Highgate composer’s hit Wolf Hall soundtrack tops Classic FM charts
The success of a prolific composer’s chart-topping score for popular TV drama Wolf Hall seems to have taken everyone by surprise - not least the record label who produced it.
Customers were left waiting for up to three weeks for the soundtrack to the historical BBC2 show by Highgate musician Debbie Wiseman after all copies sold out in just four days on its release.
And even Ms Wiseman has expressed her shock at how well the score for the acclaimed Hilary Mantel adaption has been received, in the week the record rocketed straight to the top of Classic FM’s charts.
She said: “I’m completely delighted and overwhelmed by the response to my score for Wolf Hall.
“It’s very rewarding and thrilling to know that people were listening closely to the music, and that they enjoyed it enough to want to buy the soundtrack album.”
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She added: “I’m sorry that some people are having to wait longer than usual for the CD to arrive due to the high demand, but I’ve been inundated with lovely messages and tweets which has been very special.”
Demand was so high for Ms Wiseman’s score when it was first released earlier this month that record label Silva Screen Records had to hurriedly order a second batch of the album. It is currently the ‘site’s top-selling soundtrack.
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And on Sunday, it shot straight to number one in Classic FM’s charts to be classed as the country’s best-selling classical album.
Ms Wiseman told chart show presenter John Brunning: “What a shock!”
The composer, who has written scores for a host of Hollywood films and BAFTA-winning dramas, is the only woman to be included in Classic FM’s Hall of Fame.
She was voted into the prestigious list alongside legendary composers Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, and Mozart last year for her award-winning score for 1997 Oscar Wilde biopic Wilde.
Wolf Hall, set in Tudor times, was BBC2’s most popular drama since modern TV ratings began 13 years ago, and is one of the channel’s only five dramas to have averaged more than four million viewers since 2002.
