Sad to report the death of composer Alexander Courage. In a career that spanned half-a-century he wrote prolifically for film and TV and also arranged many classic musicals (Seven Brides For Seven Brothers, Gigi)  and artists (Barbra Streisand, Joshua Bell). His small-screen work included Wagon Train , The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea and most famously, Star Trek. The latter fanfare has become one of the most recognisable and iconic pieces of music of the 20th century. For a taste of Silva Screen’s recordings of his Star Trek work click on http://www.silvascreenmusic.com/ishop/299/ProductListing.aspx?do=s&f=alexander+courage&n=all&sc=search&Guid=017cf7bbbcae44d6bbd1df9609fac515

New on this week’s Billboard Classical Crossover chart at number 14 is the Silva Screen release, The Indiana Jones Trilogy. Performed by the 85 piece City Of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra and the 60 piece Crouch End Festival Chorus, it features three stunning symphonic suites of the music from the first three films in the series.

Gremlins, the trouble-making creatures who terrified film audiences in the 1980s have returned to the screen in a new BT Business advert which stars Dragon’s Den impresario Peter Jones. Working late in the office he suffers major computer problems as the Gremlins create havoc behind his back. The monsters were re-created by special effects company Artem and utilised the services of 28 puppeteers and technicians. The ad will run for eight weeks and features Silva Screen’s dramatic version of the theme performed by The City Of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra taken from Jerry Goldsmith – 40 Years Of Film Music (SILCD1183).

Nominees for the most prestigious prizes in American theatre, The Tony Awards have been announced. The stage equivalent to the Oscars, the 62nd annual event will take place at Radio City Music Hall on June 15th. The smash-hit production of The 39 Steps which opened on Broadway this year has six nominations. Based around Alfred Hitchcock’s greatest British film, the production uses a wide range of music from the director’s catalogue of cinema greats including Psycho and Vertigo. Silva Screen’s release (SILCD1248) contains all these plus more of the period music which all makes this show such a unique piece of theatre.

The Silva Screen recording of Jerry Goldsmith’s Gremlins music has been used in the new BT Business advert.

The disaster film Flood swamped UK TV audiences over the bank holiday weekend as the most watched TV show in the all important 9PM slot. On Sunday it achieved 7.2m viewers, closely followed by 6.2m on Monday. Silva Screen released Debbie Wiseman’s masterly soundtrack featuring Hayley Westenra last September to great reviews and it has experienced a sales surge since the TV showing. See our website for full details.

Iron Man has opened at cinemas across the world and delivered figures of steel with a weekend gross of $200m in 57 countries. In the US it took $101m, making it one of only 10 films that have surpassed this figure in the first three days of business. In the UK it delivered an astounding take of $10.3m from 500 screens. Ramin Djawadi’s stunning score will be released by Silva Screen on May 19th – see our website front page for more information.