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Most technically adept composer working in film today?


David Coscina
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Most Musically Technically Adept Composer in film  

43 members have voted

  1. 1.

    • John Williams
      36
    • Howard Shore
      0
    • Alan Silvestri
      1
    • James Newton Howard
      1
    • Danny Elfman
      2
    • Gabriel Yared
      0
    • Bruce Broughton
      2
    • Hans Zimmer
      0
    • other
      1


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I would like to point out that this means who is the best at orchestration, counterpoint, harmony, voice leading, rhythm- who has the best grasp of the art of composition and who happens to be working in film today. Obviously I think it's Williams by miles. although I would put Yared and Broughton not too far behind him. I've listed a couple other choices...I only put ZImmer on the list because he's popular although I don't think he has a clue what to do with a real orchestra personally speaking

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Williams definitelly. But where is Horner? I am sure JH is more musically technically adept than Zimmer (who- fortunatelly - can conjure great scores without resorting to classical tradition).

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Johnny Corig is amazing. To witness this listen to

The monastery from red violin.

I can't wait till i get much older and can understand more specifically what Goldsmith had to say. I enjoy it now, just do not get it all yet.

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Well, Angela's Ashes would've been a very worthy winner.

Yes indeed. I totally agree that Angela's Ashes was Williams' home run insofar as quality of music as well as how well it married to picture. then again, I think Geisha is awesome too and I'm still pissed about his loss last year...ah well. I know it's brilliant and that's all that counts. :)

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Broughton in FAR behind. Shore is VERY FAR behind. Elfman is EXTREMELY FAR behind(technically speaking). Again, we are discussing craft here. I think Elfman is a better composer than Shore, but he isn't a very technically accomplished composer, although he certainly has style. Broughton is technically quite good, but I have yet to be blown away by an achievement of his. I hope I will someday soon. I also like the fact that he keeps busy as a composer of concert music as well.

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The Red Violin(concerto version) is on our program this week.

I don't get how it won the Oscar?

Because it deserved it. Ok, that's probably not the reason why it actually did get the Oscar. But it still was a deserved win.

As for the poll, of the living regular film composers, this one obviously goes to Williams.

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Dennis McCarthy!

As much as I hate to say it...it could very well be true...

I can rarely find a bad technical work on the part of McCarthy, and he has one of the the best graps on the concept of harmony out of any composer alive at the moment. His downfall however is Rick Berman-limited orchestration.

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John Williams by VERY far. John Corigliano is certainly also highly skilled.

JW surely.

Corigliano's skills I haven't found yet.

to be found on "Ghosts of Versailles", "Altered States", his oboe, clarinet and piano concertos and his 3 Symphonies, just to name a few.

Yet he doesn't write for movies (only on special occasions, and I really doubt he'll write a film score ever again).

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pi wrote
Johnny Corig is amazing. To witness this listen to  

The monastery from red violin

The Red Violin(concerto version) is on our program this week.

I don't get how it won the Oscar?

Because it is an amazing piece? :roll:

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Marcus, what do you think of Elliot Goldenthal's abilities? He was my favorite new composer of the '90s because he had such a unique style. But I have found that he does sound like Mahler (Cobb, Interview with the Vampire) Ligeti and Xenakis (Alien3), Strauss (Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within), Titus (Orff).

That said, I love Cobb, Golden Gate, Interview w. The Vampire, Titus, Alien3, Demolition Man, parts of Sphere, Heat, and well, almost everything he's done. I dearly wish he'd do more film scores. Hmm, a Goldenthal Godzilla would be cool. Or King Kong. Or anything really.

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I think Elliot Goldenthal is a very interesting composer, and certainly very gifted. I do think that his uniqueness as a film composer lies in his way of perceiving drama, and his ability to create larger structures within a structurally rigid medium. You can sense that he really wants to design shapes of his own, or super-shapes. He has his own "architecture", that while adhering to the requirements of a film, retains a very impressive integrity of its own, that can actually greatly enhance and improve the film (Titus, Interview with the Vampire and Sphere are some very fine examples of this). I also think that he does have an idiom of his own in the use of certain textures and techniques, a lot of them actually modified Corigliano-techniques. I agree that he can at times seem inorganically eclectic, youy can hear that he has a very "post-modern" take on the classical canon ( a little bit of Mahlerian writing here, some Straussian brass writing, a Lutoslawskiesque texture here, etc.). Corigliano will do this too, but Corigliano has a way of transcending his models, creating a unique amalgamation. I do think Goldenthal has a certain melodic and harmonic style of his own, but it is kind of limited, which means that when he "strays" from it, his models tend to shine through a little too brightly. But he is still highly skilled, and quite unique among contemporary Hollywood composers.

I too would love to see him do more film scores, but I have to say I am glad to see he maintains a busy career as a concert composer. I'm sure we'll see more scores from him now that "Grendel" is finally done.

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Marcus, what do you think of Elliot Goldenthal's abilities?  He was my favorite new composer of the '90s because he had such a unique style.  But I have found that he does sound like Mahler (Cobb, Interview with the Vampire) Ligeti and Xenakis (Alien3), Strauss (Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within), Titus (Orff).

Whoa, his score for "Orff" sounds like Titus? I've never noticed this...

LOL

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Williams, I think, is the most technically adept film composer ever, followed, from the list, by Yared and Shore, who are followed by Howard and Elfman.

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Marcus' date=' what do you think of Elliot Goldenthal's abilities? He was my favorite new composer of the '90s because he had such a unique style. But I have found that he does sound like Mahler (Cobb' date=' Interview with the Vampire) Ligeti and Xenakis (Alien3), Strauss (Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within), Titus (Orff).[/quote'']

Whoa, his score for "Orff" sounds like Titus? I've never noticed this...

LOL

Yup, can I type or what? :oops:

I think they should hire you to check continuity for film and television. I've seen some pretty bad goof ups on ER lately (girl riding in car without seatbelt, cut to: girl getting out of car but undoing seatbelt before leaving)

LOL

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