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Who is your favorite film composer?


Brundlefly

Who is your Number One?  

73 members have voted

  1. 1. My favourite film composer is...

    • Alan Menken
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    • Alan Silvestri
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    • Alexandre Desplat
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    • Alfred Newman
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    • Basil Poledouris
    • Bernard Hermann
    • Christopher Young
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    • Danny Elfman
    • Elliot Goldenthal
    • Elmer Bernstein
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    • Ennio Morricone
    • Hans Zimmer
    • Henry Mancini
    • Howard Shore
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    • James Horner
    • James Newton Howard
    • Jerry Goldsmith
    • John Barry
    • John Powell
    • John Williams
    • Maurice Jarre
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    • Michael Giacchino
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    • Miklós Rósza
    • Thomas Newman
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    • Someone else (Patrick Doyle, Max Steiner, Leonard Rosenman, Luis Bacalov, ...)


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I’m not really a fan of film music, I’m mostly a fan of John Williams. It beacame more serious since I worked on his discography.

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7 minutes ago, Bespin said:

I’m not really a fan of film music, I’m mostly a fan of John Williams. It beame more serious since I worked on his discography.

For me, Williams is the most Classical of the film composers, certainly.  Rozsa, Korngold, definitely were classical composers, but the weight of German Romanticism weighs rather heavy on their music.  Williams does not completely dispense with this romanticism, but he adds a levity something akin to Mozart, a seriousness more akin to Beethoven, and often a gravity akin to Bach.  And, for the most part, and unlike many of his contemporaries and successors,  he seems to be writing music that happens to function brilliantly as film music, rather than just solid film music.  His music does not exist to serve the film, but serves the film as a byproduct of the very nature of its existence.    

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24 minutes ago, Admiral Piett said:

On JW Fan I thought almost everyone would say Williams (I guess most do) but it's interesting too see others picking others.

 

JWFan was obviously born with a focus on Mr. Williams but it has long since evolved into a general film music board.  You won't find many of us who don't hold him in very high esteem but it's also true that he isn't necessarily the be all end all film composer for some of us.  It is laudable that such differing opinions are not shouted down - that is, if you ignore a short list of sycophants and zealots.  Welcome.

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8 hours ago, Brundlefly said:

Isn't that illegal nowadays?

 

Not when the music is the only interesting character of the entire movie!!!

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I don't think I am, it is just my opinion, it is just what it is. Impressed by what? Just because my favourites are different than Williams? Come on. I am well aware that nobody cares.

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@Lewya, I always read your posts with interest. I am, however, a little mystified as to why you keep posting what some might consider "anti JW" sentiments.

No Saint would ever go to The Kop, and call the fans there, "cunts". Well, not if he wants to live...;)

While no-one here would ever want to stifle your right to free speech, I'm pretty sure that the above post is not going to make you any new friends. If you can live with that, then fill your boots. Maybe you thrive on negative attention?

Personally, I love the work of Alex North. He's someone that, imo, simply doesn't get enough love, here at JWfan. As to Takemitsu; I'll bow to your superior knowledge of his work.

As for JW; I've been listening to his music since 1966, and collecting his music since 1975. I'm unable to put into words and sentences, exactly what his music means to me. It has to be "felt". Obviously, you don't "feel" it, and you don't hold back in saying so. That's fine, but, please, at least try to explain why you don't like it. At the very least, it will make your criticisms of JW a little more valid. Who knows, you might even win (gasp) respect.

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1. James Newton Howard

2. John Williams

3. James Horner

4. Hans Zimmer

5. Howard Shore

 

That's a hard list to make, but I think that it's pretty close to what I feel, at least for the moment. 😄

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On 10/11/2018 at 7:47 AM, Disco Stu said:

You always seem so proud of your relatively lower opinion of Williams' work, like we're supposed to be impressed or something.  Nobody cares.

I'm ashamed of it myself! He's like, number six on my top ten favorites. It feels wrong! Like I've betrayed that friend the brought Jurassic into my life!

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1. John Williams

2. Bernard Herrmann

3. Jerry Goldsmith

 

After that, the number is very small or only one or a passing interest/fan from a distance for other composers, but a few honourable mentions for specific titles:

 

Michael Giacchino - Star Trek (2009), Rogue One (huge subject matter bias with these two, obv)

Philip Glass - Koyaanisqatsi, Mishima, Kundun, Naqoyqatsi, The Hours (and all his concert and stage music work through the 1980s and much but not most afterwards)
James Horner - Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
Cliff Martinez - Solaris (many listens)
Michael Nyman - Prospero's Books and The Piano

Leonard Rosenman - Fantastic Voyage

Lalo Schifrin - THX 1138
Toru Takemitsu - Ran

Hans Zimmer - Inception, Man of Steel and Interstellar
Star Trek the Original Series by Alexander Courage, Fred Steiner, Gerald Fried, et al

Trinity and Beyond (The Atomic Bomb Movie) by William Stromberg, Lennie Moore and John Morgan

I don't really have much of an interest in many of the top mainstream composers of the past 30 years, not to disparage anyone but nothing has called to me. Kind of agree with this:
 

On 10/10/2018 at 8:48 PM, Bespin said:

I’m not really a fan of film music, I’m mostly a fan of John Williams.


How is the late Jóhann Jóhannsson not a voting option? Never mind none of us seem to support any non-white male composers...

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51 minutes ago, The Five Tones said:

Michael Giacchino - Rogue One (huge subject matter bias with these two, obv)

Someone else who likes Giacchino's Rogue One?! :worship:And you live in Toronto! :woop: We need to meet up sometime my friend!

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11 minutes ago, The Illustrious Jerry said:

Someone else who likes Giacchino's Rogue One?! :worship:And you live in Toronto! :woop: We need to meet up sometime my friend!

 

I like it very much too! (More than Powell's Solo 😶). And I'm from Montreal. Maybe it's a canadian thing? 😂

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2 minutes ago, Luka said:

 

I like it very much too! (More than Powell's Solo 😶). And I'm from Montreal. Maybe it's a canadian thing? 😂

 

Proud Canadian here who finds Rogue One insufferable... 🙋‍♂️

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3 minutes ago, KK said:

Proud Canadian here who finds Rogue One insufferable... 🙋‍♂️

You're welcome to come too! As long as we don't go over the top arguing about R.O.! :lol:

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I'm only familiar with John Williams and the Lord of the Rings trilogy by Howard Shore.  I like the Solo soundtrack but I never heard of Powell before then.

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4 hours ago, The Illustrious Jerry said:

Someone else who likes Giacchino's Rogue One?! :worship:And you live in Toronto! :woop: We need to meet up sometime my friend!

 

4 hours ago, Luka said:

I like it very much too! (More than Powell's Solo 😶). And I'm from Montreal. Maybe it's a canadian thing? 😂


If the Europeans can have their meetup, so should we! I would love a trip to Montreal but can probably only afford the subway in Toronto, lol. And I liked some of Solo, less than Rogue.

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I have solo tickets to the Toronto Symphony doing SW OT and TFA live to picture in 2019-20, if anyone's going to that. I mostly go to weird, modern, small scale stuff when I can, but try not to miss too many JW film nights or modern stuff at the TSO.

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Wasn't aware of the SW concerts. But the TSO has been doing lots of film concerts in the last couple of years. Off the top of my head, I've done FOTR, Jaws and HP3.

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@KK have you ever been to the Brott Festival? I've been to Carmina Burana in 2015 and A Night In Space (The Planets and the typical Williams stuff). Other than that I don't get out to concerts often. I'd love to though.

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No, I haven't. Not that familiar with Hamilton's music repertoire.

 

But Toronto has a great music scene. Just last week, the Royal Conservatory programmed a great concert around Reich's Six Pianos. Hypnotic stuff!

 

And who doesn't love seeing a row of Steinways on stage:

FullSizeRender 11.jpg

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8 minutes ago, KK said:

 

FullSizeRender 11.jpg

 

Totally insane.

 

and I though Bach had a lot of humor for having written concertos for three Harpsichord...

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  • 6 months later...
On 10/18/2018 at 4:14 PM, Kasey Kockroach said:

Proud Texan who's indifferent to Rogue One and any of Williams' SW scores (though finds highlights in either one), but adores every second of Solo. 

 

 

I know, old post.

 

proud Texan who loves Rogue One. Enjoy it more than the last 3 Star Wars scores from Powell and Williams.

 

 

On 10/18/2018 at 3:55 PM, The Illustrious Jerry said:

Someone else who likes Giacchino's Rogue One?! :worship:And you live in Toronto! :woop: We need to meet up sometime my friend!

 

 

I’m half Canadian and I love it too.

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Yeah, some time has passed. I wouldn't say I love it, but compared to the strong distaste of others it's sitting pretty well in my books. I don't esteem it to be greater than Williams scores, and I enjoyed Powell's Solo even more. 

 

Most of my favourite moments in the score are actually off of the FYC or are unreleased, but I thought the OST was good. I'm quite surprised this hasn't seen a sessions leak yet, by the way. 

 

29 minutes ago, El Jefe said:

I’m half Canadian and I love it too.

Awesome! Join the club, man! :up:

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JW, then Danny Elfman. They also are the only two film composers whose oeuvre I’m slowly finishing collecting in full on CD.

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  • 1 year later...

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