Though hardly a household name, Muir Mathieson's name must surely appear
on the credit lists of more British films than that of any other individual.
A Scot, trained at the Royal College of Music, he joined Alexander
Korda at Denham in 1934, worked for various government film units
during the war, and was musical director at Rank from 1945 until 1970.
His first credit as music director was for The Private Life of Don Juan
(1934); he persuaded Arthur Bliss to compose music for Things
to Come (1936) and William Walton to compose the famous score for
Henry V (1945).
He also commissioned first scores from Vaughan Williams, Arnold Bax
and Malcolm Arnold. In all, it is estimated
he initiated and conducted over a thousand scores.
