Best Jerry Goldsmith medieval score: Lionheart vs First Knight

[Edmilson 7,385]

Thought this deserved its own thread  

[WampaRat 1,105]

I feel like Timeline would be the decent mix of these two…

[Not Mr. Big 4,639]

I feel like Lionheart better follows up on its best thematic material (where First Knight has some fantastic ideas that play second fiddle to the boring love theme)

[blondheim 1,157]

I've had to make a playlist of alternating tracks because I have only recently truly fallen in love with both scores and I have not yet considered which I like better. This is a tough poll.

[Holko 9,499]

Not based on a full exploration, just the samples, Lionheart seemed to be to just be another late 80s JG score, soundong similar to ST5 which I'm no fan of, while FK seems more like its own thing. That's all my uninformed ignorant ass can muster.

[ManofDestiny 71]

Mulan

[Thor 7,465]

Ouch, that's a tricky one, as I love both dearly. LIONHEART wins by the smallest margin possible ("Mathilda" is one of my favourite JG cues of all time), while FIRST KNIGHT has the best finale music, I suppose. Just barely.

[publicist 4,643]

Lionheart. The performance doesn't do it any favours, but it's still his best leitmotif-score ever. Also it probably gains a lot in my estimation that it doesn't sound as big and overblown as these things often do. The finale from FK is also a great addition to the canon (the Carmina Burana stuff not so much).

[WampaRat 1,105]

I chuckle a tad when I see First Knight abbreviated to “FK” 😁

[Tom Guernsey 2,280]

19 hours ago, publicist said:

Lionheart. The performance doesn't do it any favours, but it's still his best leitmotif-score ever. Also it probably gains a lot in my estimation that it doesn't sound as big and overblown as these things often do. The finale from FK is also a great addition to the canon (the Carmina Burana stuff not so much).

I think on balance I enjoy First Knight a lot more. The recent Varese edition of Lionheart is great, but it almost seems to nice and upbeat for an historical epic. First Knight is a big, heart of sleeve orchestral and choral blowout. Like so many scores of the era, the end credits version of the main theme doesn't really do it any favours, nice though the hymnal theme is (much like The Ghost and the Darkness, the best material is in the score itself rather than the slightly clunky main themes). I'm not sure I'd count the choral writing as that close to Carmina Burana beyond it being epic, aggressive choral music, the structuring is quite different (it's no Glory). I seem to remember it being closer to a Vaughan-Williams symphony (of all things) with added choir, but having had a quick scout through some likely candidates (notably the startlingly intense 4th) I can't quite find the bit I had in mind, but that descending motif from Arthur's Farewell is definitely from something else. Both great scores though...

[A24 4,326]

The Green Knight!

[publicist 4,643]

2 hours ago, Tom Guernsey said:

I seem to remember it being closer to a Vaughan-Williams symphony (of all things) with added choir, but having had a quick scout through some likely candidates (notably the startlingly intense 4th) I can't quite find the bit I had in mind,

 

It's the fifth.

 

I quite like that score, but when all is said and done, it's a bit stale especially the orchestration, and thank god Lionheart is more upbeat. I really don't like cues like Night Battle very much, but of course, thanks to LLL i can now enjoy the much more Goldsmithian and enjoyable cues like Boat Ride, which next to the calmer stuff is the score's selling point.

[crocodile 7,984]

4 minutes ago, publicist said:

 

 I really don't like cues like Night Battle very much,

You don't like The Rite of Spring?

 

Karol

[publicist 4,643]

54 minutes ago, crocodile said:

You don't like The Rite of Spring?

 

Not stripped to to its bare essentials and hammering away like Holst going mad.;)

[Michael Scorefan 4]

First Knight for me.  I enjoy Lionheart quite a bit, but honestly, it sounds much more like a Western to me than a medieval score.  First Knight feels more like a medieval score to me, and I have listened to that score more often.  One difference though is that Lionheart was a blind buy, and I have never seen the movie.  I have, unfortunately, suffered through First Knight, so First Knight gets the edge.