Search - John Barry :: From Russia With Love

From Russia with Love was a linchpin event for maestro film composer John Barry. After his first Bond score, Dr. No, yielded a stunning main theme but little else of substance, Barry went great guns for Russia, composing a richly stylized soundtrack packed with adventurous melodic lines and taut, inventive arrangements. Though Barry didn't actually write the main Bond theme (that credit goes to old-guard conductor Monty Norman), he takes that familiar tune in some fascinating directions here, applying unorthodox instrumentation and elements of indigenous Russian music. Barry has never been as suspenseful a composer as, say, Bernard Hermann, but he excels with some downright chilly passages on Russia. The score solidified his role as an essential element of the Bond mystique. It also marked the beginning of an intensely prolific period for Barry, a period that would earn him the distinction as one of the 20th century's greatest film composers. From his Bond-film work to The Ipcress File to Midnight Cowboy (and many sublime points between), Barry's mid- to late-'60s canon is without peer. Russia was his springboard. --Matt Hanks