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If JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH isn't a fantasy, then nothing is (unless you've actually managed to stumble upon the Three Notches of Arne Saknussom at the volcanic crater of Mt. Skaltaris)!
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15 years on, I think we could use some fresh opinions on everyone's favorite fantasy film scores.
For me, the top of the list would be—surprise, surprise—Shore's LOTRs and Poledouris's Conans.
But more recently, I found Djawadi's Season 6 of Game of Thrones superb and I've really enjoyed Adenot's Beauty and the Beast. JNH's Snow White & The Huntsman and Maleficent are terrific fantasy scores as well.
Any other greats I should look into?
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GOT
Seasons 2 - 5 are superb.
WESTWORLD also quite good (some might rightfully label this science fiction) .
Brm
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Oh yes, Westworld is terrific. But as you say, that's more sci-fi/western to me than fantasy. When I think fantasy I think dragons and castles and the like.
I haven't looked into GOT 2-5 yet, but maybe I should. I liked S7 well enough, but S6 was something else entirely.
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Oh yes, Westworld is terrific. But as you say, that's more sci-fi/western to me than fantasy. When I think fantasy I think dragons and castles and the like.
I haven't looked into GOT 2-5 yet, but maybe I should. I liked S7 well enough, but S6 was something else entirely.
I mentioned it mainly because it has the same composer.
I dont consider superhero flics fantasy for the most part but SUPERMAN and THOR qualify. I guess.
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Any other greats I should look into?
If you like Conan you might also like Morricone's Red Sonjia. I wouldn't say it is as great a score as Conan, but it is very good, and in the same milieu.
My personal favorite fantasy scores include:
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Williams)
Heavy Metal (Bernstein)
(Don't be fooled by the title -- this not "heavy metal" music, but a bold, heroic, romantic score for large orchestra and chorus)
Krull (Horner)
The Dark Crystal (Jones)
Legend (Goldsmith)
Hook (Williams)
Clash of the Titans (Rosenthal)
Highlander (Kamen)
The 13th Warrior (Goldsmith)
(Ok, maybe this movie isn't strictly "fantasy" but the music has all the requisite elements of an epic fantasy score)
And -- this is not a film score -- but I also highly recommend Ravel's ballet "Daphnis et Chloe", which was a big influence on many fantasy scores.
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Another great conversation from a while ago that I somehow missed at the time.
I love the fantasy film scores as I feel that, along with science fiction, it is one of the film genres that tend to lean more heavily on their scores. This is often to help tie together the characterization with the exotic locations and situations.
What I like about Dragonslayer in particular is that it is uncompromisingly North, so different from many fantasy film scores, most (but not all) of which are composed with the 19th Century Romantic sound.
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Clash of the Titans (1980)- Expanded- I cannot properly express how good this is, or how important it is to listen to the C&C of this score.
Legend- Goldsmith, even if the most impressive cue is cribbed directly from Ravel.
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I echo the applause for Manderley's list, and also approve the various proposed additions. I'd like to add to the additions:
Mockridge THE LUCK OF THE IRISH (still available at Kritzerland, BTW!)
Waxman, Salter, Skinner, Previn, Roemheld, Hajos, Stein, et al -- BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, THE WOLF MAN, and all the other UNIVERSAL MONSTER SCORES
Steiner KING KONG, (with yes, a nod to SON OF)
Webb SINBAD THE SAILOR (not strictly speaking a fantasy, but definitely a great Arabian Nights score)
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"Fantasy" is a flexible term, but since one of my first ever LPs was "The Fantasy Film World of Bernard Herrmann" back in '74 or '75, I was extremely overawed by the films represented - THE 7TH VOYAGE OF SINBAD, JOURNEY TO THE CENTRE OF THE EARTH, THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL and FAHRENHEIT 451. I don't think I'd classify all of these as "fantasy", but since it was in the album title, they're here.
Shortly after that I got "The Mysterious Film World of Bernard Herrmann". I think there are more "fantasy" films on that than on the earlier LP - MYSTERIOUS ISLAND, JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS, THE THREE WORLDS OF GULLIVER... Just because I was at that age, they all blew my mind without my even thinking about what it was that attracted me to that music. Maybe part of it was the scarcity of these kinds of things on the market back then. Whatever, some of them have fallen out of favour a bit with me since then, but they certainly marked my youth.
Sincerely,
Dr. Nostalgia
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