John Williams is second in Classic Fm's Poll

[Guest]

Over 50 000 votes, John Williams ends second, after Lord of The Rings, with Star Wars. On the third place stands Schindler's List.

O.K, Shore's score was good... but that good?

http://www.classicfm.com/page.cfm?station=...p30movies&g=939

Bart

[Marian Schedenig 8,240]

Shore's score was great. Not that great, it should be #1 on the list. But considering that it's a pretty recent score, it's no surprise that it had some advantage.

Generally the ranking in the list might be somewhat strange, but at least there are many really great scores in there. Comparing that to other lists of that type, it seems to be not that bad.

[diskobolus 3]

i hate those fools... shore sucks.

[Figo 2]

Well put, diskobolus.

Williams' strong showing in this poll is the equivalent of winning a one-legged race. Shore's FOTR was one of the best scores of last year, but it hardly qualifies as one of the best of all time, especially given the limited number of vacancies.

Figo, wondering why Yared, Vangelis and Nyman made the cut, yet Herrmann, Rozsa and Goldsmith LOL did not.

[JoeinAR 1,949]

John did have 9 out of those 30 scores, and almost everyone of them was better than the score to LOTR.

Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back, ET, Schindler's List, Jurassic Park, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Harry Potter, Superman were all better than LOTR.

SPR was not.

Joe's worthless opinion.

[Figo 2]

Worthless, but true, very true.

[Andreas 112]

Arg, HdR ( Shore ) better then Williams?!!! banghead

Yes the score is good but Shore is not the master. Williams is 1000x better.

Andreas ( Admin )

[scissorhands 16]

And Howard Shore's The Lord of the Rings better than Leonard Rosenman's one? HA HA HA HA!!!! They are dreaming.

Rosenman's score:

[Morn 8]

Shore is great. But not great enough to be on the list!

75% of these scores should have been before 1975.

[Morlock 11]

It seems that most people voting were not the best soundtrack fans, and had a very, very short memory.

I mean, I can understand that ESB wasn't given it's rightful place as no. 1, but Gladiator and Titanic in the top ten? No mention of Rosza? Herrmann? North? Only one Steiner?

Even with the 9 Williams' scores there are problems!

Where the **** is Jaws?

LoTR is nowhere near the best score of all times! (just like the movie is nowhere near no. 4 of all times, as on imdb)

[JoeinAR 1,949]

Shore is great. But not great enough to be on the list!

75% of these scores should have been before 1975.

of the people who voted I would bet that most haven't seen or heard many films before 1975.

[Figo 2]

Probably true. :cry:

[Lurker 5]

Hmmmmmmm, 3 scores by Horner and no Star Trek - The Motion Picture (no Goldsmith at all for that matter).

Superman - The Movie is not in the top 10 but Fellowship of the Ring, Gladiator and Titanic are. And to add insult to injury, the photo of Superman (at least he's pictured) is from Superman II.

This list is worthless.

Neil

[ZAMBELIS 0]

A list that has Titanic and Gladiator can not possibly be taken seriously. LOL

[Figo 2]

Let's compile our own list!

Steiner's King Kong definitely has to be on there.

Well, let's see:

King Kong, Steiner

The Bride of Frankenstein, Waxman

The Adventures of Robin Hood, Korngold

Alexander Nevsky, Prokofiev

The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex, Korngold

Gone With the Wind, Steiner

The Thief of Bagdad, Rozsa

The Sea Hawk, Korngold

Kings Row, Korngold

Captain from Castile, Newman

Citizen Kane, Herrmann

The Best Years of Our Lives, Freidhofer

Henry V, Walton

Spellbound, Rozsa

The Heiress, Copland

Laura, Raksin

The Thing, Tiomkin

Sunset Boulevard, Waxman

The Quiet Man, Young

La Belle et la Bete, Auric

8 1/2, Rota

On the Waterfront, Bernstein (Leonard)

The Ten Commandments, Bernstein (Elmer)

Ben-Hur, Rozsa

Psycho, Herrmann

The Guns of Navarone, Tiomkin

The Magnificent Seven, Bernstein (Elmer)

The Big Country, Moross

Spartacus, North

The Vikings, Nascimbene

To Kill a Mockingbird, Bernstein (Elmer)

Lawrence of Arabia, Jarre

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, Morricone

Planet of the Apes, Goldsmith

The Godfather/Godfather, Part II, Rota

Jaws, Williams

The Omen, Goldsmith

Star Wars, Williams

Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Williams

Superman, Williams

The Empire Strikes Back, Williams

Raiders of the Lost Ark, Williams

E.T., Williams

Of course, this is more than 30. Care to add anyone?

Note that none of the choices are more recent than 1982.

I suppose an argument could be made for the inclusion of Titanic, if only because it was so damn popular. Just the same, I'm leaving it off. :evil:

[Lurker 5]

Figo, Star Trek - The Motion Picture has to be on the list.

Neil

[Figo 2]

Whaaa--?!!!!

Okay. **Pencilling it in **

[JoeinAR 1,949]

I have no trouble with Titanic, but Gladiator.

No, that is a travesty.

Joe's top 30 scores of all time.

E.T.

Superman

Jaws

Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Star Trek the Motion Picture

Raiders of the Lost Ark

Star Wars

Twilight Zone the Movie

The Empire Strikes Back

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Schindlers List

Gone With the Wind

Bride of Frankenstein

King Kong

Ben Hur

Poltergeist

Blue Max

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

Beau Geste (1939)

Jurassic Park

Capricorn One

Jungle Book (1942)

Adventure of Robin Hood

Rebecca

Home Alone

Towering Inferno

Dressed to Kill

Titanic

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Star Trek II the Wrath of Kahn

This is off the top of my head and highly likely to change whenever a butterfly in china flaps its wings.

It is very heavy on John Williams, though I really could have gone even heavier. I left out my most listened to cd Lost World, and the Fury is as good as some of these, so is 1941.

[JoeinAR 1,949]

Yes how could I have left out

Lawrence of Arabia,

Dr. Zhivago

Exodus

[Morn 8]

You forgot King Of Kings, Cleopatra, Dragonslayer, Vertigo and Quo Vadis.

[scissorhands 16]

And Spartacus, El Cid, North by Northwest,........ They're innumerable.

[The Five Tones 302]

Figo, I know this question is sometimes ridiculous, but are those your favourites, or some kind of "as objectively speaking as possible?"

More Herrmann, please! Vertigo and North By Northwest are certainly superior to the more culturally embedded Psycho, and The Day The Earth Stood Still and Taxi Driver certainly should be noted at least for the way they pushed the envelope as well as for their musical value.

Glass' Koyaanisqatsi should be there, there is nothing like it in the repertoire, although its sequel and corresponding score suck.

I feel Nyman's The Piano is very good (Figo feel free to use the wretching icon), but perhaps one of his collaborations with Peter Greenaway like The Cook, the Thief... is more revolutionary.

Peter Gabriel's score to the Last Temptation of Christ still sounds great today, and points towards the current and future state of film music, as well as being much better than almost all of the stuff in that sub-category.

I am going to go out on a limb for this MB and say that it is a crime that scores like Sweet Sweetback's Badaaassss Song, Shaft and Superfly don't get on these ("classical"-only) lists. or Queen's Flash Gordon (kooky but fun stuff).

And objectively speaking, I am no huge fan of syntho-classicist Vangelis, but Chariots of Fire and Blade Runner DO belong on such a list. As does Yared's English Patient.

So much Horner, come on!

LOTR? please, I loved the film, but no way for the score being tops!

[scissorhands 16]

I COMPLETELY agree with you, fivetones, with the exception of Michael Nyman. It's one of my favorite composers. And I prefer Nyman's post-Greenaway period, I think it's better. When he worked for Greenaway, his scores seemed the same, monotone. When he stopped working with him, he begun to explore new musical terrains. And my fav ones are his last scores: Gattaca, The End of Affair and The Claim (wow!, that soprano voice)

[Figo 2]

Figo, I know this question is sometimes ridiculous, but are those your favourites, or some kind of "as objectively speaking as possible?"

A mix of the two.

More Herrmann, please! Vertigo and North By Northwest are certainly superior to the more culturally embedded Psycho, and The Day The Earth Stood Still and Taxi Driver certainly should be noted at least for the way they pushed the envelope as well as for their musical value.

I actually prefer Vertigo and especially North By Northwest to Psycho. Steering a middle course between the subjective and objective does have its pitfalls!

The Day the Earth Stood Still is a great score. By the same token, I should have included some of his outrageous Harryhausen projects. Taxi Driver, for some reason, just makes me ill.

Glass' Koyaanisqatsi should be there, there is nothing like it in the repertoire, although its sequel and corresponding score suck.

I feel Nyman's The Piano is very good (Figo feel free to use the wretching icon...

Thank you, fivetones, I think I shall. Pressure... building...

I have big problems with Nyman's score for The Piano. Some people hate the film outright. I don't, but the music was definitely the weakest link. You expect me to believe this woman in 19th century New Zealand would be playing music in a post-Stravinskyian manner? Wouldn't Chopin be more like it? Underscoring is one thing, but willfully passing off the music of one's own time as source music in a period picture is quite another. I liked Nyman's score for The Draughtsman's Contract, but I'm afraid, judging from their subsequent work together, I may have overestimated both his and Greenaway's wit.

And objectively speaking, I am no huge fan of syntho-classicist Vangelis, but Chariots of Fire and Blade Runner DO belong on such a list. As does Yared's English Patient.

If we're going to allow Titanic, we certainly have to allow Chariots of Fire, the theme was so damn popular. I warn you, though, my "objectivity" does have its limits!

Figo, who had the LP, like everyone else.

Look again, scissorhands. Spartacus is on there!

[Chris ChrusherComix 46]

Oh well. Williams got the most votes combined no doubt. 9 scores made it.

What is odd is that I can agree with 8 of the Williams selections, but I didn't think SPR deserved to be up so high. I mean, it's a good Williams effort (although I only really like the main theme), but how about 25 other Williams scores that should deserve to be above it? And Potter didn't move me as much as other Williams scores either. It would be lower on my list.

No other Star Wars scores? No Jane Eyre? No The Fury? No HOOK?!?? No Jaws? No CE3K? No A.I.? NO ALWAYS?

Looks like we split the votes, but won the overall catagory. A good consolation prize.

As for the non-Williams selections... I have LOTR and I think it's boring. I plan to watch the movie for the 1st time on DVD soon, so I will give it another chance after that. For now, I found it a bore.

Titanic? I've thought that was overrated big time (I didn't mind the movie although I thought it was overrated, but the score is a bore outside of the main theme), but I'm glad Braveheart made it. That's far and away my favorite Horner score. No close second for me.

I'm not the biggest Goldsmith supporter, but even I'm surprised he didn't have a few scores make it. And not even one? That's complete crime, even though I don't go ga-ga for any of his stuff.

And if I made a list, it would be probably 80-90% Williams scores because I am a Williams fanboy. I prefer Towner Knight, because fanboy sounds like a more self-demeaning term.

And what.... NO TRANSFORMERS: THE MOVIE?! BAAHH!!!

-Chris, Who loves TF:TM although he knows most classical and film score fans would either ignore or look down on it... and he has been getting people hooked, right Jameseyboy?

[Figo 2]

Listening to The Guns of Navarone now, and it's kind of getting my nerves.

Figo, striking it off the list.

[Morn 8]

More Herrmann, please! Vertigo and North By Northwest are certainly superior to the more culturally embedded Psycho

I don't think so, it's one of my 2 fav Herrmann scores with Citizen Kane.

and The Day The Earth Stood Still and Taxi Driver certainly should be noted at least for the way they pushed the envelope as well as for their musical value.

If we are going to note then for those reasons, we have got to have Viva Zapata and A Streecar Named Desire by North. They really pushe dthe envelope of film music. Zapata was the first strongly modernist film score, and Streetcar the first jazz based film score.

[Figo 2]

Good scores, Morn. I hate to say it, but you've added something worthwhile to the thread.

eek2

Figo, expecting snow.

[Marian Schedenig 8,240]

No The Fury?

Well, I'm probably the only one who voted for it.

Marian - who thinks this is bad.

The Fly (Howard Shore)