Christopher Palmer on AllMovie

Composer, orchestrator and a respected authority on British composers and the Golden Age of film music, Christopher Palmer, along with his friends Charles Gerhardt and George Korngold helped launch a revival of interest in Hollywood's classic movie scores. Palmer was particularly important for having reintroduced the world to the lost scores of composer Miklos Rozsa (who personally assisted Palmer's research). Palmer was also personally and professionally close with master scorists Bernard Herrmann and Dimitri Tiomkin. Palmer was the son of a church organist. Before becoming interested in music, he studied modern languages at Trinity Hall College, Cambridge University. During his career, Palmer orchestrated over 100 scores and worked with such composers as Elmer Bernstein, Carl Davis and Maurice Jarre. Palmer himself, wrote one musical score for Milos Forman's Valmont (1989). He also provided the musical direction for Nicolas Roeg's The Witches (1989). In early 1995, just before he passed away from an AIDS-related illness, Palmer received a lifetime achievement award from the United States-based Society for Preservation of Film Music.