Mark Isham: Music for Film

Film Fest Gent is proud to present the new album Mark Isham: Music for Film. Guest of honour at the 2022 World Soundtrack Awards, Mark Isham has been one of the most versatile film composers of the past four decades. Equally known for his electronic music, his jazz work and trumpet performances, he has created numerous memorable scores for a wide variety of films and television series, forging entrancing and movingly honest melodies that have enhanced the stories they accompany time and time again. 

This is the first time that an entire album is devoted to Isham’s film and television scores. Spotlighting some of his very best work, it contains a unique selection from his massive oeuvre, including studio recordings of concert suites from 42, American Crime, The Black Dahlia, Eight Below, the Oscar-nominated score A River Runs through It and from his recent score The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent. Further highlights include the jazz-infused selections from Judas and the Black Messiah and The Moderns and a symphonic version of “On the Threshold of Liberty”, one of his best-known original compositions, which was also used to great effect in Rules of Engagement. The pieces from Bobby, Judas and the Black Messiah, Life as a House, The Nevers and The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent are premiere performances for this album, re-recorded for the first time since the original score.  This is also the first time that music from American Crime is released on album.

All music on this album is performed by the Brussels Philharmonic and conducted by Film Fest Gent music director Dirk Brossé. Trumpet solos on selected pieces are played by composer Mark Isham and the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s principal trumpet Thomas Hooten. 

Released during the 49th edition of Film Fest Gent in October 2022 and licensed to Silva Screen Records, the album Mark Isham: Music for Film is the 17th album in Film Fest Gent’s continuing series of annual film music albums, containing new studio recordings with Brussels Philharmonic and Dirk Brossé that give some of the world’s greatest scores an extended afterlife beyond the films.

Tracklist

1. “Prologue” from Bobby
2. “Suite” from Eight Below
3. “Suite” from A River Runs through It
4. “Funeral” from Judas and the Black Messiah
5. “Building a Family” from Life as a House
6. “On the Threshold of Liberty” from Rules of Engagement
7. “The Event Flashback” from The Nevers
8. “Suite” from The Black Dahlia
9. "Suite – Movement III” from American Crime
10. “Les Modernes Suite” from The Moderns
11. “Suite” from The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent
12. “Suite” from 42