Zimmer has praised several. Someone mentioned his love of Morricone (esp. ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA and THE MISSION). He's also expressed love for Carpenter's ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13 and Moroder's MIDNIGHT EXPRESS, among others.
Wasn't there a Hollywood Reporter roundtable a few years ago, where several composers (including Zimmer) praised Silvestri, who was also there, for PREDATOR?
The locus classicus for this question might be Irwin Bazelon's book of c. 1975: Knowing the Score. It contains a set of interviews with a dozen or so composers active at the time. All were asked the same set of questions, which included one about composers they admired. Strikingly it was Jerry Goldsmith who turned up on almost every list.
Wasn't there a Hollywood Reporter roundtable a few years ago, where several composers (including Zimmer) praised Silvestri, who was also there, for PREDATOR?
Yes, it was during the 2013 roundtable. Henry Jackman and Hans Zimmer praised Predator 2 as an "action masterpiece". Thomas Newman also shared a "Silvestri moment" during that roundtable: the wild flute solo in Romancing The Stone (in the track The Gorge). Silvestri mentioned the soloist's name, Ray Pizzi, who improvized that part and also performed the weird sounds on Predator 2 (with the "hose-oon").
The most famous example is Waxman resigning from the music branch of the Academy when The Robe was not nominated for an Oscar, then insisting that Newman's name be included in the credits of Demetrius and the gGladiators.
The locus classicus for this question might be Irwin Bazelon's book of c. 1975: Knowing the Score. It contains a set of interviews with a dozen or so composers active at the time. All were asked the same set of questions, which included one about composers they admired. Strikingly it was Jerry Goldsmith who turned up on almost every list.
I have the book also. Those interview answers about Goldsmith show just how high a level he was working on.
Morricone usually cites Bernsteins West Side Story as the one which most impressed and inspired him. One interviewer got out of him that he had great respect for the work of Goldsmith and alex North but there were no examples offered.
Morricone usually cites Bernsteins West Side Story as the one which most impressed and inspired him. One interviewer got out of him that he had great respect for the work of Goldsmith and alex North but there were no examples offered. I seem to remember that Morricone said that he thought Papillon was great (or that he liked it or something like that), but I could be wrong.
There was one composer who I have forgot who said that Jerry Goldsmith`s score to Lonely Are The Brave was too good for the movie (or something like that).
Favorite score : Carter Burwell: Psycho Daniel Pemberton: The Third Man Michael Giacchino: Goldsmith's Planet of The Apes Harry Gregson-Williams: Shawshank Redemption (Thomas Newman music in general motivated him to become film composer) Johann Johannsson: Vertigo (Herrmann's work for Hitchcock and De Palma in general)
Favorite composer: Carter Burwell: Brian Eno Daniel Pemberton: Ennio Morricone Michael Giacchino: Benny Goodman, John Williams, Max Steiner, Jerry Goldsmith, Bernard Herrmann, Loui Prima Harry Gregson-Williams: Hans Zimmer Johann Johannsson: Herrmann and Morricone
Last month I attended a talk by Bruce Broughton before the Silverado live concert in Chicago. He was asked what he had on his iPod and he mentioned John Powell's "How to Train Your Dragon."