Original Music byFrank Strangio

Our Special Thanks to:

The Adelaide Chamber Orchestraand conductor Brenton Langbein A.O.

for their performance ofBenjamin Britten's"Variations on a theme by Frank Bridge"Used by kind permission ofBoosey and Hawkes (Australia) Pty. Ltd.

Benjamin Britten'sSerenade Opus 31 for Tenor Solo, Horn and StringsUsed by kind permission ofBoosey and Hawkes (Australia) Pty. Ltd.Performed by Peter Pears,Barry Tuckwell and the London SymphonyOrchestra conducted by Benjamin Britten.Used by kind permission ofPolyGram Records Pty. Limited.

Richard Strauss's"Elektra"Used by kind permission ofBoosey and Hawkes (Australia) Pty. Ltd. and AMCOSPerformed by the Vienna PhilharmonicOrchestra conducted by George Solti with Birgit NilssonUsed by kind permission ofPolyGram Records Pty. Limited.

Bellini's"Norma""Costa Diva" sung by Joan Sutherlandwith the London Symphony Orchestra andChorus conducted by Richard BonyngeUsed by kind permission ofPolyGram Records Pty. Limited.

Music Mixed atTimbertop Studios

Classical Music used:

The film opens with Benjamin Britten’s Frank Bridge variations running over the head credits and into the opening action, not the standard sort of synth score for a thriller with slasher elements in the 1980s.

In the usual way, this couldn’t have been afforded by a low budget film, but was supplied by South Australian artist Brenton Langbein, who has a CV detailed here.

Brenton LangbeinA. O.(1928–1993)Violinist - Conductor - ComposerBrenton Langbein was born at Gawler in 1928 to parents of German and Scottish Ancestry. He started violin studies at the age of 5 and gave his first major public recital in Tanunda Town Hall aged 8 years.At 11 years he won a scholarship to the Elder Conservatorium of Music, studied under Ludwig Schwab and started playing with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra when fourteen.In 1948, Aged 20, Brenton became a member of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and a solo performer, while studying composition under Sir Eugene Goosens.He moved to Europe in 1951 to study in Switzerland and Vienna and with celllist Pablo Casals. In 1953 Brenton settled permanently in Zurich and became leader of Paul Sacher's Collegium Musicum Chamber Orchestra.Following an appointment as violin professor at Basle Acadamy he established an acclaimed duo with Australian Pianist Maureen Jones and then a famous trio with Maureen Jones and Horn Player Barry Tuckwell.Brenton Founded and led the internationally renowned Die Kammermusiker Zurich which performed regularly in Europe, England, America and Australia. He established youth orchestra schools in Zurich and Basle and became Musical Director of the Opera Factory. Zurich.Brenton gave the first performance of the Hans Werner Henze, Second Violin Concerto (which was dedicated to Langbein) at the 1972 Adelaide Festival of Arts.He played and conducted regularly in Australia. He was musical Director of the Adelaide Chamber Orchestra and Co-Founder of the prestigious Swiss Nageli medal for services to music.He died in Zurich in 1993 and is buried at Lyndoch in the Barossa Valley.

(Below: Brenton Langbein)

Other classical music used in the film included tracks from the following albums:

The opera scenes were mocked up on the steps of the South Australian parliament, and according to the producer, this use of actors to mime to the recording caused some disturbance at the licensing record company when it was discovered. However the music was allowed to be used:

Penny Cook’s heroine also gets to perform during the show:

Composer Frank Strangio:

Composer Frank Strangio provided the conventional synth-flavoured underscore that mingled with the classical music elements. Strangio would also work with Craig Lahiff on the thrillers Fever and The Dreaming, and the telemovie Strangers.

Frank Strangio started his feature film career with Dusty. At one point, he released a compile of his film and television work, but perhaps significantly, it didn't include his work for his second feature, BMX Bandits, which he did with director Brian Trenchard Smith, nor his work for The Dreaming, with his music for Craig Lahiff’s Fever featuring instead, for which Strangio received an AFI nomination.

The music for Strangers also turned up on the CD:

This was a promotional CD and is now rare.

At time of writing, Strangio still had a personal website here. It contained this biography:

Italian born Frank Strangio was raised in the United States and migrated to Australia as a teenager. He attended the Tasmanian Conservatorium of Music and is a graduate of the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston. While living in Boston Frank studied Composition privately with composer Michael Gibbs and piano with Madame Margaret Chaloff and Ray Santisi.Upon his return to Australia, Strangio began composing music for myriad projects, from Corporate films and presentations to Commercials for TV and Radio. His first feature film score was forDusty, by director John Richardson, and was the winner of the Best Music Award at the 28th Asian Pacific Film Festival. Dusty was an orchestral score featuring members of the MSO.This was followed by cult classics BMX Bandits, (Nicole Kidman's first film) and Dead End Drive-in, both directed by Brian Trenchard-Smith. It is said that Dead End Drive-In is Quentin Tarantino's favorite Trenchard-Smith flick.

Following this, Frank composed the music for the Craig Lahiff film Fever, featuring the late Bill Hunter and Gary Sweet, and received an AFI Nomination for Best Film Score.Strangio has gone on to compose many other film scores including Paradise Found (directed by Mario Andreacchio) starring Kiefer Sutherland and Nastassja Kinski. The score was recorded at Angel Studios in London with the Philharmonia Orchestra and at Waveband Studio in Melbourne. The score was nominated for Best Soundtrack Album at the Australian Screen Composer Guild awards.Strangio composed the orchestral score to Andreacchio's The Dragon Pearl starring Sam Neil. This was the first official Australia China co-production and was filmed at Hengdian World Studios in China. The score was recorded by the Slovak National Orchestra.Frank has also composed for many documentaries and television series including the inimitable 'Round The Twist, which was awarded an AFI Award for Best Children's Program for the episode "The Whirling Dervish". The episode "Little Squirt" won the Le Prix Jeunesse and was nominated for an Emmy Award.The series Mortified scooped several awards as well:Gold Medal winner at 2007 New York Festival of Int'l TV Programming and Promotion Youth ProgramsGrand Award winner for Best Youth ProgramNomination for Banff World TV Awards2007 International Emmy Nomination2006 First Prize at Chicago Int'l Children's Festival2006 AFI winner for Best Children's TV SeriesMore recently, Frank composed the dark, electronic score to Leigh Sheehan's teen thriller, Six Plots.

Strangio was a synth man for many years and provided a note on this aspect of his work:

In a bid to expand his musical horizons and compositional technique, Strangio invested in the legendary Synclavier Digital Music System.The Synclavier was, undoubtedly, the most advanced music technology of its time and was championed by such musical luminaries as Sting, Frank Zappa, Quincy Jones, Mark Knoefler and film composers Danny Elfman, Alan Silvestri, Howard Shore and too many others to list here.Strangio states that "the beauty of the Synclavier is not only its unique sonoric qualities, but its human interfaceability", thus enabling him to compose intuitively, efficiently and

quickly." The beauty of the Synclavier is not only its unique sonoric qualities, but its human interfaceability."

AWARDS & NOMINATIONS2007 New York Festival of Int'l TV Programming and Promotion Gold Medal Winner for Best Youth Program - Mortified2007 New York Festival of Int'l TV Programming and Promotion Grand Award Winner for Best Youth Program - Mortified2007 Banff World TV Awards Nomination - Mortified2007 International Emmy Nomination - Mortified2006 First Prize at Chicago Int'l Children's Festival- Mortified2006 AFI Award Winner for Best Children's TV Series - Mortified2006 Australian Guild of Screen Composers Nomination for Best Original Song for the Screen (with Joe Creighton)2000 AFI Award Winner for Best Children’s Program - Round The Twist1993 Emmy Award Nomination for Best Children's Program - Round The Twist (series 2)Winner of Le Prix Jeunesse for Best Children's Program - Round The Twist (series 2)1986 Penguin Award for Best Music - The Lancaster Miller Affair1988 AFI Award Nomination for Best Music - Fever28th Asian Pacific Film Festival Award for Best Music - Dusty

The site also provided this filmography:

Feature Films:

Six Plots (2012)The Dragon Pearl (2011)Under a Red Moon (2008)Elephant Tales (2006)Paradise Found (2003)Dalkeith (2002)Young Blades (2001)Muggers (2000)Dags (1998)Under The Gun (1995)Iron FistSex is A Four Letter Word (1995)Lex & Rory (1994)Get Away, Get Away (1993)Voyage Into Fear (1993)Strangers (1991)

Bony (1990)A Kink In The Picasso (1990)Fever (1988)The Dreaming (1988)Living Forever (1987)Coda: A Symphony of Evil (1987)Contagion (1987)Dead-End Drive In (1986)The Blue Lightning (1986)BMX Bandits (1983)Dusty (1983)

Television Series & Mini-Series:

Mortified (2006/2007)Power Rangers Ninja Storm (2003)Round the Twist (1993-2001)The Genie from Down Under (1998)The Genie from Down Under (1996)Glad Rags (1995)Snowy River (1994)Under The Skin (1993)Bay City (1993)Songs of Innocence (1992)Lift Off (1992)Bony (1992)Flair (1990)The Lancaster Miller Affair (1986)The Harold Holt Mystery (1985)Glass Babies (1985) Television Movies:

Strangers (1991)Bony (1990)Living Forever (1987)The Blue Lightning (1986)

Documentaries:

P.S. I Love YouPeru - The Land of the Llama ReunionThe World's Greatest Commercials

The Tree Kangaroo: Forest RecluseThe Beast that Man ForgotThe Adventures of the Quest seriesThe Wild Yak of Tibet The Destroyers 100 Years of Australian FootballRex Hunt Fishing AdventuresThe Worlds Greatest CommercialsThe Australian Football Program Rex Hunt's Fishing World Monuments To Man A Walk In The Sea The Researchers EscapeThe Dream Merchants of AsiaCrocodiles: The Deadly Survivors The Enterprise Wildcat & Pipedreams On The Line Living Forever The Brisbane LineJerusalem of Heaven & Earth      Australia's Hidden WealthJourney to Hainan Triumph of the NomadsThe PintubiThe Mississippi ChallengeThe Wharfie

(Below: Frank Strangio)