James Horner 1953-2015

[Dixon Hill 4,233]

How frightfully rude! I certainly hope someone stabs him in the eye!

[KK 3,307]

Bah! How this Lowder fella's work gets published is beyond me. This is the same guy who wrote that Giacchino's Jurassic World ranks among Williams' classics while having "mastered Williams' vocabulary" and that rambling article about all the supposed scientific theory used to write Interstellar.

Every article I've read from him so far has been superfluous, verbose nonsense written by someone posing as an "academic" but has no clue what he's talking about...

[Not Mr. Big 4,639]

Bah! How this Lowder fella's work gets published is beyond me. This is the same guy who wrote that Giacchino's Jurassic World ranks among Williams' classics while having "mastered Williams' vocabulary" and that rambling article about all the supposed scientific theory used to write Interstellar.

Every article I've read from him so far has been superfluous, verbose nonsense written by a someone posing as an "academic" but has no clue what he's talking about...

Oh, that guy...

[MikeH 768]

The is the most awful celebrity death for me by far.

Mine too. It's just so... unfair that he was taken so soon.

Yeah, it still doesn't feel real.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

No one left alive after the death of all these silver age composers can carry on the torch. There are no more great composers.

that's true.

We get "satisfied" by mediocre scores by Gacchino now

This!

Only John Williams is left!

[Balahkay 627]

I think there's still hope for the future. Didn't the 60s and early 70s have a similar phase of mediocre music... generally speaking?

[Taikomochi 1,136]

I don't want to have to sit through a decade without anyone great working. Furthermore, I think the general Hollywood trends are worse than mediocre, with people like Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross and Hans Zimmer dominating the field and setting the trends.

[publicist 4,643]

I wouldn't call music that isn't modelled on neo-romantic idioms and sweeping orchestras 'mediocre', per se.

[Balahkay 627]

That's true. Planet of the Apes wasn't that kind of score and it's one of the best. I mean Goldsmith's Apes.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

James Cameron has slimmed down dramatically in recent years since he's taken on a vegan diet. Maybe Horner followed suit?

[Dixon Hill 4,233]

Bah! How this Lowder fella's work gets published is beyond me. This is the same guy who wrote that Giacchino's Jurassic World ranks among Williams' classics while having "mastered Williams' vocabulary" and that rambling article about all the supposed scientific theory used to write Interstellar.

Every article I've read from him so far has been superfluous, verbose nonsense written by someone posing as an "academic" but has no clue what he's talking about...

Oh, he's the guy that suddenly became an astrophysics expert qualified to critique Kip Thorne? Figures!

[Damien F 1,742]

Is this the biggest tragedy ever to hit the film score community? I mean obviously great composers have died in the past, but the relatively young age of Horner's death, the sudden unexpected nature of it and his stature as a film composer have all devastated the community.

I get the impression that Horner, like Williams, loved his craft and would never have fully retired. Williams was Horner's age in 1993 and he has written some of his best scores since then - that gives an indication of the potential Horner classics that will now never be written, they have been lost to us forever, and that gaping hole he has left in the industry can not and will never be filled.

I've had a few days for this news to sink in but it still doesn't feel real yet.

[curlytoot 97]

Apologies in advance for the long post...

It's been a few days since the news, and I can honestly say I feel no better now than I did the moment I found out.

A slight bit of backstory: My first exposure to Horner's music was either AN AMERICAN TAIL or THE LAND BEFORE TIME when I was a little kid. I never "got into" film music (consciously at least) until my dad got JW's STAR WARS EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE album from someone as a gift. Five-year-old me absolutely ate that recording up; I listened to it much more than my dad ever did, and when my family got back from seeing the film—I was too young, in my parents' eyes—I distinctly recall excitedly playing different segments of the album on the stereo and asking them "what happened" in the story, at those certain moments of score. They obviously couldn't remember, but looking back to that moment, I realize I definitely had been bitten by the film music bug at a young age. So I've been a JW fan for a very long time, and to me he was king of all things film music.

My first instance of knowingly listening to the music of James Horner came years later, in late middle school or early high school; I don't remember how exactly it came about, but somehow or another I wound up listening to TWOK. And of course it changed my life. I got his TITANIC at some point, which I also loved, as well as WILLOW, and I think one or two others over the years, until I became a more serious score collector/fanatic. I always knew Horner was good—very good—but I never really allowed myself the time or effort to really delve into his music and explore it. I thought there would always be time to get into Horner, always more scores he would write, and that he would basically be around forever. I can't believe how wrong I was.

It's ironic, as just earlier this summer I finally saw the film TITANIC for the first time, which made me see and appreciate his score in a completely new light and reignited my Horner flame. I started reading about him, saw he had composed a double concerto and a four-horn-concerto, and—being a classical music fan and a French horn performance major—became thrilled at the notion that he was stepping more into the concert music world. He had seemingly had a boom in his career, had a fair number of new scores coming out this year, the AVATAR sequels looming in the hopefully not-too-distant future, and all around seemed to really be returning to form (maybe that's not the right phrase, as I guess in some ways he never really "left" form). I was immensely excited to start more closely following his work, and it was mere weeks ago that I was watching interview after interview of his on YouTube, and blasting TWOK in the car with my dad.

Then the news. I never expected it to hit me this hard, but one ultimate truth is gradually becoming clearer and clearer: Horner was always there, for me. Sure, JW's PHANTOM MENACE was awesome and a highlight in my realization that film music was cool. But looking back, nothing had emotionally resounded as much with me as a little kid, as Horner's music did.

The main themes of THE LAND BEFORE TIME were always so special to me as a child, so much so that when I would go to my grandpa's house and pop the old "movie storybook" game (?) CD-ROM into his ancient PC, I would replay certain sections over and over again just to watch the little tree-star cutscene, to hear the music ("Sharptooth and the Earthquake", 0:30-1:31). AN AMERICAN TAIL was a similar guilty pleasure, and I have fond memories of individual themes associated with the characters and scenes, even from my first time(s) viewing it all those years ago. I've been listening to these scores and more the past couple days and crying my eyes out. I've never had this much of a reaction to a celebrity death (the closest was Robin Williams, last year), and I think a lot of it is just knowing how much joy his music has brought me over the years, even though I may not have made the connection/recognized it in my mind. Add to that the fact that he seemed to be genuinely the sweetest man you'd ever meet.

It's hard to cope with the fact that I took this man's music for granted for so long. He really was one of the greats, and from what I've read here and elsewhere, a lot of people who also didn't realize that are waking up to it and realizing just how much of a unique, one-in-a-million talent and artist we've lost. I keep waking up each morning hoping it's all been a bad dream, and I feel like that will continue for many mornings to come. I simply can't believe it. What a loss.

RIP, James Horner.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

An interesting discussion between Matt Zoller Seitz (editor in chief of rogerebert.com) and S.I. Rosenbaum (a journalist and movie fan) about James Horner

They do seem rather dismissive of John Williams though.

http://www.rogerebert.com/mzs/painting-with-sound-the-music-of-james-horner-1953-2014

[publicist 4,643]

It has now come to the dreaded point where the deceased is hailed as divine creation towering above all of his peers, often enough by people who acted indifferent or even dismissive when he was still alive. Goldsmith RIP relieved, really.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Very true.

Though i've always maintained that Horner was a cut above his peers, long long before he died.

Williams will recieve the same re-evaluation when he dies too.

[Not Mr. Big 4,639]

It has now come to the dreaded point where the deceased is hailed as divine creation towering above all of his peers, often enough by people who acted indifferent or even dismissive when he was still alive. Goldsmith RIP relieved, really.

Indeed. They can't praise a composer without insulting another. It doesn't help that the scores they are comparing (Jurassic Park and Sneakers) are completely different stylistically.

[Quintus 5,399]

James Horner Was Our Greatest Middlebrow Composer

- http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2015/06/23/james_horner_dead_at_61_was_as_film_composer_both_successful_and_controversial.html

SIGH...

He's not entirely wrong though, is he.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Arent all the best film composers merely middlebrow composers anyway?

[Quintus 5,399]

Horner more than any of them it seems knew exactly what his field was, and he was mostly okay with it. Cynically so, even. He exploited the opportunity for all its worth, and that's okay.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

He did seem to have an air of being unappreciated though.

[Quintus 5,399]

The Aliens interview was always very entertaining to me for exactly that reason. I poked fun at his whining there often.

That was of course back when he was still figuring the Hollywood machine out. In later years he wised up and knew exactly how to work it.

[publicist 4,643]

The ALIEN interviews were a hoot, by all concerned. Horner wringing his hands about Gale Ann Hurd (whom he diplomatically made the scapegoat instead of Cameron), Goldsmith always on the verge of adding something like 'this little fuck' about Scott's editor and Goldenthal perplexed about the whole situation he got into in major motion pictures.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Is this the biggest tragedy ever to hit the film score community?

Might be. But I don't think it's the most grisly death of a composer. That distinction belongs to Doug Timm, who was stabbed in his home during a burglary.

[Foundling 11]

Is this the biggest tragedy ever to hit the film score community?

Might be. But I don't think it's the most grisly death of a composer. That distinction belongs to Doug Timm, who was stabbed in his home during a burglary.

I don't know, they still haven't properly confirmed it was Horner have they? It couldn't have been pretty.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Hopefully death was instantaneous

[Dixon Hill 4,233]

An interesting discussion between Matt Zoller Seitz (editor in chief of rogerebert.com) and S.I. Rosenbaum (a journalist and movie fan) about James Horner

They do seem rather dismissive of John Williams though.

http://www.rogerebert.com/mzs/painting-with-sound-the-music-of-james-horner-1953-2014

It's always cringey when people who don't really "know" about film music talk about it. Especially when they really should "know," being who they are.

[crocodile 7,984]

Bought a cheap used copy of Sneakers today. Never heard it, outside of one or two tracks. Buying it purely based on several people's recommendations.

Karol

[fommes 153]

Somebody should do a top ten thread and then do a general JWFan ranking of his scores according to the number of mentions a particular score gets in people's top ten

[Jay 37,287]

I was going to do that soon - made sense to me to wait a little bit because so many people are binge-listening to a lot of his stuff right now, and people will have more robust lists after all that then in the middle of it

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

1. Star Trek III: The Search for Splock

2. Star Trek Two TWOK (because you know, they're better than everything)

3. Aliens

4. Krull

5. The Mask of Zorro

6. The Legend of Zorro

7. The Rocketeer

8. The Land Before Time

9. Battle Beyond the Stars

10. The Amazing Spider-Man

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

Sneakers is a great score

[publicist 4,643]

Bought a cheap used copy of Sneakers today. Never heard it, outside of one or two tracks.

I wouldn't be too sure about THAT!;

[Taikomochi 1,136]

An interesting discussion between Matt Zoller Seitz (editor in chief of rogerebert.com) and S.I. Rosenbaum (a journalist and movie fan) about James Horner

They do seem rather dismissive of John Williams though.

http://www.rogerebert.com/mzs/painting-with-sound-the-music-of-james-horner-1953-2014

It's always cringey when people who don't really "know" about film music talk about it. Especially when they really should "know," being who they are.

I know right.

"I never think of his music as sentimental, in the way that I think of John Williams as sentimental. I think of him as emotional."

Like seriously, what the fuck are they talking about?

[crocodile 7,984]

I'm not sure if Williams is more sentimental than Horner. What a bizarre thing to say.

Karol

[publicist 4,643]

I hardly can think of any composer more sentimental than Horner. That's not necessarily a negative observation, though.

[crocodile 7,984]

He was a true master of schmaltz, for better or worse.

Still can't believe that I'm actually using past tense...

Karol

[Uni 306]

The Aliens interview was always very entertaining to me for exactly that reason. I poked fun at his whining there often.

That was of course back when he was still figuring the Hollywood machine out. In later years he wised up and knew exactly how to work it.

The ALIEN interviews were a hoot, by all concerned. Horner wringing his hands about Gale Ann Hurd (whom he diplomatically made the scapegoat instead of Cameron), Goldsmith always on the verge of adding something like 'this little fuck' about Scott's editor and Goldenthal perplexed about the whole situation he got into in major motion pictures.

I loved Horner in those interviews. My proudest moment of him was when they threatened to find someone else to score the movie when he couldn't write the entire thing like overnight. He said, "Please do, because I'd love to meet the person who could pull that off." They backed down after that.

Somebody should do a top ten thread and then do a general JWFan ranking of his scores according to the number of mentions a particular score gets in people's top ten

Absolutely. I think this would be great fun (though the list would probably be pretty much as predictable as the JW one was).

It has now come to the dreaded point where the deceased is hailed as divine creation towering above all of his peers, often enough by people who acted indifferent or even dismissive when he was still alive. Goldsmith RIP relieved, really.

Inevitable. The same happens with in the literary world, too. Many of the "giants" only achieve their inordinate stature after their deaths.

Though i've always maintained that Horner was a cut above his peers, long long before he died.

Most people here have done the same. We've had a few Horner detractors over the years—but we've seen nearly as many Goldsmith and even Williams snipers here, too.

I know right.

"I never think of his music as sentimental, in the way that I think of John Williams as sentimental. I think of him as emotional."

Like seriously, what the fuck are they talking about?

That's exactly what I thought when I read that! Might as well be saying, "It's not like he's intuitive or capricious; more like abstract, in an impressionistic, interpretive sort of way." Huh?!

[DreamTheater 131]

Any link to that Alien(s) interview? Never read it.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

I think they mean the interviews on the DVD/Blu-ray releases.

[Uni 306]

They're probably up on YouTube (and well worth watching).

[crocodile 7,984]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzati0Am5GE

Karol

[KK 3,307]

Haha, always fun to watch that one.

[DreamTheater 131]

"Life was too short to have these conflicts."

Oh god.

Btw, I've seen this, I have the blu-ray.

[karelm 2,903]

Another very nice tribute from film music historian, Jon Burlingame:

http://www.filmmusicsociety.org/news_events/features/2015/062415.html

[curlytoot 97]

In case there was any doubt left... Body confirmed by the coroner.

http://www.ew.com/article/2015/06/25/james-horner-death-ruled-accident

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

One acre fire? Lucky it didn't go off like NSW and Victoria round about a December/January drought.

[niko85 1]

Not sure if this is self-plugging, but I did make a youtube compilation of Mr. Horner's work back in 2008.

Part 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8njmEFNp80

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1lAOe82mtA

Part 5

Pulled by Youtube

Part 6

Part 7

Part 8

Part 9

Pulled by Youtube

[leeallen01 2,133]

Here is my tribute to Horner. Just a few words to display what his music meant to me.

http://www.soundtracksandtrailermusic.com/2015/06/james-horner-1953-2015/

[BloodBoal 7,538]

Patricia RIggen (the director of The 33) pays tribute to the composer

How did you hear about James Horner's death?
I woke up in the morning and I got an email from one of the writers of "The 33," letting me know and apologizing. Then I got email after email. It's just unbelievable. It's very hard to digest that he's not around. I did talk about the flying with him, I have to tell you.
I told him I didn't like him flying — I've always thought it was really dangerous to fly private planes, and that's not what he did for a living. But it was his absolute hobby and he said it was one of the things he loved most. So when I heard the news and they weren't sure it was him, I just knew it was.

It sounds like you became very close with him during the making of this film.
James was a very loving man. He told me that he had become very picky about the movies he makes, and he didn't score many movies any more. He just wanted to make movies that he really cared about, and he wanted to make "The 33" because it moved him profoundly, he told me.
I discovered that was true because we would sit together in the recording room every day, and I would see him cry when we reached certain moments in the movie. It was something that really touched him.

How was the collaboration with him different from working with other composers?
All musicians are artists and they're all very eccentric and live in their own worlds, but James was particularly a special guy. He's very shy and quiet, almost feminine — he spoke very softly. He was just a huge talent.
What's very different about working with him is that I was sitting by him when he was composing the score, the entire time. So it's not that he went away and came back — he was really doing it with me. He was creating the music and we had the musicians in the room and he was making it right there. He described it as painting, a picture, using the colors in the moment.

That is definitely not the usual process between director and composer. How did that come about?
That totally was his idea. I was a little nervous, because I wasn't going to be able to hear anything before we actually got to the stage to record, but we were using such special instruments that that was the way to go.
He flew in the most brilliant flautist in the world — the guy's from Britain and he brought a humongous amount of Indian flutes — long ones, tiny ones. Remember the famous Ennio Morricone score for "The Mission?" That's the same guy who played those flutes back then, and it's the same guy who played the flutes in "Braveheart," which James composed.
We had all these great musicians in the room and we were recording at the same time, so when he finished composing we basically had the score recorded.