Right now, who are your Top 5 film composers?

[Display Name 60]

FUCK YOU, IT IS SPELLED "AGGRESSIONS", YOU STUPID ASSHOLE!!!

[Koray Savas 2,251]

23 hours ago, Brundlefly said:

Does any of you know La Califfa by Ennio Morricone?

Good score. 

[Naïve Old Fart 9,511]

9 hours ago, BloodBoal said:

 

I thought all characters in John Hughes movies are pricks?

 

I like Cameron.

[Incanus 5,714]

1. John Williams

2. Jerry Goldsmith

3. Thomas Newman

4. Elliot Goldenthal

5. Howard Shore

[Thor 7,490]

3 hours ago, Koray Savas said:

Good score. 

 

I only have a couple of LA CALIFFA tracks on a compilation, but they're gorgeous! Ennio Morricone is very on/off to me.

[Brundlefly 2,385]

10 hours ago, Koray Savas said:

Good score. 

Good score. Makes me depressive.

9 hours ago, Incanus said:

1. John Williams

2. Jerry Goldsmith

3. Thomas Newman

4. Elliot Goldenthal

5. Howard Shore

From number 3-5 I only know a few scores, but they are always quite impressive.

[Josh500 1,615]

On 26/09/2017 at 3:25 PM, Incanus said:

1. John Williams

2. Jerry Goldsmith

3. Thomas Newman

4. Elliot Goldenthal

5. Howard Shore

 

I've listened to a few Thomas Newman scores (Skyfall, The Green Mile, Red Corner, Bridge of Spies etc.), but I was never impressed with what I heard. Seems just very unmemorable and uninspired. Maybe I'm listening to the wrong scores....? Or maybe his style of writing doesn't catch my fancy in general.

 

 

[Disco Stu 15,495]

2 minutes ago, Josh500 said:

Or maybe his style of writing doesn't catch my fancy in general.

 

 

Probably this.

 

I consider myself a big fan but I will admit that it's only a subset of his scores that hold up as great listening on their own.  But this isn't meant as an insult!  He's one of the best composers whose goal is supporting the film first and foremost.

 

I don't much like his Bond scores, though.

[Josh500 1,615]

1 minute ago, Disco Stu said:

 

 

I don't much like his Bond scores, though.

 

Me neither. After David Arnold's Casino Royale, I was like wth! Seemed just so uninspired.... 

[Disco Stu 15,495]

Shawshank Redemption, Little Women, American Beauty, Road to Perdition, Finding Nemo, Revolutionary Road, many more are great listenable scores.

 

But then again, Bridge of Spies is one my favorite Newman scores and you found that one "uninspired."  So I think his very distinctive, individual style just doesn't click with you.

[Josh500 1,615]

Just now, Disco Stu said:

But then again, Bridge of Spies is one my favorite Newman scores and you found that one "uninspired."  So I think his very distinctive, individual style just doesn't click with you.

 

I listened to Bridge only once so far. I didn't like the movie, so probably I'm biased.

 

But I'll listen to the others one of these days. By the way, you know Meet Joe Black? I saw the score in a store recently. 

[Disco Stu 15,495]

Just now, Josh500 said:

 

I listened to Bridge only once so far. I didn't like the movie, so probably I'm biased.

 

But I'll listen to the others one of these days. By the way, you know Meet Joe Black? I saw the score in a store recently. 

 

I saw the movie once many, many years ago and hated it so I haven't sought out the score.  T. Newman works so much, it's hard to be familiar with all of them.

[KK 3,307]

Meet Joe Black has some of Newman's finest moments. Especially this:

 

 

Go check it out Stu!

 

Newman is easily one of the finest and most significant composers of modern film music. But he's in a creative rut at the moment.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

I dunno about last year and this year, but I really liked Saving Mr. Banks and Bridge of Spies.  He should score more Tom Hanks movies!

[KK 3,307]

Both are very solid scores, especially the latter. But neither have much to really add to his oeuvre. He's been recycling the same textures and ideas for some time now.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

Victoria & Abdul is pretty good (based on one listen) but I do agree with others who have noted it's similar to ground he's covered with the Marigold scores.

[KK 3,307]

Yea. The Marigold scores were better.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,511]

I like PASSENGERS 

[Marian Schedenig 8,191]

3 hours ago, Josh500 said:

By the way, you know Meet Joe Black? I saw the score in a store recently. 

 

It's a lovely score that I only have the same problem with that I have with most of his scores: There's much more of it than I need. Even with a classic like Shawshank I usually only listen to a few cues (and never picked up the expansion for that reason).

 

Good movie, too (though not well received). And even if you don't like the score, there's also the Brother Iz version of Somewhere Over the Rainbow on the album.

[Brundlefly 2,385]

2 hours ago, KK said:

Both are very solid scores, especially the latter. But neither have much to really add to his oeuvre. He's been recycling the same textures and ideas for some time now.

That's what I immediately thought, when wachting BoS. Good music, but nothing is really new.

[Josh500 1,615]

1 hour ago, Marian Schedenig said:

 

It's a lovely score that I only have the same problem with that I have with most of his scores: There's much more of it than I need. Even with a classic like Shawshank I usually only listen to a few cues (and never picked up the expansion for that reason).

 

 

Well, it's better to have too much of something than too little.

 

Except for JW titles, I never buy the expanded or complete specialty label releases.

[Marian Schedenig 8,191]

Two pretty contradictory statements, no?

[Josh500 1,615]

7 hours ago, Marian Schedenig said:

Two pretty contradictory statements, no?

 

Not really. See, I was just responding to your previous post. 

 

If you buy an OST album, it's better for it to have more music then less. But that doesn't mean I'm gonna start buying all the expanded releases, just because they have more music.

 

 

[Incanus 5,714]

21 hours ago, Josh500 said:

 

I listened to Bridge only once so far. I didn't like the movie, so probably I'm biased.

 

But I'll listen to the others one of these days. By the way, you know Meet Joe Black? I saw the score in a store recently. 

I am generally drawn to his older stuff than the current fare which I have to confess I have not delved too deeply in (both Marigold Hotel scores, Passengers, Saving Mr. Banks, his Bond scores). Something like Bridge of Spies has all his trademarks but lacks punch, is all too familiar and unusually sappy without melodic invention I love in Newman's work.

 

Generally one of the things that attracts me to his scores is his ability to weave melody and atmosphere into a perfect whole and the unexpected sounds he so often brings into his music. He isn't by his own admission very interested in the large scale symphonic writing but prefers a smaller ensemble and specialty instruments and sonic manipulations which he does very well. However some exceptions like Meet Joe Black (a modern take) and The Good German (a deliberate throwback) show that he is quite adept in resurrecting the style closer to his father's work.

[publicist 4,643]

A lot of that small-ish stuff works well when it's attached to a movie but i never found it successful on records - the really traditional stuff like 'Little Women', 'Joe Black', 'Good German' or several others excepted and even those have a lot of short, plucky cues. So i guess Newman for me is more of an europan composer like Morricone, Barry or Delerue who wrote often sublime and inventive music but you're well served with a 15 or 20 minute sample of it (barring repetitions, short cues etc.)

 

'Bridge of Spies' is a lame one, i'm afraid. 

 

 

[Josh500 1,615]

Every score from Thomas Newman that I've heard seems to lack a certain impact.

 

It's just constant, plucking, rarely changing wall of background music, sometimes it gets louder, sometimes softer, and that's the only variation. Of course, this is an exaggeration, but you get my point how I perceive his music.

[Incanus 5,714]

2 hours ago, publicist said:

A lot of that small-ish stuff works well when it's attached to a movie but i never found it successful on records - the really traditional stuff like 'Little Women', 'Joe Black', 'Good German' or several others excepted and even those have a lot of short, plucky cues. So i guess Newman for me is more of an europan composer like Morricone, Barry or Delerue who wrote often sublime and inventive music but you're well served with a 15 or 20 minute sample of it (barring repetitions, short cues etc.)

 

'Bridge of Spies' is a lame one, i'm afraid. 

 

 

If there is one thing that is to the detriment of Newman's music that is the filmic brevity of many of his cues in film and on album which makes his scores feel bitty. Then again some of his short cues are quite brilliant in how much he can pack into a 40-second piece. Either he prefers to spot short passages or he isn't afforded lengthier sequences to develop his material.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

The final three tracks of the Bridge of Spies OST is among my favorite stretch of music in Newman’s career.  He gets a chance to really stretch his legs there with all 7+ minute tracks (and yes I know the End Credits is tracked).  Great stuff.  When I want a Bridge of Spies listening experience, I usually just put those tracks on.

[Yavar Moradi 2,593]

Oh, I thought the "right now" was going to be "your favorites of film composers still working now," not "your favorite five of all time, at this particular moment"...guess I'll answer both!

 

Of all time:

1. Jerry Goldsmith (by a good margin...keep investigating his stuff!)

2. Miklos Rozsa 

3. Alfred Newman

4. Basil Poledouris

5. Bernard Herrmann

 

Man that's so hard, leaving off awesome favorites like Williams (probably at #6), Bernstein (probably at #7), Morricone, Waxman, Friedhofer, Korngold, Scott, Newton Howard, Shore, Horner, Eidelman, Elfman, Goldenthal, and talented "newcomers" like Powell, Giacchino, and McCreary. And the other very talented Newmans: David (love The Phantom, Galaxy Quest, Operation Dumbo Drop!!), Thomas (not wild about his Bonds either but Shawshank Redemption, Meet Joe Black!), and Randy (The Natural!) 

 

Jarre and Barry are hit or miss with me but when they're ON (Lawrence of Arabia, Dances With Wolves), they're really ON!

 

Living/active composers is a bit easier:

1. Williams

2. Morricone

3. Shore

4. Newton Howard

5. Powell / Elfman tie (gotta cheat, sorry...couldn't leave either of them off)

 

And I'm probably forgetting one or two composers I love that I'll be kicking myself for later.

 

Yavar

[Josh500 1,615]

52 minutes ago, Yavar Moradi said:

1. Jerry Goldsmith (by a good margin...keep investigating his stuff!)

2. Miklos Rozsa 

3. Alfred Newman

4. Basil Poledouris

5. Bernard Herrmann

 

 

1. Williams

2. Morricone

3. Shore

4. Newton Howard

5. Powell / Elfman tie (gotta cheat, sorry...couldn't leave either of them off)

 

 

Wow, that's quite a list! 

 

So how many CDs do you actually have of these composers? Do you know most of their works? Because that'd be indeed a MASSIVE collection! 

 

By the way, I agree with you on your choices, except for one major thing. John Williams is my number one film composer of all time.

[Brundlefly 2,385]

2 hours ago, Yavar Moradi said:

Oh, I thought the "right now" was going to be "your favorites of film composers still working now," not "your favorite five of all time, at this particular moment"...guess I'll answer both!

 

Of all time:

1. Jerry Goldsmith (by a good margin...keep investigating his stuff!)

2. Miklos Rozsa 

3. Alfred Newman

4. Basil Poledouris

5. Bernard Herrmann

 

Man that's so hard, leaving off awesome favorites like Williams (probably at #6), Bernstein (probably at #7), Morricone, Waxman, Friedhofer, Korngold, Scott, Newton Howard, Shore, Horner, Eidelman, Elfman, Goldenthal, and talented "newcomers" like Powell, Giacchino, and McCreary. And the other very talented Newmans: David (love The Phantom, Galaxy Quest, Operation Dumbo Drop!!), Thomas (not wild about his Bonds either but Shawshank Redemption, Meet Joe Black!), and Randy (The Natural!) 

 

Jarre and Barry are hit or miss with me but when they're ON (Lawrence of Arabia, Dances With Wolves), they're really ON!

 

Living/active composers is a bit easier:

1. Williams

2. Morricone

3. Shore

4. Newton Howard

5. Powell / Elfman tie (gotta cheat, sorry...couldn't leave either of them off)

 

And I'm probably forgetting one or two composers I love that I'll be kicking myself for later.

 

Yavar

One very noticeable thing here is that your two lists are completely different. This shows us how many great composers are already dead.

[Jay 37,336]

The composers who have created the most amount of amazing scores I absolutely love

 

1 John Williams

2 James Horner

3 Jerry Goldsmith

4 Danny Elfman

5 Michael Giacchino

 

The composers who produced some amazing, spectacular scores I love as much or more than the best stuff from the guys above, but whose overall output isn't enough to ever let me rank them as high as them

 

1 Howard Shore (LOTR)

2 David Arnold (Stargate/ID4/TND)

3 Don Davis (Matrixes)

 

Composers actively working today on new productions, whose new scores I am most likely to enjoy and tend to still write more good scores than bad ones

 

1 John Williams

2 Michael Giacchino

3 Laurent Perez del Mar

 

[Josh500 1,615]

14 minutes ago, Jay said:

The composers who have created the most amount of amazing scores I absolutely love

 

1 John Williams

2 James Horner

3 Jerry Goldsmith

4 Danny Elfman

5 Michael Giacchino

 

 

James Horner ranks higher than Jerry Goldsmith for you? 

 

While Horner has written some truly amazing and memorable scores, he'd never beat Goldsmith, in my opinion. Just like Goldsmith would never have beaten John Williams... 

[Nick1Ø66 4,710]

12 minutes ago, Jay said:

 

The composers who produced some amazing, spectacular scores I love as much or more than the best stuff from the guys above, but whose overall output isn't enough to ever let me rank them as high as them

 

1 Howard Shore (LOTR)

 

 

Yeah. Shore's an interesting case.  A solid composer whose lifetime output can't touch that of some of his peers but who created three inspired scores that are arguably the greatest achievement in film music history. 

 

God walked into the room while Shore was composing LOTR.

[Josh500 1,615]

23 minutes ago, Brundlefly said:

One very noticeable thing here is that your two lists are completely different. This shows us how many great composers are already dead.

 

Yeah, this is the second thing I noticed.

 

The first is that JW is not in the all-time top 5 list. Wth!

[Jay 37,336]

1 minute ago, Josh500 said:

James Horner ranks higher than Jerry Goldsmith for you? 

Yes

 

1 minute ago, Josh500 said:

While Horner has written some truly amazing and memorable scores, he'd never beat Goldsmith, in my opinion. Just like Goldsmith would never have beaten John Williams... 

 

Yes, indeed two people have hold two different opinions.

[Josh500 1,615]

3 minutes ago, Jay said:

Yes

 

 

Yes, indeed two people have hold two different opinions.

 

You have a knack for stating the painfully obvious.

 

My comment was meant to elicit a more elaborate response from you on why, for you, Horner ranks higher than Goldsmith. But never mind!

[Jay 37,336]

Well I dunno, I love Horner, and I love Goldsmith.  They have both written multiple amazing masterpieces.

[Sharkissimo 1,973]

John Williams

Thomas Newman

Alex North

Jerry Goldsmith

Elliot Goldenthal

[Brundlefly 2,385]

58 minutes ago, Josh500 said:

James Horner ranks higher than Jerry Goldsmith for you? 

 

While Horner has written some truly amazing and memorable scores, he'd never beat Goldsmith, in my opinion. Just like Goldsmith would never have beaten John Williams... 

But still, Goldsmith is nearer to Williams, than Horner to Goldsmith, I'd say.

 

Apart from that, these three seem to be the most popular on this forum anyway.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

I like Horner a lot, but I definitely don't like his music in general as much as 95% of the forum does.

[Josh500 1,615]

12 minutes ago, Brundlefly said:

But still, Goldsmith is nearer to Williams, than Horner to Goldsmith, I'd say.

 

Hmmm, not for me.

 

Sure, there are several really amazing composers, and both Goldsmith and Horner are unquestionably among them, but John Williams is really in a league of his own (at least for me). His massive talent is head and shoulders above the rest, I'd say. 

[Brundlefly 2,385]

JW and JG are

1 minute ago, Josh500 said:

head and shoulders above the rest, I'd say. 

 

[Yavar Moradi 2,593]

John Williams (and Jerry Goldsmith if he were still alive) might be flattered, but they'd think you were crazy for saying they were "head and shoulders above" the likes of Bernard Herrmann, Alfred Newman, or Miklos Rozsa.

 

On 9/28/2017 at 11:13 AM, Josh500 said:

Wow, that's quite a list! 

So how many CDs do you actually have of these composers? Do you know most of their works? Because that'd be indeed a MASSIVE collection! 

By the way, I agree with you on your choices, except for one major thing. John Williams is my number one film composer of all time.

 

Yeah I do have a pretty big collection...and it would be about five times the size if I hadn't gotten married almost 10 years ago!

 

Let's see...I'm pretty much a Jerry Goldsmith, Basil Poledouris, and Miklos Rozsa completist (and Cliff Eidelman, but that's a lot easier of course). Probably 95% of each of their output on CD. Got the vast majority of Herrmann's output too, if not quite as high a percentage. Alfred Newman is a bit trickier since I'm not as interested in musicals and "adaptation" scores that interpolate popular songs and such, and that is a decent amount of his output. But I've got the vast majority of his original scores and he wrote Captain from Castile, my #1 favorite Golden Age score:

http://www1.screenarchives.com/title_detail.cfm/ID/3277/CAPTAIN-FROM-CASTILE/

Oh, and How the West Was Won (lot of adaptation in that score which I actually like better than usual, but it also has perhaps the most kickass main theme of all time):

 

Of those who didn't quite make my top 5, I probably have around 85% of John Williams's scores on album...probably more like 60% of Elmer Bernstein cuz the guy was as prolific as Goldsmith, but I'm working on it. As for Morricone I've got a couple dozen of his scores...but that's like 6% of what's out there, lol! Maybe 90% of John Powell. Newton Howard, Shore, and Elfman are on the list because their best works are just that good, but I wouldn't say I feel the need to get everything they did. Maybe half.

 

Yavar

[RICHARDSTRAUSS68 107]

1. John Williams 

2. Jerry Goldsmith 

3. Danny Elfman 

4. Alexander Deplast 

5.  Patrick Doyle 

[Koray Savas 2,251]

On 9/28/2017 at 2:59 PM, Josh500 said:

 

You have a knack for stating the painfully obvious.

 

My comment was meant to elicit a more elaborate response from you on why, for you, Horner ranks higher than Goldsmith. But never mind!

And you have a knack for asking about the painfully obvious. 

[Brundlefly 2,385]

10 hours ago, Yavar Moradi said:

John Williams (and Jerry Goldsmith if he were still alive) might be flattered, but they'd think you were crazy for saying they were "head and shoulders above" the likes of Bernard Herrmann, Alfred Newman, or Miklos Rozsa.

You bet your ass, they would! They'd probably send me to the cuckoo's nest, not knowing that they belong there for thinking Mozart is superior to them.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

1. The Doctor

2. Disco Stu

3. Blanche Hudson

4. Will

5. Richard

[Bayesian 1,359]

Coming to this topic late; nonetheless, here's my list:

 

1. John Williams: Unsurpassable, for all the reasons stated here and throughout these forums. To me, he is the ne plus ultra of film music the way Beethoven is of classical -- simply untouchable.

 

2. Danny Elfman & Jerry Goldsmith: I've loved DE since Batman and Edward Scissorhands. I discovered JG much later (only in the past couple years, actually), but he grown on me big time. Both know how to write really catchy themes and orchestrate with flair.

 

3. JNH & Alexandre Desplat: JNH is hit-or-miss, but when he hits, like with Lady in the Water, or Waterworld, it's plain awesome. As for AD, I think he easily counts as one of the most sophisticated and musically intelligent of the "newer" generation of composers. I love his clinical sounding scores (Imitation Game, etc.)

 

4. James Horner: JH wrote some incredible melodies and knew how to use the orchestra with the best of them. Rocketeer, Casper, Amazing Spider-Man, Avatar, Mask of Zorro... I could not live without them.

 

5. Alan Menken: No one's mentioned him yet, but he is to my mind about half the reason there was a Disney Renaissance in the first place. Aladdin, Little Mermaid, B&B, Hercules... those were just Broadway shows in the guise of animated films, and he wrote the showstoppers that made them so. He gets up here for that decade of work alone. Unfortunately, I know little of his more recent work.

 

6. Honorable mentions: Giacchino, Poledouris, Doyle, and Kamen. Maybe some Silvestri. I know little of Powell, so I can't rank him yet.

 

After Williams, nos. 2 through 5 are basically tied with each other. And Zimmer... well, how many composers in Hollywood are there? Take that number and subtract three. Zimmer basically slots in there, just before Jablonsky and Junkie XL.

[A. A. Ron 1,742]

Williams

Goldsmith

Horner

Zimmer

Powell

 

Honorable mentions for Rozsa, Bernstein, Elfman, Giacchino and Newton Howard.