Henry Mancini

Film soundtracks are a world unto themselves : some composers have a particular talent for writing the perfect orchestral part for a moment, a scene or a character, and once in a blue moon those scores even outlive the movie itself. American composer Henry Mancini is one of the legends of scoring, proof of his talent being that anyone can whistle The Pink Panther Theme (1963) or Peter Gunn Theme (covered by Elvis, Dick Dale and the Blues Brothers) whereas they would have a hard time telling you about the movies. That’s how powerful music is.