Suggestions on great movie soundtracks? (1 Viewer)

[Shane D]

rob roy is another i think is pretty good, and fantasia

 

[ThomasC]

How could I forget Alan Silvestri? He composed the scores for the Back to the Future trilogy, Forrest Gump, Contact, Cast Away, and The Mummy Returns. All fantastic scores.

 

[Dick]

Peter's suggestions are excellent... you need to go back a ways and sample some of the classic scores to be truly up on what great movie music is out there. I would add (in no particular order):

TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD - Elmer Bernstein

EXODUS - Ernest Gold

GHOST AND MRS. MUIR - Bernard Herrmann

7th VOYAGE OF SINBAD - ditto

THE LION IN WINTER - John Barry

THE QUIET MAN - Victor Young

LUST FOR LIFE - Miklos Rozsa, suite available on LP only

ONLY YOU - Rachel Portman, fairly recent

WUTHERING HEIGHTS - Alfred Newman - not available

HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME (1939) - never released.

THREE MUSKATEERS (1974) - Michel Legrand

WUTHERING HEIGHTS (1970) - ditto

RESTORATION - David Newman, fairly recent

WIND AND THE LION - Jerry Goldsmith

MEDICINE MAN - ditto (Beautiful score for crappy movie)

CHINATOWN - ditto (many other Goldsmith scores, too)

EDWARD SCISSORHANDS - Danny Elfman

JOURNEY OF NATTY GANN - James Horner - not released (damn!)

LAST OF THE DOGMEN - David Arnold, before he sold out to the James Bond series and began doing technopop.

AGNES OF GOD - Georges Delerue

HENRY V (1989) - Patrick Doyle

BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES - Hugo Friedhofer

PRINCE OF TIDES - James Newton Howard

ADVENTURES OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN - the late Michael Kamen

KINGS ROW - Erich Wolfgang Korngold

ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST - Ennio Morricone

DRAGONSLAYER - Alex North - OOP

RETURN OF A MAN CALLED HORSE - Laurence Rosenthal

ROMEO AND JULIET (1968) - Nino Rota

GREYSTOKE - John Scott

FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE - Dmitri Tiomkin

REBECCA - Franz Waxman

SUNSET BOULEVARD - ditto

STANLEY AND IRIS - John Williams

ENGLISH PATIENT - Gabriel Yared

I know - sensory overload. And this is just the tip of the iceberg. So much great film music, so little time.

 

[Walter Kittel]

Somewhat surprised that it hasn't been mentioned yet...
The Big Country - Jerome Moross
For myself, *the* definitive Western score and a title I would add to Pete's essential list of film scores.
- Walter.

 

[Peter Apruzzese]

Dick:
Great choices!
Good news for you:

LUST FOR LIFE - Miklos Rozsa, suite available on LP only

Lust for Life CD (complete, original tracks)
Get 'em now!
Walter is correct about The Big Country. I was debating whether it, The Magnificent Seven, or Once Upon a Time in the West should represent the western genre, so, of course, I didn't list any of them... :b

 

[ThomasC]

Possession - Gabriel Yared

 

[Chet_F]

Schindler's List is just amazing. I'd also second Braverheart. The Original Dune movie had a great score.

 

[KylePete]

Thanks for all the suggestions, everyone. I really appreciate it.

Kyle

 

[DaveDickey]

The soundtrack to the Antonio Banderas movie "Desperado" is great. It has some Dire Straits and a lot of unique stuff on it, some in Spanish, but catchy catchy tunes.

 

[KylePete]

Thanks, Dave. I remember loving the Desperado music the last time I saw the movie.

Kyle

 

[Christ Reynolds]

first of all, anything by bernard hermann. that said, my faves are magnolia by jon brion, requiem for a dream by the kronos quartet (cant believe nobody mentioned that yet), and the hours by philip glass. i also like rushmore by mark mothersbaugh, but mostly for the music on it, not the score. my fav music soundtracks are the big lebowski, boogie nights, and of course 2001.

CJ

 

[jonathan_little]

I think Bernard Herrmann is great, but I also think he's a bit of an acquired taste. Film Score Monthly recently released his score to On Dangerous Ground, but unfortunately it's sourced from acetates so the sound is pretty bad in places. It's certainly another one of his fantastic scores, though. I'm very happy to have it in my collection and I'm able to enjoy it quite a bit even with the sound quality issues.
Probably the best place to start with Herrmann would be the "Film Scores" album conducted by Salonen on Sony Classical. This album has suites from Psycho, Fahrenheit 451, and Taxi Driver. Also included is music from The Man Who Knew Too Much, Torn Curtain, Marnie, North by Northwest, and Vertigo. (The three tracks from Vertigo aren't very good on this recording, though.) This album is sometimes located in the classical section under Herrmann.
Every collection should probably have at least one of John Barry's Bond scores, and I think the best one is On Her Majesty's Secret Service. This score was given an expanded CD release last year and it sounds great. This album should be available for less than $12. Make sure you get the expanded one with 21 tracks, since the old release is still floating around.
In addition to The Big Country, Jerome Moross' The Cardinal is quite good as well. It's available on RCA Spain from soundtrack shops like Screen Archives. Silva Screen has a 2-CD re-recording of Moross' work which is also named "The Cardinal." The music on this compilation is great but it's played by a rather crummy orchestra. Overall it's an alright performance, but the trumpet section always gets on my nerves with their constant loud playing.
Finally, you can't go wrong with Erich Wolfgang Korngold. Every score I've heard from him is something fantastic.

 

[JordanS]

I just bought the soundtrack to "The Last Samurai." I love every minute of it.

 

[Danny Tse]

No one mentioned "The Last Emperor"??
Any soundtrack by Mark Knopfler (of Dire Straits) is cool in my book.

 

[Andrew O'Brien]

"Now we are free" is a Persian song for everbody who wants to know .

 

[Andrew O'Brien]

"Now we are free" is a persian song for everbody who wants to know .

 

[Jesse Lawson]

Franz Waxman's score for The Bride of Frankenstein is among my favorites, simultaneously wondrous and heartbreaking, like the film itself. I've actually never heard the recording that's on CD, though. Korngold's fabulous Adventures of Robin Hood score is available as a music-only track on that film's recent DVD release.

Still, I'd say that the best way to know if you'd like a score is to see the film, even though details will probably be obscured.

The all-time greatest motion picture scores are of course by Carl Stalling (try The Carl Stalling Project: Music from Warner Bros. Cartoons 1936-1958).

 

[Danny Tse]

Second Carl Stalling....there's a second volume too.
Just hearing Carl Stalling will always bring a smile to my face. :b

 

[Jonathan Dagmar]

I get the feeling you are mostly interested in original and instrumental scores, but nevertheless here are some of my favourites.

Little Shop of Horrors

Star Wars, Empire, Jedi, etc

Boogie Nights

Pulp Fiction

Big Lebowski (not even sure if this is available, but I assume it is)

Almost Famous

 

[Nkosi]

Everyone has listed some great scores/ soundtracks thus far. I would also recommend "Conan The Barbarian" by Basil Poledoris. The movie isn't as popular as say Starwars or Rings or Braveheart, etc. but I think the music is absolutely beautiful. The soundtrack for "Glory" is great as well. There are some super choral arrangements. I would also look at the soundtrack for "He Got Game." It's basically the music of Aaron Coplin used for the film. These are three scores I think are right up there with the Gladiators, Crouching Tigers, Mohicans, Starwars, etc. Oh, and lastly, The Untouchables soundtrack is just amazing as well. Enjoy.
My favorite soundtracks/ scores (in no order):
- Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
- The 3 Lord of the Rings movies
- The Last of the Mohicans
- Glory
- Conan The Barbarian
- Braveheart
- Gladiator
- The Last Samurai
- Everything Star Wars by John Williams
- He Got Game
- The Untouchables
- The 25th Hour
- Juice