I would often far rather use a small group of players than a full symphony orchestra - primarily because I like to choose my palette to fit my canvas. Unhappily the Symphony Orchestra is like the All-Star cast, it provides a sort of Hollywood gloss and a pseudo-prestige value to the Film. To put it at its worst – important sounding title music makes the picture sound important (How often I’ve had that said to me). However, if I am hoist with the symphonic petard, I can tactfully disband it during the action of the film. Of course, there are some films which demand a large orchestra - a massive effect can only be obtained by massive means (The Fallen Idol for instance).

Why do I like few players rather than many? Simply because, on the whole, it records better, and because one can make a small body really “tell”. I am sure that it was for reasons not entirely economic that such a practised dramatic composer as Benjamin Britten chose to score his operas The Rape of Lucretia (1946) and The Turn of the Screw (1954) for a chamber ensemble. Britten, like myself, was trained in the cinema in the early years of documentary under the inspiration of people like Grierson, Rotha and Basil Wright. A limited budget led to unlimited ingenuity, and taught us to search for our effects by the simplest means.