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Posted: |
May 15, 2010 - 3:10 AM
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By: |
Thor
(Member)
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A friend mine recently asked me to recommend 10 score albums by 10 different film composers, and it struck me as a fun challenge that I thought would be of interest here as well.
So here are the rules:
1. Using ten of your favourite composers, pick ONE album each that you want to represent said composer
2. One and ONLY ONE soundtrack album pr. composer
3. No combo albums or compilations or runner-ups allowed!
4. Feel free to choose personal favourites, not necessarily the most important or famous score by said composer
5. Feel free to add one single sentence about why you've chosen that score so that it's not just an anonymous list
6. Please note that we're talking soundtrack ALBUMS here, not necessarily how the score worked in the movie
Here are mine:
1. John Williams - JURASSIC PARK
Goosebumping awe & wonder, some suspense stuff and some excellent action music all combined into one of my alltime favourites.
2. Danny Elfman - EDWARD SCISSORHANDS
More awe & wonder with a christmassy feel. It goes straight to the emotional core.
3. Elliot Goldenthal - FINAL FANTASY: THE SPIRITS WITHIN
Normally a bit too bombastic for my taste these days, but has a massive scope in mood and styles.
4. Hans Zimmer - BEYOND RANGOON
Zimmer is best when he's in ethnic mode, and this is his most gorgeous of those.
5. Jerry Goldsmith - THE MUMMY
I love the meeting of arabic orchestrations and full-scale orchestra in a lush tonal language.
6. James Horner - AVATAR
Yeah, it has bowled me over; the adventure, the heart, the excitement.
7. James Newton Howard - WATERWORLD
It has everything - heroic action music, ethereal synths, exotic stuff, romance, religious sound.
8. Alan Silvestri - THE ABYSS
One of my alltime favs, mostly because of the majestic music towards the end
9. Basil Poledouris - CONAN THE BARBARIAN
A no-brainer.
10. Elmer Bernstein - TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD
Childlike perception through music - from innocence to horror.
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John Barry - "Dances With Wolves"
Elmer Bernstein - "To Kill a Mockingbird"
Jerry Goldsmith - "First Knight"
Michael Kamen - "Mr. Holland's Opus"
Erich Wolfgang Korngold - "The Adventures of Robin Hood"
Alex North - "A Streetcar Named Desire"
Miklos Rozsa - "El Cid"
Max Steiner - "Adventures of Don Juan"
Franz Waxman - "Sunset Boulevard"
John Williams - "Memoirs of a Geisha"
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Posted: |
May 15, 2010 - 3:43 AM
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By: |
diachenko
(Member)
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In no particular order:
1. Hans Zimmer: Angels & Demons
Wonderful score overall, but the first track "BPM 160" is one of my favorite tracks of any score: the energy, drive, and menace are just fantastic.
2. James Newton Howard: Dinosaur
This was really hard to narrow down, but this remains my favorite Newton Howard score. Full of wonderful melodies, moods, and top-notch orchestration.
3. John Debney: Cutthroat Island
Super action/adventure swashbuckler score with more than a nod back to classic Williams and Korngold.
4. Trevor Rabin: Deep Blue Sea
A score that shows off Rabin's two trademarks-epic, soaring themes and pulsing, rock-driven action.
5. John Powell: How to Train Your Dragon
Another hard one to narrow down, but this new score by Powell has just blown me away. It's beautiful, powerful, and just plain fun.
6. Richard Harvey: The Great Within
Richard Harvey is sadly not very well known in the USA, but he is a fantastic composer, and this is one of his best, a wonderful blending of Western and Eastern themes and instrumentations. Plus, Harvey is one of the best orchestrators I've ever heard.
7. Harry Gregson-Williams: Sinbad-Legend of the Seven Seas
This score is the epitome of big, fun, epic music.
8. Howard Shore: Lord of the Rings (complete)
What can I say? This achievement is just staggering. There are so many highlights, but "The Lighting of the Beacons" is tops for me.
9. Basil Poledouris: For Love of the Game
If only for the opening track (though it's all good), one of the most beautiful themes ever written.
10. Thomas Newman: Oscar and Lucinda
Gorgeous, gorgeous score, with superb orchestration, and breathtaking themes.
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Posted: |
May 15, 2010 - 6:45 AM
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By: |
ToneRow
(Member)
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So here are the rules:
1. Using ten of your favourite composers, pick ONE album each that you want to represent said composer
2. One and ONLY ONE soundtrack album pr. composer
3. No combo albums or compilations or runner-ups allowed!
4. Feel free to choose personal favourites, not necessarily the most important or famous score by said composer
5. Feel free to add one single sentence about why you've chosen that score so that it's not just an anonymous list
6. Please note that we're talking soundtrack ALBUMS here, not necessarily how the score worked in the movie
"Battle Of The Bulge" (1965) by Benjamin Frankel was issued on Warner Bros LP, re-issued on a Japanese Soundtrack Club CD, and re-recorded with about twice as much music on the German CPO label; whichever album you listen to, one hears a masterwork from the first composer in the British film industry to utilize serial atonal techniques.
"Bunny Lake Is Missing" (1965) by Paul Glass can be heard only on the RCA Victor LP, but it's a masterly blend of a tonal lullaby for the absent child juxtaposed with fierce dissonances indicating all the eccentric adults and situations revolving around her disappearance (we'll have to forgive the intrusion of the 3 vocals from "The Zombies" which are also on the album).
"Fantastic Voyage" (1966) by Leonard Rosenman, is perhaps the best example of this composer's unique sound world, which he first introduced in the mid-'50s by incorporating serial atonal methods when no others were doing so.
"Africa" (1967) by Alex North. Although this is not a film, I feel this represents Mr. North's greatest achievement into the realm of contemporary concert music: he composed a 4-movement symphony based upon material he wrote for this television special.
"Ulysses" (1967) by Stanley Myers is available only as an LP on RCA Victor, but what an album it is - a potpourri of themes bunched together and distorted in a Charles Ives fashion.
"The Illustrated Man" (1969) by Jerry Goldsmith. My favorite Goldsmith score, which demonstrates all that he was capable of: lyricism, economy, atonal music, bizarre instrumental combinations, much else...
"Blood From The Mummy's Tomb" (1971) by Tristram Cary. This is one of the rare Hammer Film scores to have been issued on CD, and it is also one of their best: Ancient Egypt is colorfully evoked amidst the blood-n-thunder!
"The Mechanic" (1972) by Jerry Fielding is another highpoint in the music of cinema achieving, as it does, a post-modern sound world that not only reflects the harsh dog-eat-dog environment seen in the film, but can stand up quite well on its own in a concert hall performance.
"L'Imprecateur" (1977) by Richard Rodney Bennett is another album that is not available in digital format (being issued on a French LP), but its atonal music communicates a cold/icy detatched feeling to the proceedings (I have never seen the film, but it seems to be set in law firms/courtrooms of the skyscrapers in a metropolitan city).
"Danton" (1982) by Jean Prodromides is challenging and uncompromising music, one of the last gasps of contemporary classical music in cinema (although the recent CD of this combines to short EPs, the original LP features only music from "Danton")
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Sylvester Levay - Hot Shots!
Harold Faltermeyer - Tango & Cash
Tangerine Dream - Dead Solid Perfect
Hans Zimmer - Green Card
Jonathan Elias - Vamp
Gary Chang - 52 Pick-Up
Giorgio Moroder - Cat People
BT - Monster
Patrick O'Hearn - White Sands
Christopher Franke - Raven
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1.Bernard Herrmann- Vertigo (followed closely by F451)
2. Alex North- Spartacus (obviously)
3. John Williams- Superman (more range of style than Star Wars IMO)
4. Jerry Goldsmith- Papillon (once again, great range of technique and style- plaintive melodies, awesome action cues, the whole 9 yards)
5. Akira Ifukube- Gojira (was the ever any doubt?)
6. Elliot Goldenthal- Cobb (another complete look at a composer's range)
7. Gabriel Yared- The Talented Mr Ripley (great score- jazz, classical, everything)
8. James Horner- The Rocketeer (probably his most original and dynamic score for me)
9. Thomas Newman- The Shawshank Redemption (still an outstanding achievement)
10. James Newton Howard- Signs (completely awesome)
Nice thread Thor. I like it!
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1. Alan Menken - The Little Mermaid
2. James Horner - Star Trek: The Wrath Of Khan
3. Jerry Goldsmith - Hoosiers
4. John Williams - E.T.
5. John Powell - How To Train Your Dragon
6. Michael Giacchino - Speed Racer
7. Nicholas Hooper - Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince
8. Elmer Bernstein - The Magnificent Seven
9. Basil Poledouris - Quigley Down Under
10. Bill Conti - Rocky
That was kind of tougher than I thought. Many of my favorites didn't make the list...
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, but I would recommend them both) 
