Jump to content

List your favorite film composers


MSM
 Share

Recommended Posts

The old thread is quite old, I can't even find it. Also the members have changed, there are more composers with newer scores, and one's opinion also changes over time...

So list you favorite film composers! I have thought about it thoroughly. Here is my list, as it is now, in order:

1) John Williams

2) Erich Wolfgang Korngold

3) Jerry Goldsmith

4) Dmitri Tiomkin

5) Elmer Bernstein

6) Maurice Jarre

7) Victor Young

8) David Raksin

9) Max Steiner

10) John Barry

11) Jerome Moross

12) Anton Profes

13) Wojciech Kilar

14) Ennio Morricone

15) David Arnold

16) Miklos Rosza

17) Marc Shaiman

18) Michael Convertino

19) Ilan Eshkeri

20) Edward Shearmur

21) Bernard Herrmann

22) Brian Tyler

23) Andrew Lockington

24) Henri Mancini

25) James Horner

26) John Debney

27) Alan Silvestri

28) Patrick Doyle

29) Hans Zimmer

30) James Newton Howard

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 34
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

The only one I'm sure about is Williams, who occupies the #1 slot for me. Goldsmith is probably the one I have the second-most respect for, but I haven't heard enough of his work to be fully confident that he's my #2. JNH, Horner, Elfman, Giacchino, Silvestri, and others are definitely on the list, but I have a hard time deciding on an order.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1. John Williams

2. Jerry Goldsmith

3. Danny Elfman

Pretty unimaginary list, huh? ;)

Karol

What's so great about Elfman? Do you like his themes or his orchestrations? (Just stimulating some discussion ;))

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I can't rank them, sorry.

But my current batch of favourite, actively working composers are:

JNH

Danny Elfman

John Powell

Thomas Newman

David Hirschfelder (recent entry - 3 scores discovered in a row impressed me)

Christopher Young

I find it hard to name solid favourites because I don't like all, or even 'most' of anyone's scores. I'm too fussy about quality to be a completist.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1. John Williams

2. Jerry Goldsmith

3. Danny Elfman

Pretty unimaginary list, huh? ;)

Karol

Never apologise for what you feel, or for what you think, Karol. If that's your top-3, then that's your top-3, and no-one can take it from you. I mean, look at my list; I could only manage a top-2, but I don't care. :lol:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1: John Williams

2: Howard Shore

3: Elmer Bernstein (He Did do The Ten Commandments right?)

4: John Powell

5: Alan Silvestri

6: Michael Giacchino

7: Kevin Kiner (of which i have heard of course, if I heard every composer in the world he would be very near the bottom)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

really? or are you joking? (I am referring to the ooold Ten Commandments)

Yes he did, one of his finest scores! Hear that classic Hollywood sound, which has been copied over and over:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1. John

2. Jerry

.

.

.

.

.

James Horner

.

.

Elmer Bernstein, Alan Silvestri, Danny Elfman, Bruce Broughton, John Barry

There are other composers that should probably be on my list, but honestly, I haven't "discovered" them yet... Herrmann, for example.

7: Kevin Kiner (of which i have heard of course, if I heard every composer in the world he would be very near the bottom)

:eh: Kevin Kiner is not a name I'd expect on this list.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

These are the most represented in my Collection as well:

John Williams

Jerry Goldsmith

Bernard Herrmann

Akira Ifukube

Miklos Rozsa

Alex North

John Barry

Michael Giacchino

Georges Delerue

Elmer Bernstein

Basil Poledouris

Danny Elfman

Bruce Broughton

David Arnold

James Horner

Alan Silvestri

Howard Shore

Henry Mancini

Michael Kamen

Franz Waxman

Dimitri Tiomkin

Max Steiner

Elliot Goldenthal

Ernest Gold

Bronislau Kaper

Hugo Freidhofer

Alfred Newman

Thomas Newman

Ron Goodwin

Ron Jones

Masaru Sato

James Newton Howard

Laurence Rosenthal

Leonard Rosenman

Bill Conti

Michiru Oshima

Erich Wolfgang Korngold

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1. John Williams

2. James Horner

3. James Newton Howard

4. Danny Elfman

5. Hans Zimmer

6. Jerry Goldsmith

7. Alan Menken

Those are the only ones I know enough about to rank (really, only the first 5 meet this standard).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1. John Williams

2. Erich Wolfgang Korngold

3. Ennio Morricone

4. John Powell

5. John Barry

6. Michael Giacchino

7. Alan Silvestri

8. James Newton Howard

9. Bernard Hermmann

10. James Horner

11. Michael Kamen

12. Elmer Bernstein

13. David Arnold

14. Alan Menken

15. Hans Zimmer

What a mix :lol:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1. John Williams

2. Erich Wolfgang Korngold

3. Ennio Morricone

4. John Powell

5. John Barry

6. Michael Giacchino

7. Alan Silvestri

8. James Newton Howard

9. Bernard Hermmann

10. James Horner

11. Michael Kamen

12. Elmer Bernstein

13. David Arnold

14. Alan Menken

15. Hans Zimmer

What a mix :lol:

Good list :-) I wonder if you would like Dmitri Tiomkin. Check some of his music on YouTube! Music fits right between Korngold and Elmer Bernstein.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here's mine in no particular order...

Jerry Goldsmith

David Arnold

Alan Silvestri

John Williams

Christopher Young

Don Davis (when he still did film music)

John Ottman

Michael Giacchino

John Powell

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Of the current living ones, I would say

1 - John Williams

2 - Elliot Goldenthal

3 - Danny Elfman

4 - Vangelis

5 - Alexandre Desplat

If I had to mention dead composers, I would surely have to mention Jerry Goldsmith, Bernard Herrmann, Franz Waxman, Miklos Rozsa, Alex North, Alfred Newman, Basil Poledouris and Erich Wolfgang Korngold.

I guess that would be it

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm not going to rank mine, but here they are:

- Jerry Goldsmith

- John Williams

- Shirley Walker

- Jane Antonia Cornish

- Alexandre Desplat

- Christopher Gordon

- Debbie Wiseman

- Joe Hisaishi

- Fernando Velazquez

- Mark McKenzie

- William Stromberg & John Morgan

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1. John Williams

2. Jerry Goldsmith

3. Michael Giacchino

4. Nobuo Uematsu (I know, VG, not film. Tough.)

5. A big jumble, this is where it becomes more about individual scores than composers for me

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1. John Williams

2. Jerry Goldsmith

3. Danny Elfman

Pretty unimaginary list, huh? ;)

Karol

What's so great about Elfman? Do you like his themes or his orchestrations? (Just stimulating some discussion ;))

Elfman is a mixed bag, I agree. A lot a of his work is not my thing. Most people like his earlier work (til the middle 90's), because they generate a very emotional response. And I like them too, of course. He became later a bit more... distant. But at the same time he's one of the few composers working today who's willing to experiment and expand his palette. Take his Standing Operating Procedure score from three years ago. It's not the kind of music I'd expect from this documentary and yet it creates such an interesting marriage between picture and music. I can't quite explain why it even works though, because it's so at odds with hat you see on screen at times. Another example might be Milk, which does so much more than your usual film score. Or at least attempts. I don't need to mention Mission: Impossible, which is probably one of more fun things he's ever wrote. The amount of detail is astonishing. Sometimes you can hear 3-4 thematic ideas bouncing off each other (like in Train Time track).

I'm not a particular fan of his work for Tim Burton movies. Sure, there are masterpieces to be found there and yes, Alice Theme is probably my single favourite track from 2010, but at large I think they're both treading water at this point. Which is not to say this score sounds exactly like Edward Scissorhands, because it doesn't. It is much more muscular Elfman of late. Just compare a more "cartoony" action writing from his early days to a more booming and massive approach these days.

So while most people on this board would say he's lost it some time ago, I'd say he's one of the few composers having fun with his work. It might be an incomprehensible stream of conciousness resulting in a mixed bag sometimes. At least he gives me a credit as an recpient to do something else than just... listening. How rare is that?

Karol - a big fan of The Wolfman score

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm bound to forget people, so I won't rank these beyond the first few, but here are some of my favorites...

These are my top 4, irreplaceable.

John Williams (of course!)

Miklos Rozsa

Jerry Goldsmith

Elmer Bernstein

The other favorites...

Alex North

Basil Poledouris

Michael Giacchino

Franz Waxman

Dmitri Tiomkin

Elliot Goldenthal (who I consider to be the best working composer in the field today, aside from Williams)

Hugo Friedhoffer

Bernard Herrman

Bruce Broughton

Alfred Newman

James Horner

Georges Delerue (who is a rather recent addition to these guys)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Alex North

John Williams

Jerry Goldsmith

Ennio Morricone

Bernard Herrmann

Milkos Rozsa

Erich Wolfgang Korngold

Michael Nyman

Joe Hisaishi

The best ones are mostly dead. :/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In ABC order...

Elmer Bernstein

Georges Delerue

Alexandre Desplat

Michael Giacchino

Bernard Herrmann

Ennio Morricone

Thomas Newman

Howard Shore

Alan Silvestri

And there was one other one near the end there, can't remember his name for the life of me, though....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In ABC order...

Elmer Bernstein

Georges Delerue

Alexandre Desplat

Michael Giacchino

Bernard Herrmann

Ennio Morricone

Thomas Newman

Howard Shore

Alan Silvestri

And there was one other one near the end there, can't remember his name for the life of me, though....

Hans! :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share


×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Guidelines.