Film

Paul Reade: the man behind the fresh sound of Jane Eyre

Jane Eyre
Jane Eyre

Posted:
8 years ago

Country:
England

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: