With Beyond the Screen, Rachel Portman has curated some of her most cherished film music for solo piano. She refers to the piano as her best friend, adding “I spend all day with it, most days. I think probably I’m pianistic in my soul.” Hence, piano miniatures are a natural second life for her highly melodic scores. Portman was very selective however about which pieces would translate best without an orchestra: “I wanted them to be pieces that work in their own way, that are satisfying.”

Beyond the Screen was recorded in Berlin, with occasional accompaniment by cellist Raphaela Gromes and consists of 20 curated pieces that span her illustrious career, arranged to form an emotional and musical journey. It was also important to Portman that she did everything herself, from arrangement to performance. The album comprises various new solo piano arrangements based on her well-known soundtracks such as “Chocolat”, “The Cider House Rules” or “The Dutchess”, as well as a piano suite from her Oscar-winning original score “Emma”.

Portman has been scoring films and television for 40 years and has composed over 100 scores for film, TV and theatre, becoming the first woman to win an Academy Award in the category of Best Musical or Comedy Score in 1996 for Emma and the first woman to receive a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Mini Series, Movie or a Special in 2015 for Bessie. This inspirational composer has received many other nominations and her scores include Jonathan Demme’s sober drama Beloved, prestigious adaptations of literature from Oliver Twist to The Cider House Rules and romantic comedies like Chocolat and The Lake House. Renowned for her lyricism and pure, transparent orchestrations, she has also composed opera, theatre, an oratorio and the recent solo album Ask the River.