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| Walking with Dinosaurs – Diplodocus-and-Stegosaurus – SOURCE BBC |
More than two decades since the first episode of the iconic series, the award-winning soundtrack of Walking With Dinosaurs has been released to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the show on 3 October. First aired on the BBC in 1999 and narrated by Kenneth Branagh, Walking With Dinosaurs became the most-watched factual science programme on British TV of the 20th century, with 15 million people tuning in to watch the first episode, and it is undoubtedly one of the BBC’s greatest success stories.
Composer Ben Bartlett used music to enhance the storytelling of a nature documentary was a first and set a precedent for future programmes, inspiring later series including Planet Earth and The Blue Planet, where music became a vital part of the viewing experience. Walking With Dinosaurs is also returning to TV after 25 years, with a new series on BBC and PBS in 2025, and the soundtrack to the sequel, Walking With Beasts, is also being re-released on 10 October and includes seven never-before-heard tracks from the show, performed by the BBC Singers.
Looking back at the original Walking with Dinosaurs, Ben Bartlett explains:
When I was commissioned to write this music by BBC 25 years ago, I had no real idea about what I was dealing with. At that time in 1998, animation was in a very nascent stage and I was presented with images of wireframe models being plonked along a landscape that looked as if they were a kids show. It was explained to me that these preparatory animations would then be rendered with shadows, skin tone et cetera et cetera. With these elements added the animations became game-changingly realistic. However, the challenge for me as a composer, was to take these animations from being amazing, up to level of being moving and emotionally charged. This meant that there was a great opportunity for full scale largely emotive score – something I’ve been dreaming about writing for years. Added to this, the BBC recognised the need for a live orchestra – and provided one, the BBC Concert Orchestra.
My influences at the time ranged from my total obsession with the Rite Of Spring by Stravinsky to all the works of Shostakovich and also many French composers including Ravel, Duttilleux and Koechlin. Besides these I had always had an interest in jazz piano, and stone of the functional bitonal mixtures of Dave Brubeck and Gill Evans can be detected in my work. I love to juxtapose for example a D Major stack with A flat Major elements – it’s the most delicious balance of discord and homogeneity. This bitonal approaches offer a really rich seam of possibilities which I still play with today.
In recent years I have had to deal with progressive arthritis in my hands and although not prohibitive to playing per se, does mean I need to be more effective and efficient with my time spent at the keyboard. I am planning several albums in the near future which will involve my own piano playing.
- Ben Bartlett’s website
- Ben Bartlett on Spotify
- Walking with Dinosaurs on Spotify, on Apple Music
