Discover a wealth of beautiful melody insured to bring tears to the eyes.

A range of music conveys the beauty, excitement and scandal of Gay Paris of the 1890’s. The light romantic music of the young Gabrielle Colette gives way to the highly sexual music of lost innocence. The Paris Theater is represented by the "Birth of Aphrodite" while the music halls are represented by a vivacious cancan. You will detect all the charm and romance of Paris throughout the score.

The Feature-length adaptation of George Eliot’s classic features music based principally on a gently flowing pastoral theme, a musical depiction of the Floss itself, the river that shapes the character’s lives and, ultimately, their tragic fates. This limpid melody evokes the tranquility of the setting in the heart of the English countryside; but, like the best of folk songs, it is also endo with a reflective quality. There is a variety of delightful and expressive melodic material to be found throughout, and the orchestral textures posses a rare and delightful transparency unique to John Scott’s music. Additional themes refer to Maggie Tulliver’s affection for Philip Wakem and her romance with Steven Guest, but the river and its music dominate from beginning to end.

From Thomas Hardy’s tragic and melodramatic tale of love set during the Napoleonic Wars, John Scott has identified three principal musical elements. First a march, representative of Hussars resplendent in their scarlet tunics. The second musical element speaks for the Dorset countryside, a visual ingredient in the story and witness to the fate of the two unhappy lovers. The composer captures the essence of the surroundings in a limpid, pastoral theme of delicate beauty. This important folk song-like melody, despite the precedents set by English composers like Elgar, Vaughan Williams and Britten, remains instantly identifiable as springing from the pen of John Scott. The third major element expresses the passionate, though ultimately doomed love of Frances and Matthaus. Rising in a series of broad intervals, the theme speaks eloquently of the lovers yearning for each other. Musical continuity is helped by the unusual expedient of using the same orchestral forces throughout, reinforcing the comparison of this score with a tone poem for symphony orchestra.