On 16 October players from the Royal Academy of Music, conducted by Joanna MacGregor, premiered Neil Brand’s The Golden Pince-Nez at Alexandra Palace as part of the London Film Festival – a 25-minute score for the 1922 silent adaptation of the Sherlock Holmes mystery. It debuted as part of a triptych alongside MacGregor’s score for The Final Problem and Joseph Havlat’s music for A Scandal in Bohemia. Listen to MacGregor discussing the scores on BBC Radio 3 with Tom Service here.

The Golden Pince-Nez is a classic Conan Doyle short story, in which Holmes and his brother Mycroft investigate the murder of an amanuensis who is discovered clutching the eponymous eyeglasses and whose last words are “The professor – it was she”, and a showcase for Holmes’ virtuosic powers of deduction. Brand’s music, classically-infused without being a period piece, is light and playful as Holmes’ investigations deepens, and saves its fireworks and drama for the dénouement in which the killer is unmasked. It is orchestrated for ten players – flute, clarinet, trombone, piano/celesta, percussion (including vibraphone), and single strings. Brand also composed a short Sherlock ‘sting’ which was also adopted by Havlat and MacGregor for their scores.

The performance launched the BFI’s Silent Sherlock project, a partnership with the Royal Academy of Music, spearheaded by Brand. It will see a restoration of 45 episodes from The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and two feature-length films created by the Stoll Picture Company between 1921-1923, in which Eille Norwood portrayed the sleuth – holding the record for the most appearances in the role by any actor on the big screen. The three recently-premiered scores have already been recorded for future DVD release. A celebrated pianist, Brand is Visiting Professor of Film Improvisation at the Royal Academy of Music.

The Golden Pince-Nez is Brand’s first score for a Sherlock Holmes film, but not his treatment of Conan Doyle’s legendary detective. In December 2022 the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Timothy Brock premiered Brand’s evening-length adaptation of The Hound of the Baskervilles for eight actors and orchestra at a sold-out Barbican. The 75-minute piece, later broadcast on BBC television on Christmas Day, starred Mark Gatiss as Sherlock Holmes and Sanjeev Bhaskar as Dr. Watson, and was celebrated by critics.