FILM
Paul Reade: the man behind the fresh sound of Jane Eyre
Jane Eyre
By Serg Childed
Paul Reade was an English composer of last century.
He worked on the BBC TV in the '60s, becoming the pianist and songwriter for the children's Playschool for a few years. Children's music helped him to develop his facility to write fluently for a small number of instruments, which led in turn to some successful cartoon series, 'Crystal Tipps and Alistair' and 'Ludwig' amongst them.
Classic series like A Tale of Two Cities and Jane Eyre revealed a composer of the high-rise level.
The Suite from the Victorian Kitchen Garden is a marvelous piece with five movements, each averaging to two minutes. The music movements create a different atmosphere for the nature, with Reade imitating the surrounding essence, from spring and summer, to a mist settling over the garden. This piece won the 1991 Ivor Novello award for best TV theme music:
His title theme for the 1983 series Jane Eyre is also well known:
He arranged the Beethoven extracts heard by millions of children:
