Sound of Gaming

Elle Osili-Wood hosts a concert of great gaming music with the BBC Concert Orchestra.

Not only are many games inspired by some of the world's great mythologies, they also set out to create rich mythological type narratives themselves. Elle Osili-Wood reflects this as the latest iteration of the Prince of Persia franchise reaches our screens. Her guests are the game's co-composers - the ground-breaking Iranian musician, Mentrix, and celebrated video game composer Gareth Coker.

Monthly series showcasing music from the world of gaming, today with Elle Osili-Wood focusing on open universe games - where you are free to roam where you like - featuring highlights of scores by Yasunori Mitsuda (Chrono Trigger), Ilan Eshkeri & Shigeru Umebayashi (The Ghost of Tsushima), Ludvig Forssell & Justin Burnett (Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain) and Gareth Coker (Halo Infinite). And she’s joined by Inon Zur, Israeli-American composer of Starfield, the vast new game in the open world genre.

Louise Blain probes the universe for gaming’s alien beings in pursuit of an 'out of this world' selection of extraterrestrial gaming music. Her line-up includes George Strezov’s ‘Stranded Alien Dawn’, Austin Wintory’s ‘Aliens: Fireteam Elite’, Mick Gordon’s ‘Prey’, Andreas Waldetoft’s and Bert Meyer’s ‘Stellaris’, Winifred Phillips’s ‘Spore Hero’ and Andrew Prahlow’s ‘Outer Wilds’. Louise also focuses on scores for the ‘Mass Effect’ franchise and Destiny 2. Her guest is the ‘Beyond Skyrim’ composer Eric Gordon Berg.

Louise Blain uncovers some of the most imaginative, creative games around - from the astonishing storytelling in What Remains of Edith Finch to the upturned morality of Shadow of the Colossus. And her guest Winifred Phillips talks about scoring Sackboy, Assassin's Creed Liberation and Jurassic World Primal Ops.

Louise explores music for games in which an unusual character makes a striking supporting role. Featuring games such as Ratchet and Clank, Portal 2 and Bioshock Infinite. And in this month's Cut Scene, Louise talks to the hugely successful Japanese gaming composer Takeshi Furukama.

Louise Blain looks at how gaming titles grow in scope and effectiveness and is joined by award-winning composer Stephanie Eonomou for a look at the impact of this on the music. The programme features music by Stephanie composed for Assassin's Creed - Siege of Paris, and the recent Assassin's Creed - Dawn of Ragnarok. The programme also includes scores from Gustavo Santoalalla's The Last Of Us; Brad Derrick's Elder Scrolls-Blackwood; Beyond Skyrim - Morrowind - The New North by Eric Gordon Berg; Bioshock 2 - Minerva's Den by Gary Schyman; Bill Elm and Woody Jackson's music for Red Dead Redemption Undead Nightmare; and Jesper Kyd's Borderlands 2 - Tiny Tina's Assault On Dragon Keep. This month's HiScore is Marcin Przybzlowicz and Mikolai Stroinski's The Witcher - Blood and Wine.

Louise Blain looks at what gaming music brings to the time travelling universe with games such as Chrono Trigger, Dishonored 2 and Braid. She is joined by Deathloop composer Tom Salta, who will be talking about his new game, The Outlast Trials.

Louise Blain showcases the best soundtracks for turn-based video games - from Darkest Dungeon to Humankind from The Banner Saga to Into The Breach. Waiting his turn for the CutScene is Louise's guest Tim Wynn, composer of the soundtracks for XCOM2 and the brand new Marvel's Midnight Suns.

Louise Blain looks as gaming music in a post-apocalyptic world and talks to Bear McCreary about his score for the God of War series. The programme includes music from Alexei Omelchuk's 'Metro Exodus', Jesper Kyd's 'State of Decay' and Jessica Curry's 'Everybody's Gone To The Rapture' with a musical nod in the direction of Tom Clancy as well.

Louise Blain goes on a virtual city break, sampling the soundtracks of gaming’s most compelling urban landscapes. She takes in some of the cities which are centre stage in video games such as Venice in Tomb Raider 2 with a score by Nathan McCree and the terrifying plague ridden imaginary city of Yharnam in Bloodborne, beautifully brought to life by the composer Tsukasa Saitoh and others. And to hear how music enhances these gaming metropolises, Louise hears from the composing duo Joe Henson and Alexis Smith - known as The Flight - who wrote the Ivor Novello award-winning score for Assassin's Creed Odyssey, which imagines the cities of ancient Greece.

Gaming has always enjoyed a special relationship with the movies, but title don't always transfer well from one medium to the other. Louise looks at the symbiotic relationship between games and movies and talks to composer Nainita Desai about his music for the upcoming new Sam Barlow game Immortality. The programme includes music by Stuart Chatwood for Prince of Persia, Henry Jackman for Uncharted 4, Jim Dooley for Epic Mickey 2, and Mark Mothersbaugh for Ratchet & Clank. The programme also has music from Jason Graves for House of Ashes, Harry Manfredini for Friday the 13th and John Paesano for Marvel's Spider-Man. The Hi Score is Jeremiah Pena's music for Jurassic World Evolution.

Louise Blain with gaming music designed to underscore the murky world of crime and punishment. Louise's guest is the composer Richard Wilkinson who talks about his score for the forthcoming Peaky Blinders game. The programme also features music from Sherlock Holmes: Crimes & Punishments, Austin Wontory's Assassin's Creed Syndicate, Jesse Harlin's Mafia, Woody Jackson's Red Dead Redemption 2, Thief by Luc St-Pierre, Jesper Kyd's Hitman: Blood Money, and Michael Hunter's music for Grand Theft Auto 4.

Louise Blain features music for games which really test a player's capabilities, physically and intellectually, and Louise talks to Kristofer Maddigan about his music for 'Cuphead', including the much anticipated Cuphead sequel - 'The Delicious Last Course' which is out at the end of the month. As well as 'Cuphead', the programme includes music from 'Bloodborne' by Nobuyoshi Suzuki, from Tomas Dvorak's 'Machinarium', Yugo Kanno and Akihiro Manabe's 'Nioh 2', Richard Beddow's 'Total War Saga - Troy', Damian Mravunak's 'The Talos Principle', 'Hades' from Darren Korb, Bobby Krlic's 'Returnal', 'It Takes Two from Gustaf Grefberg and music from 'Destiny 2' by Michael Salvatori, Skye Lewin and C Paul Johnson. This week's HiScore is Ben Prunty's 'FTL'.

Japan is one of gaming's most important epicentres. Louise Blain goes in search of the music of this key sub-genre. Featuring such composers as Koji Kondo (Super Mario Brothers), Shunsuke Kida (Demon's Souls); Yasuaki Iwata and Manaka Kataoka (Zelda: Breath of the Wild) and Kow Otani (Shadow of the Colossus). And we hear from Cody Matthew Johnson and Yoko Honda, the composers of an arresting soundtrack to the new samurai game Trek to Yomi, featuring highly authentic Gagaku music.

Louise Blain ponders the notion of solitude in gaming. She wanders through the woods of Wyoming in Firewatch, saddles her horse in Red Dead Redemption 2 and explores the gargantuan architecture of Destiny 2: The Witch Queen. Our CutScene marks the tenth anniversary of Journey with its composer Austin Wintory. Louise talks to him about how his symphonic re-working of the soundtrack with the London Symphony Orchestra. Louise also features the soundtracks of not one, but two of this year's BAFTA-nominated game scores - Returnal by Bobby Krlic and Psychonauts 2 by Peter McConnell.

Louise Blain explores music for games that are all at sea including Sonic the Hedgehog, Minecraft Dungeons, Spiritfarer and Sea of Solitude. Her guest for the CutScene is Robin Beanland who talks in detail about his Score for Sea of Thieves, and there's music from the newly released Changing Tides in the much loved Far series.

With the release of the new action role-playing game 'Horizon Forbidden West', featuring the character Aloy, Louise Blain foregrounds music for games where women take the lead. She looks at the ways in which the representation of women has developed in gaming and features music from 'Mirror's Edge Catalyst', 'Uncharted: Lost Legacy', 'Assassin's Creed Odyssey', 'Dishonored 2', 'Control' ,'Hellblade Senua's Sacrifice' and 'Tomb Raider'. And Lousie talks to composer Joris de Man and vocalist Julie Elven about the creation of the score for the Horizon series.

As we enter the new year, Louise offers thoughts on gaming and the future - music for games set in the future plus a look at possible future developments in gaming and gaming music. And our Cut Scene features an interview with French composer Olivier Deriviere.

Louise Blain explores some of the fabulous music composed for multiplayer video games. And today's cut-scene features an interview with the composers of the global sensation Destiny 2: New Light, Michael Salvatori and Skye Lewin.