{"id":16756,"date":"2022-06-30T17:10:02","date_gmt":"2022-06-30T15:10:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/?p=168495"},"modified":"2022-06-30T17:24:09","modified_gmt":"2022-06-30T15:24:09","slug":"who-wrote-the-theme-tune-for-mastermind","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/rss_feed\/who-wrote-the-theme-tune-for-mastermind\/","title":{"rendered":"Who wrote the theme tune for Mastermind?"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>

By Michael Beek\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Thursday, 30 June 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

\n\n

In September 2022 the BBC quiz show Mastermind<\/em> will have been on our screens for 50 years, and every one of its episodes has started (and finished) with the same rather foreboding music.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Like many piece of music used by classic TV shows, Mastermind<\/em>\u2019s theme tune was licensed from a music library and it has another \u2013 rather appropriately unsettling \u2013 name\u2026 \u2018Approaching Menace\u2019.<\/p>\n

Written for a 1970 KPM library album called Dramatic Background<\/em>, it\u2019s a slow doom-ridden march for percussion, brass and strings which is today synonymous with that imposing \u2018big black chair\u2019 under the spotlight where contestants are interrogated.<\/p>\n

Like all library pieces used for TV, we only hear a small amount (usually the beginning and end) of what was actually written and recorded. The longer piece has a much more elaborate middle section, with woodwinds, harp and searing strings repeating the motif we\u2019re more familiar with.<\/p>\n\nThe piece was written by the late Neil Richardson (1930-2010), who composed regularly for British music libraries, though this is without question his most familiar work. Richardson also played a key role at the BBC, conducting a number of its long-since-abandoned Radio Orchestras. As a conductor and arranger he also worked on film and television scores, and recordings for other composers, including the late Richard Rodney Bennett.<\/p>\nBorn in Worcestershire, Richardson served as a chorister at Westminster Abbey and studied under <a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/composers\/william-lloyd-webber-discover-andrew-lloyd-webbers-father-and-his-music\/"\">William Lloyd Webber<\/a><\/strong> at the Royal College of Music.<\/p>\n\u2018Approaching Menace\u2019 was re-recorded as simply \u2018Mastermind Theme\u2019 in 2010 by the BBC Philharmonic, in a new arrangement by Clark Rundell. That version, which is no less menacing than the original, continues to be used today. Here\u2019s a clip of the recording session: <a href=\""https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/programmes\/p009l6gq"\">bbc.co.uk\/programmes<\/a><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p><\/body><\/html>\n<hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Michael Beek Published: Thursday, 30 June 2022 at 12:00 am In September 2022 the BBC quiz show Mastermind will have been on our screens for 50 years, and every one of its episodes has started (and finished) with the same rather foreboding music. Like many piece of music used by classic TV shows, Mastermind\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":16757,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"2"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/06\/who-wrote-the-theme-tune-for-mastermind.jpg",1890,1063,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/06\/who-wrote-the-theme-tune-for-mastermind-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/06\/who-wrote-the-theme-tune-for-mastermind-300x169.jpg",300,169,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/06\/who-wrote-the-theme-tune-for-mastermind-768x432.jpg",768,432,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/06\/who-wrote-the-theme-tune-for-mastermind-1024x576.jpg",800,450,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/06\/who-wrote-the-theme-tune-for-mastermind-1536x864.jpg",1536,864,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/06\/who-wrote-the-theme-tune-for-mastermind.jpg",1890,1063,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Michael Beek Published: Thursday, 30 June 2022 at 12:00 am In September 2022 the BBC quiz show Mastermind will have been on our screens for 50 years, and every one of its episodes has started (and finished) with the same rather foreboding music. Like many piece of music used by classic TV shows, Mastermind\u2019s…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/16756"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16757"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}