Jump to content

Name your 5 favourite non-Williams drama scores from last 30 years


filmmusic

Recommended Posts

I think I see much talk here about non-drama scores like sci-fi, action, fantasy, super-hero etc. etc. (I may be wrong).

As I've said elsewhere, I'm listening to drama scores of the last years these past few weeks, for a project.

So, I was wondering which are your favourite ones...

 

My list would look something like this (in no particular order):

 

-Murder in the first (Chistopher Young)

-The Age of Innocence (Elmer Bernstein)

-A Single Man (Abel Korzeniowski)

-The Hours (Philip Glass)

-Jane Eyre (Dario Marianelli)

 

Remember: no sci-fi, action, adventure, horror etc. Just realistic drama scores.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Age of Innocence (Bernstein)

Fargo (Burwell)

Rebel in the Rye (McCreary)

Rudy (Goldsmith)

Shawshank Redemption (T. Newman)

 

Cut a few that I decided pushed at the limits of your ruleset, filmmusic.  So special mention to scores like Pleasantville, Apollo 13, Forrest Gump, Big Fish.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 minutes ago, Disco Stu said:

Rebel in the Rye (McCreary)

Not familiar with the score or film. Also, I don't think I've ever listened to anything by this composer.

Thanks, I'll check it out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, filmmusic said:

Not familiar with the score or film. Also, I don't think I've ever listened to anything by this composer.

Thanks, I'll check it out.


The score is basically his tribute to Elmer Bernstein, his mentor.  I can’t speak to the film, I just fell for the score hard, especially the track “Inspiration at War.”

Link to comment
Share on other sites

- The Age Of Innocence - Elmer Bernstein

- The Light Between Oceans - Alexandre Desplat

- Romeo & Juliet - Abel Korzeniowski

- Saving Mr. Banks - Thomas Newman

- Wilde - Debbie Wiseman

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, Thor said:

So enormously wide parameters, I wouldn't know where to start or stop. I would struggle with naming my favourite 5 drama scores of last year alone.

I struggled to find 5.:lol:

Well, I'd be interested in knowing your 5 favourite from last year then. ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 minutes ago, filmmusic said:

I struggled to find 5.:lol:

Well, I'd be interested in knowing your 5 favourite from last year then. ;)

 

Hmm....for last year, probably this:

 

1. PLEASURE, Karl Frid

2. BENEDETTA, Anne Dudley

3. CLARET, Óscar Martín Leanizbarrutia

4. LES OLIMPIADES, PARIS 13E, Erwan “Rone” Castex

5. BUCKLEY'S CHANCE, Christopher Gordon

 

Runner-ups:

 

200 METERS, Faraj Suleiman

ANNE+, Tess Van Der Velde

THE BOOK OF VISION, Federico Pascucci

DANCING QUEENS, Gaute Storaas

DARA IZ JASENOVCA/DARA OF JASENOVAC, Roman Gorsek and Aleksandra Kovac

EL OLVIDO QUE SEREMOS/FORGOTTEN WE'LL BE, Zbigniew Preisner

GRITT, Erik Ljunggren

IN THE WAKE, Takatsugu Muramatsu

MINARI, Emile Mosseri

O ANTHROPOS TOU THEOU/MAN OF GOD, Zbigniew Preisner

SHEYTAN VOJUD NADARAD/THERE IS NO EVIL, Amir Molookpour

TO OLIVIA, Debbie Wiseman

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My top 5 drama scores since the 90s (non JW):

 

The Light Between the Oceans - Alexandre Desplat

Water for Elephants - JNH

A Beautiful Mind - James Horner

The Horse Whisperer - Thomas Newman

Shawshank Redemption - Thomas Newman

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Edmilson said:

The Light Between the Oceans - Alexandre Desplat

 

This is my favorite Desplat drama score as well, with Philomena a close second.  Must admit though that pretty much only ever listen to my shorter "OST" playlist for it.  It's 20 minutes shorter than the actual OST.

 

https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5nuHfs45I_DjO0VtLGlVG5xLhv9nFzzd&feature=share

Link to comment
Share on other sites

41 minutes ago, GerateWohl said:

The Piano - Michael Nyman

Oh, totally forgot about that! I want to edit my list now! :P

7 minutes ago, Disco Stu said:

This is my favorite Desplat drama score as well, with Philomena a close second.

I could never connect to any Desplat score.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm not sure what separates drama from everything else, but nonetheless, here's a list :

 

Schindler's List (Williams) 

Beyond Rangoon (Zimmer) 

The Claim (Nyman) 

Snow Falling on Cedars (Howard) 

The Yards (Shore) 

Jane Eyre (Marianelli) 

L'affaire Farewell (Mansell) 

The Ghost Writer (Desplat) 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 minutes ago, eitam said:

I'm not sure what separates drama from everything else, but nonetheless, here's a list :

 

Schindler's List (Williams) 

Beyond Rangoon (Zimmer) 

The Claim (Nyman) 

Snow Falling on Cedars (Howard) 

The Yards (Shore) 

Jane Eyre (Marianelli) 

L'affaire Farewell (Mansell) 

The Ghost Writer (Desplat) 

 

lol, you did more than 5 and included Williams

 

Snow Falling On Cedars is a good choice

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Disco Stu said:

 

lol, you did more than 5 and included Williams

 

:lol: I got fixated on the thread rule about drama and forgot the one about Williams. Deepest apologies ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Without giving too much thought (I know there are a lot I'm missing)

 

- Remains of the Day

- Heat

- Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me

- Portrait of a Lady

- The Village

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Romeo & Juliet - Abel Korzeniowski 

Soul Surfer - Marco Beltrami

Battle of the Sexes - Nicholas Britell 

Carol - Carter Burwell

A Beautiful Mind - James Horner

 

Other contenders that can be on the top five list:

 

The Village - James Newton Howard

The Hours - Philip Glass

Beyond Rangoon - Hans Zimmer

Frost/Nixon - Hans Zimmer

Little Women - Alexandre Desplat

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not sure if all of them are drama but I would say those five:

  • A Beautiful Mind by James Horner
  • Knives Out by Nathan Johnson
  • Southpaw by James Horner
  • The Last Castle by Jerry Goldsmith
  • Sleeping with the Enemy by Jerry Goldsmith

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 13/03/2022 at 2:11 PM, GerateWohl said:

The Green Mile - Thomas Newman

 

Given the supernatural element I wouldn't consider this straight-forward drama.

 

 

I'm having trouble deciding. I could come up with five now and they'd be different in 30 minutes time. I'm not good at lists; top five within a given composer's catalogue is easier but broader categories such as this are impossible.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Jay said:

Basic Instinct is a thriller, and certainly features a thriller score.  Not what filmmusic is looking for

If you put it like that, a drama is basically a stage play, so what's the definition of drama here? Why can a drama not have supernaural elements? Is Hamlet a drama? It has supernatural elements.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Drama is such a loose term to define a genre. Not sure if these all fall into that category, but they’re the first that came to mind:

 

Road To Perdition

The Tree Of Life

The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford

In Bruges

The Fountain

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, GerateWohl said:

If you put it like that, a drama is basically a stage play, so what's the definition of drama here? Why can a drama not have supernaural elements? Is Hamlet a drama? It has supernatural elements.

 

I hate pedantics, don't get me wrong, but I assumed the OG meant films that could only be described as drama in their Wikipedia description. Where even the slightest element of action/thriller/sci-fi/western/etc would deem it unqualified.

 

I don't know; like I said, I don't particularly care for such scrutiny.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

21 minutes ago, LSH said:

Where even the slightest element of action/thriller/sci-fi/western/etc would deem it unqualified.

 

Yes, exactly. I just looked for such scores for a particular reason that I cannot explain here.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

58 minutes ago, filmmusic said:

Yes, exactly. I just looked for such scores for a particular reason that I cannot explain here.

 

Yeah, like I said, I'm not dismissing this endeavor of yours, I just cannot possibly do this without indefinite thought.

 

My choices for this moment, however, would be:

 

The Shawshank Redemption - Thomas Newman

 

American Beauty - Thomas Newman

 

The Horse Whisperer - Thomas Newman

 

Searching For Bobby Fischer - James Horner

 

The Spitfire Grill - James Horner

 

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 13/03/2022 at 10:40 AM, Edmilson said:

My top 5 drama scores since the 90s (non JW):

 

The Light Between the Oceans - Alexandre Desplat

Water for Elephants - JNH

A Beautiful Mind - James Horner

The Horse Whisperer - Thomas Newman

Shawshank Redemption - Thomas Newman

Here's five more great drama scores since the 90s in addition to the ones I posted on the other day:

 

Legends of the Fall - James Horner

House of Sand and Fog - James Horner

The Green Mile - Thomas Newman

Road to Perdition - Thomas Newman

Atonement - Dario Marianelli

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
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Guidelines.