Best film composers & list of their finest works. (1 Viewer)

[JediFonger]

seen all of alias, lost, etc. i dunno about Gracchino. good w/video games maybe (see his imdb) but TV/film score is OK @best. haven't see mi3, so we'll see.

were you referring to the incredibles the movie (and not the impossible)?

definitely not JW though. i don't think anyone will come close the JW =).

 

[Craig S]

Not a film composer. Adopting one's own theatrical musical work for film doesn't count.

 

[Craig S]

Hmm, gonna have to go hunt down this SACD. I was so disappointed with Nemesis as a film that I never even thought about picking up the score.

 

[Med]

I agree with many of the choices here, but I thought I'd list some less obvious examples of certain composers work that I find just as (sometimes more) impressive as their more often quoted scores...

John Williams: The Fury, Dracula
Jerry Goldsmith: Capricorn One, Under Fire
Ennio Morricone: The Mission
Danny Elfman: Nightbreed, A Simple Plan
John Barry: King Kong, Raise the Titanic
James Horner: Brainstorm
Bernard Herrmann: Obsession

I agree with those who've mentioned Howard Shore's work on the LOTR trilogy - wonderful stuff - but I also have a real admiration for Leonard Rosenman's score for Bakshi's animated version from 1978. Some very powerful themes in there, particularly when the orc armies are marching on Helm's Deep.

 

[DeeF]

I can't believe I'm the first to mention:

Aaron Copland:

Our Town
The Red Pony
The Heiress

And a personal favorite, Hugo Friedhofer:

The Best Years of Our Lives

 

[JohnRice]

I'm glad to see someone finally mentioned Henry Mancini. He is one of the greats of the classic films era and not at all in the vein of John Williams and his many imitators. I'll be the first, and probably only, to say I am not a fan of Williams in the least. I prefer scores to be like good cinematography, not "impressive" or grand, but to aid in the story telling. Of course, most people also believe good cinematography means captivating images. I don't go along with that.

My one favorite has to be Ennio Morricone. Some of his scores have been mentioned, but I think possibly his best is Cinema Paradiso, which I don't think has been mentioned. For "modern" scores, I love what James Newton Howard did in The Man in the Moon, which is also a movie I love. It truly reinforces the story and is musically above the norm.

 

[Brook K]

Yes Yi, I've seen Howl's multiple times and own it. I stand by Spirited Away and A Scene at the Sea as Hisaishi's best scores. Howl's has some fine moments but I would put it below several of his other Miyazaki and Kitano scores.

My favorite Morricone also hasn't been mentioned - Days of Heaven

Certainly Steiner and Tiomkin are favorites and I like some of Williams (Duel of the Fates is one of my favorite pieces of music he's ever done and by far the highlight of the prequels), Korngold, Goldsmith, etc., but I tend toward a lot of nonsymphonic stuff:

Jon Barry's score for Midnight Cowboy (the movie has a couple of great pieces beyond Nilsson's "Everybody's Talkin'" - "Midnight Cowboy", "Joe Buck Rides Again" and the quirky "Florida Fantasy")

Goblin/Claudio Simonetti's electronic/keyboard scores for Suspiria, Deep Red, Dawn of the Dead, & Phenomena

Popol Vuh/Florian Fricke ethereal "world" sounds for Aguirre, The Wrath of God, Nosferatu, Heart of Glass & Fitzcarraldo

Toru Takemitsu's incomparable work that modernized traditional Japanese movie music with his scores for Woman in the Dunes, Crazed Fruit & Harakiri. He also did the scores for Kwaidan, Double Suicide, Samurai Rebellion and of course Kurosawa's Ran.

Angelo Badalamenti's work in augmenting the creepy and or fantastical atmosphere's of David Lynch's work, though my favorite of his scores is the traditional Americana of The Straight Story

Wendy Carlos' scores for Kubrick, Jon Brion's work with Paul Thomas Anderson, and Clint Mansell's techno beats for Darren Aranofsky.

Another one I haven't seen mentioned is Carter Burwell with his scores for the Coen Bros., Being John Malkovich and Gods & Monsters.

Ry Cooder's score for Paris, Texas is fantastic but he doesn't do much anymore.

 

[Dick]

"I can't believe I'm the first to mention:

Aaron Copland:

Our Town
The Red Pony
The Heiress"

The first but not the last. I agree, THE HEIRESS is a lovely score, and remains stubbornly unavailable commercially both as a film and as a score.

I'd add (including a few real rarities):

ACCIDENTAL TOURIST & STANLEY AND IRIS - John Williams (quieter, quite
beautiful music)
THE LONG DUEL (oop LP only)- (Patrick) John Scott
THE LION IN WINTER; MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS; LAST VALLEY - John Barry
7th VOYAGE OF SINBAD; TROUBLE WITH HARRY; GHOST AND MRS. MUIR (The latter is my favorite stand-alone film score) - Bernard Herrmann. Also really love Elmer Bernstein's re-recording of GHOST).
THE BLUE LAGOON - Basil Poledouris
THE RED TENT; THE MISSION - Ennio Morricone
OUR MOTHER'S HOUSE (now on CD!); STEEL MAGNOLIAS - Georges Delerue
THE RAILWAY CHILDREN - Johnny Douglas
STAR TREK TMP; MEDICINE MAN; WIND AND THE LION - Jerry Goldsmith
FIELD OF DREAMS; JOURNEY OF NATTY GANN (not available) - James Horner
THIEF OF BAGDAD; LUST FOR LIFE; BEN HUR - Miklos Rozsa
A SUMMER PLACE; KING KONG - Max Steiner
KING'S ROW - Erich Wolfgang Korngold
BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN; SUNSET BLVD. - Franz Waxman
MAD ADVENTURES OF RABBI JACOB - Vladimir Cosma
ONLY YOU; SIRENS - Rachel Portman

oh, God, so many more...

 

[Paul.S]

Speaking of . . . what is the name of the track that plays under the main menu of the first Matrix DVD and is it on the score CD?

 

[Rhoq]

Absolutely. I loved Howard's score for The Village so much that I purchased the film's score on CD the day after I first saw the film (which was about a week after it was released on DVD). This was the first time I have ever been so moved by a film's music to actually purchase the score.

I know I'm in the minority, but I also happened to love the movie - depsite having the surprise ending ruined for me by a friend that saw it in the theater and hated the ending.

 

[Nick Martin]

You are certainly NOT the only one...though I'm probably the only one who holds James Horner in incredibly high esteem.

I haven't heard all his scores, but the few I have from David Arnold, whose ID4 score turned me onto film music, are great.

 

[Josh.C]

Here are some of my favorites:

The Natural- Newman (all time greatest score for me)
Dances W/ Wolves- Barry
Titanic & Braveheart- Horner
October Sky- Isham
What Lies Beneath- Silvestri
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers- de Paul (love the songs)
Vertigo- Herrmann

 

[oscar_merkx]

Gotta go for Korngold, Morricone & Hermann

Awesome

 

[Magnus T]

This is the same song used in the dvd menu.

 

[PatW]

John Barry - I absolutely adored the score to Somewhere in Time. I suppose I have to credit Rachmaninov as well.

John Williams - Empire of the Sun - my favourite of his scores. When Jim is on the roof while the planes are flying overhead, well that piece of music always brings tears to my eyes.

My absolute favourite would be Howard Shore and his score for LOTR's. I can't really pinpoint a particular theme because it's all great.

 

[Peter McM]

I forgot to mention the pinnacle thus far of James Horner's career: Apollo 13.

 

[JediFonger]

i like horner's Wrath of Kahn score. =).

 

[RobertR]

No mention of Basil Poledouris for Conan the Barbarian?. One of my favorite soundtracks ever.

 

[Sam Favate]

I also enjoyed Leonard Rosenman's score to the 1978 Lord of the Rings. I liked James Horner's themes for Star Treks II and III, and Rosenman's for Trek IV.

Also, lets not forget older composers like Max Steiner, who did the unforgettable music to Casablanca, The Searchers, Gone With the Wind, and the original King Kong.

As for John Williams, count me among those who think his work is just outstanding. Superman: The Movie may be his best, but out of a body of work like his, its impossible to choose.

 

[Jason Adams]

One of my absolute favorites is Alex North. He scored two undisputed classic scores, Spartacus and Cleopatra. And some smaller but very cerebral stuff like Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?, and Dragonslayer. A composer that John Williams and Jerry Goldsmith had much esteem for, and he was the first composer to recieve a lifetime achievement award from the Academy.

And John Barry...dont get me started. I have a whole days worth of music from that man on my iPod.