes. Agatha Christie's Poirot has remained synonymous with a very distinctive theme tune, composed by Christopher Gunning, and the opening titles designed by Pat Gavin.
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