Favorite and Least Favorite Composers

[indy4 152]

My favorite is John Williams. My least favorite is probably Harry-Gregson Williams, but I haven't heard too much of him. I thought the answer would be obvious, considering this is a John Williams fansite, but I guess some prefer other composers. Sorry if your favorite composer wasn't mentioned, it was hard to represent all of the film composers with only twenty choices per question.

EDIT: I realize that I forgot Jerry Goldsmith, who I was sure I typed in. Sorry to all Goldsmith fans out there!

[Ollie 859]

I can't believe you left off Jerry Goldsmith.

[Red 73]

Surprise surprise, but my favorite is Williams.

My least favorite out of the list is Zimmer, but I like some of his scores.

[indy4 152]

Whoops!! I thought I had him on!! Sorry, to all Goldsmith fans, he was meant to be on there!!!!

[Sergeant 1,093]

Favorite : J.Williams

Least favorite : mickey-mouse-menken

Who Golsmit?

[scissorhands 16]

Not sure if this poll makes any sense. There are hundreds of composers I don't care about, so any of them would be my least favorite, but I'm not sure which one. As for my favorite, there's no doubt. Maestro.

[AI 0]

JW is my favorite of course.

My least favorite is not listed! Richard Rodney Bennett. Where is the rep for this asshole?

I like how this poll is made though, multiple layered.

[BLUMENKOHL 1,064]

WOW. Um...I can't vote. Someone very important is very missing.

Other.

[Admiral Holdo 16]

If only you could vote for your favorite without being forced into doing the other poll.

[ChuckM 1]

Favorite? Why John Williams of course!

Least favorite? Well, I like at least some music from all of those. So I would say any of the random people who do one lame score for some made-for-tv movie and are never heard of again would be my least favorites.

[Ollie 859]

I can't believe someone doesn't like Elmer Bernstein.

[ChuckM 1]

I can't believe someone doesn't like Hans Zimmer! [/sarcasm]

[Ollie 859]

Well there is a big, and I do mean big, difference in composing skills between Bernstein and Zimmer.

[King Mark 2,924]

Favourite:JW

Least Favourite:Hanz Zimmer for ruining film music.

The other night I went to see Stardust.Back in the days a fantasy film=great orchestral score,usually.Nope,more Zimmer PotC inspired nonsense.

[ChuckM 1]

Well there is a big, and I do mean big, difference in composing skills between Bernstein and Zimmer.

Did you not notice the [/sarcasm] tag? Personally, I like a lot of Zimmer's stuff, but I can understand why some may not.

[Ollie 859]

Yes I did.

[Admiral Holdo 16]

Favourite:JW

The other night I went to see Stardust.Back in the days a fantasy film=great orchestral score,usually.Nope,more Zimmer PotC inspired nonsense.

I defy you, King Muff. Stardust's score was good!

[Ray Barnsbury 8]

I agree....it really wasn't very MV-inspired at all, just one theme with power-anthem tendencies. Most of it seemed quite good.

Ray Barnsbury

[King Mark 2,924]

Well,there was too much power anthem tendencies

[Admiral Holdo 16]

There were two instances that I distinctly remember where the music was too driving or upbeat (a shot of Michelle Pfiffer walking from the edge of a cliff to her carriage and a shot of the Prince's carriage racing through the frame, respectively). Everything else seemed perfectly matched.

And I contest the MV influences - I didn't hear a single synth note in the score.

[Dole 11]

Who here doesn't like Max Steiner????!!!! He's the man who's credited with popularizing the original film score with King Kong. And then there's Gone with the Wind, Now Voyager, The Informer, The Adventures of Don Juan, A Summer Place, The Searchers, Casablanca, Since You Went Away, Jezebel, The Letter, Dark Victory, The Charge of the Light Brigade, The Caine Mutiny, etc. For shame!

[Datameister 1,394]

JW got my unhesitating vote for favorite. I threw in "Other" as my least-favorite vote, simply because I couldn't possibly choose a least-favorite composer.

And on the issue of Stardust...ugh. Some parts were all right, but I'm getting SO tired of endless variations on i - VI - III -VII and pounding, unoriginal 7/8 one-two-one-two-one-two-threes. It was more or less appropriate to the movie, but that doesn't mean I liked it. The whole thing reeked of MV compositional so-called sensibilities, despite its acoustic sound. (Don't get me wrong...I'm known to listen to and enjoy MV music at times. But I've got my limits.)

[Ray Barnsbury 8]

And on the issue of Stardust...ugh. Some parts were all right, but I'm getting SO tired of endless variations on i - VI - III -VII

Yes, that was my major issue as well, though I enjoyed the score overall. I'm not against it as a rule (JNH used that very progression in two major 2006 scores, and it worked great in each), but in Stardust there was hardly even a melody over it. Anyway, there are clips that play over the film's website, showcasing both the more interesting music and the less original.

Ray Barnsbury

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,251]

No Goldsmith, so this poll is rubbish!

[robthehand 3]

Of those, my favourite is Williams (Herrmann close second), and my least favourite Zimmer, but...

No Goldsmith, so this poll is rubbish!

[Neimoidian 13]

Favorite? Why John Williams of course!

Least favorite? Well, I like at least some music from all of those. So I would say any of the random people who do one lame score for some made-for-tv movie and are never heard of again would be my least favorites.

I think I can subscribe under this.

[Marian Schedenig 5,520]

Anton Bruckner is missing from the poll options.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,251]

Yes, ummm...what you're doing now is just silly!

[Elmo Lewis 6]

"Favorite" is such an ugly word. I like John Williams over most others, but the composer I admire the most and get the biggest visceral kick out of is Bernard Herrmann.

"Least Favorite", I'd have to say Henry Manicini, as in, his music might be good but it doesn't appeal to me as much.

That being said, this polls sucks in concept and execution.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,251]

That being said, this polls sucks in concept and execution.

It does.

[Marian Schedenig 5,520]

Yes, ummm...what you're doing now is just silly!

It says "composer", not "film composer", in the title.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,251]

This is a film music board.

Or I might as well have asked for Tom Petty to be included.

[BLUMENKOHL 1,064]

Who here doesn't like Max Steiner????!!!! He's the man who's credited with popularizing the original film score with King Kong. And then there's Gone with the Wind, Now Voyager, The Informer, The Adventures of Don Juan, A Summer Place, The Searchers, Casablanca, Since You Went Away, Jezebel, The Letter, Dark Victory, The Charge of the Light Brigade, The Caine Mutiny, etc. For shame!

I voted that.

He's not the least, but I think polls with "other" are stupid. Given the selection excluding other, Max Steiner is my least favorite.

He sinned by popularizing romanticism for films, which in my opinion worked to the detriment of a lot of great scenes, all of which were victims of unnecessary corn syrup. And three fourths of his 300 scores were just borrowed from romantic composers or specifically Wagner.

He was writing operettas for films....silly in my opinion. Bluntly, his music was unchallenging, trying to be as easily understood by the audience as possible.

Just watch an older movie, 9 times out of 10, you'll have a philosophical or really depthful scene underscored by overt simple romanticism. No worky.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,251]

He's not the least, but I think polls with "other" are stupid. Given the selection excluding other, Max Steiner is my least favorite.

He sinned by popularizing romanticism for films, which in my opinion worked to the detriment of a lot of great scenes, all of which were victims of unnecessary corn syrup. And three fourths of his 300 scores were just borrowed from romantic composers or specifically Wagner.

He was writing operettas for films....silly in my opinion. Bluntly, his music was unchallenging, trying to be as easily understood by the audience as possible.

Just watch an older movie, 9 times out of 10, you'll have a philosophical or really depthful scene underscored by overt simple romanticism. No worky.

Just compare Steiner's work to what Herrmann was doing in the same time period.

Amazing how one sounds so much more dated and obvious then the other.

[BLUMENKOHL 1,064]

As Soul Sisters in America say....

"AMEN BROTHA!"

[scissorhands 16]

I think alike about Steiner. Just hope the FSM guys aren't reading this...

[BLUMENKOHL 1,064]

The FSM guys are far too obsessed with the 1930-1950's....Hollywood's second worst era for film music, behind the silent films in terms of ineffective music.

It was the era of regurgitating 19th century music for 20th century movies. To use a Chamber of Secrets metaphor, it was almost like everyone was a William Ross. Adapting the last centuries music for new films.

[scissorhands 16]

I think the only one who got it right was Korngold.

[Romão 1,931]

Herrmann did write some amazing stuff in the 1940's

[BLUMENKOHL 1,064]

I think the only one who got it right was Korngold.

Eh. Miklos Rosza was ahead of the bunch.

Now all that said, these guys, as iffy as they were, carried over the ideas of thematic development and drama and other such concepts from their opera/theater backgrounds into film (versus just having a piano running along to a silent movie, with no cohesion). They were a necessary step toward where we are now.

These people were rightfully masters of their time. Their sappy music really was accessible to audiences back then. But much of that was because people didn't know better.

[Romão 1,931]

We shouldn't forget Prokofiev's trully brilliant efforts. Not Hollywood, but still.

[BLUMENKOHL 1,064]

I never forget him. He was about 70 years ahead of his time.

So where composers (though not film composers) like Stravinsky, Ravel, Shoenberg, etc.

[Marian Schedenig 5,520]

I think Prokofiev wrote great music, but it didn't work all that well for the movies it was written for. It was like "classical music" played along a film. I agree with much of what has been said about Steiner (though he still has written his share of terrific stuff), but I think his music still connected more with the movies he scored than Prokofiev's.

[Romão 1,931]

well, several modern composers like to borrow from his scores a lot.

[Ollie 859]

Including a certain composer who this site is devoted to.

Well not borrow alot but you can hear influences.

[Romão 1,931]

I never watched Alexander Nevsky nor Ivan Grozny (I plan to soon), so I really can't judge the music with the film. As a listening experience, those scores are amazingly evocative.

[bondo 33]

Favorite: Hans Zimmer (Runner Up: John Williams)

The first score I ever bought was Backdraft, so I fell in love with Zimmer's music before I bought my first Williams' score (Jurassic Park.)

Least Favorite: Graeme Revell

The only score that I even enjoyed a little was "The Negotiator," and that was a Zimmer rip-off. Everything else is either too atmospheric or unmemorable.

[Morlock 9]

There are far too many favorites to list (currnetly, though, I am digging Williams, as always, Thomas Newman, John Powell, Alexandre Desplat and Carter Burwell).

Least favorites? Jack Nitzsche was always down there. Graeme Revell (FSM put it best when they said "Was Dead Calm really worth 15 years of this?). Randy Edelman, even though I love some of his stuff (I can't stand his synth). Richard Robbins never did anything for me.

Several overated ones, of course. And a lot of the golden age stuff annoys me, And Steiner bears the brunt of that, seeing as he was the most in demand and probably the name most synonimous with film music of the era.

I don't know why, I used to dislike Bill Conti...but I've seen the error of my ways.

And certainly composers who I've previously held low opinions of have become among my favorites- Gregson-Williams, Powell, Giacchino. I used to hate Trevor Rabin....but I don't mind him so much. Aside from some more self-concious scores of late, a lot of his older stuff was certainly no worse than the movies they were for.

[Pieter Boelen 633]

Favourite: John Williams beyond a shadow of a doubt. Other composers have written good scores and there are several other brilliant composers, but John Williams is simply the best.

Least feavourite: Alan Menken. He might write memorable songs, but I don't like any of his music. And he won more Oscars than he should have, based on the amount of Oscars John Williams won.