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[Lewya 360]

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[JoeinAR 1,949]

Ive never had 10 favorites to begin with. John Williams is the best alive or dead. James and Jerry are dead and the rest are hit and miss.

[Wojo 2,453]

9 minutes ago, JoeinAR said:

James

 

He's never truly dead, as long as we remember him. 

[Kasey Kockroach 2,343]

- John Powell

-Bruce Broughton

-Christopher Young

-John Scott

-Yoko Shimomura

-Yoko Kanno

- Michael Giacchino

- Dario Marianelli 

- Alan Silvestri

-Daniel Licht

 

[Fabulin 3,510]

.

[Thor 7,463]

Mine at the moment (except for no. 1, others change place now and then):

1. John Williams
2. Hans Zimmer
3. Danny Elfman
4. Elliot Goldenthal
5. Max Richter
6. George Fenton
7. Cliff Martinez
8. Rob Simonsen
9. Benjamin Wallfisch
10. A.R. Rahman

Honourable mentions to Alan Silvestri, James Newton Howard, Angelo Badalamenti, Giorgio Moroder, Tom Holkenborg, Mark Isham, Zbigniew Preisner, Thomas Newman, Vangelis.

My evaluation is a mix of things. Whether the composer has been active lately (Vangelis would have been a clear top candidate, for example, if it hadn't been for the fact that he hasn't done much scoring lately), whether they're not as good as they used to (Silvestri, JNH etc.), or whether they're sort of 'cemented' alltime favourites that are in despite certain issues (Goldenthal, Elfman -- despite being disappointed in the latter's "big" scores in recent years), whether they are newish discoveries that have wowed me (Simonsen, Richter etc.). And so on and so forth. Many parameters to consider.

[Smaug The Iron 510]

1. John Williams 
2. Howard Shore 
3. John Powell
4. Alan Silvestri 
5. Hans Zimmer 
6. Mark Isham 
7. James Newton Howard
8. Michael Giacchino
9. Danny Elfman 
10. Alexandre Desplat 

[The Illustrious Jerry 3,356]

1. John Williams

2. Howard Shore

3. John Powell

4. Justin Hurwitz

5. Michael Giacchino

6. Hans Zimmer

7. Dario Marianelli

8. Thomas Newman

9. Alexandre Desplat

10. Alan Silvestri

[John 2,032]

John Williams 

Alexandre Desplat

Howard Shore

Michael Giacchino

Vangelis

Hans Zimmer

James Newton Howard

Justin Hurwitz

Danny Elfman

John Powell

[Bayesian 1,359]

I can only do a top 5:

 

John Williams

Danny Elfman

Alexandre Desplat

James Newton Howard

John Powell

 

After Powell, like JoeinAR said, it's hit or miss for me.

[bruckhorn 105]

I thought about this and came up with a prerequisite: if an album came out by the composer in question, would I be willing to buy it note unheard?

 

Only three living composers came to mind.

 

There are solid composers with impressive resumes with individual titles that I really enjoy, but as JoeinAR wrote, "hit and miss."

[Bayesian 1,359]

2 minutes ago, bruckhorn said:

I thought about this and came up with a prerequisite: if an album came out by the composer in question, would I be willing to buy it note unheard?

 

Only three living composers came to mind.

 

There are solid composers with impressive resumes with individual titles that I really enjoy, but as JoeinAR wrote, "hit and miss."

 

I like that criterion. In my case, my top three would clear the bar amply, while JNH and JP are oh-so-close.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

This list only differs from my all-time Top 10 by one composer, I think.

[mrbellamy 6,272]

John Williams and Ennio Morricone always get a confident listen from me and unlimited get-out-of-jail-free cards for their stumbles.

 

Jonny Greenwood and John Powell are on a roll lately and make me most eager to see how their careers develop. 

 

Generally optimistic that new music by Thomas Newman, James Newton Howard, Howard Shore, and Alexandre Desplat will be good and never count out the possibility of something great. 

 

Then a handful of other favorites or working composers I admire like Giacchino, Silvestri, Elfman, Zimmer are hit and miss with me, my interest depending more on project type, director etc but I keep track of what they’re doing and hope it’ll be good. 

[Zanobard 71]

1. John Williams

2. Alan Silvestri

3. John Powell

4. Hans Zimmer

5. Michael Giacchino

6. Steve Jablonsky

7. Howard Shore

8. Justin Hurwitz

9. Murray Gold

10. David Arnold

 

James Horner was (is if we count non living composers) my number one. Rest in peace.

 

[Damien F 1,742]

1. John Williams
2. Michael Giachinno
3. James Newton Howard
4. Howard Shore
5. Danny Elfman
6. David Arnold
7. John Powell
8. Alexandre Desplat
9. Alan Silvestri
10. Hans Zimmer

Composers like Shore, Arnold and Powell are curious. Unlike the rest, they are only on my top 10 due to a small number of their scores relative to their whole career rather than having widespread appeal across their career. Arnold has the trio of Stargate, Tomorrow Never Dies and ID4 but I'd also add Casino Royale. Shore has the 6 Tolkien scores and Powell has Bourne and How To Train Your Dragon. They've all done a lot of great work elsewhere but those small samples of their full career is enough to get them a place in my top 10.

 

BTW, I admit referring to Shore's Tolkien work as a "small sample" sounds odd but you know what I mean - he's had a prolific career before and after it.

 

There are also composers like Chrisopher Young who did fantastic work on Drag Me To Hell, Spidey 3 and Priest. Had Hollywood took notice and maybe given him the same opportunities that Gia has had on some franchises, he'd probably be in my top 10 too. He certainly has the talent for it.

 

[Zanobard 71]

5 minutes ago, Damien F said:

Arnold has the trio of Stargate, Tomorrow Never Dies and ID4

 

I'd add The World Is Not Enough to that list, but otherwise I completely agree - those Arnold scores are all fantastic and are pretty much the reason why he's also in my top ten.

[Damien F 1,742]

1 minute ago, Zanobard said:

 

I'd add The World Is Not Enough to that list, but otherwise I completely agree - those Arnold scores are all fantastic and are pretty much the reason why he's also in my top ten.

 

The World Is Not Enough is also great and I'm super looking forward to getting the expanded LLL album.

 

Shame he leaned so heavily on the electronic manipulation for Die Another Day. In a way though, it suited the OTT bat shit crazy nature of that film.

[Zanobard 71]

1 minute ago, Damien F said:

 

The World Is Not Enough is also great and I'm super looking forward to getting the expanded LLL album.

 

Shame he leaned so heavily on the electronic manipulation for Die Another Day. In a way though, it suited the OTT bat shit crazy nature of that film.

 

Yeah, Die Another Day was definitely his weakest Bond score. It's not awful, just not as great as the others and you're right I do feel he was too heavy handed with the electronic side of things.

[Damien F 1,742]

16 minutes ago, Zanobard said:

 

Yeah, Die Another Day was definitely his weakest Bond score. It's not awful, just not as great as the others and you're right I do feel he was too heavy handed with the electronic side of things.

 

The cue Hovercraft Chase is a good example of how I think the electronics ruin that score. The themes and structure of that cue is great. It heavily uses the various components of the Bond theme while including some new material written for the movie. But all the electronic manipulation in that cue is rather obnoxious especially when compared to the good balance of orchestra and electronics in his previous Bond scores. When the Bond theme is played on guitar, it sounds like 96 kbps recorded over a 70s rotary phone. Compare that to its fantastic appearance in Backseat Driver from TNG.

 

I'd love to hear a good fully orchestral re-recording of that cue.

[Zanobard 71]

27 minutes ago, Damien F said:

 

The cue Hovercraft Chase is a good example of how I think the electronics ruin that score. The themes and structure of that cue is great. It heavily uses the various components of the Bond theme while including some new material written for the movie. But all the electronic manipulation in that cue is rather obnoxious especially when compared to the good balance of orchestra and electronics in his previous Bond scores. When the Bond theme is played on guitar, it sounds like 96 kbps recorded over a 70s rotary phone. Compare that to its fantastic appearance in Backseat Driver from TNG.

 

I'd love to hear a good fully orchestral re-recording of that cue.

 

Just re-listened to Hovercraft Chase (haven't touched Die Another Day in a while) - the electronics definitely spoil the action, particularly when it gets to the latter half of the Bond Theme. They're just too much and at points actively unpleasant to listen to, unlike say Come In 007, Your Time Is Up and indeed Backseat Driver which have pretty perfect blends of electronics and orchestra.