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British Airways Theme Tune (Lakme) op.333 (March 1984)
Music for a TV advertising film, the launch of the famous duet from Lakme
Commissioned by: Saatchi and SaatchiInstrumentation: 2 sopranos and orch.
[Key to Abbreviations]
First Performance: Recorded CTS March 31 1984, Elaine Barry and Judith Pearce (sopranos) and orchestra conducted by Howard Blake
Notes
The director Tony Scott had been introduced to this duet for two sopranos by Howard, who then recorded it with his own orchestra for Tony's feature film 'The Hunger' in 1982. The song comes from the opera 'Lakme' by Leo Delibes (1883) and is called 'Viens Mallika'.
Two years later Tony asked Howard if the track could be adapted for a TV commercial for British Airways (titled 'Wider Seats'). He used the same sopranos and orchestra but adapted it to fit the famous shot of a 747's shadow climbing the Empire State Building. Innumerable re-arrangements followed over a period of more than 20 years.
Related Works
'THE HUNGER'
op.314
(October 1982)
Listen to this Work
Music supervised and arranged for the feature film
Music supervised and arranged for the feature film
'Tears Of Joy (British Airways)'
op.499
(June 1997)
A new arrangement of Lakme for 2 sopranos and piano(see op.333), music for a TV advertising film
A new arrangement of Lakme for 2 sopranos and piano(see op.333), music for a TV advertising film