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Introduce me to James Horner


Jilal

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"Willow":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PaezvZR-YY

"Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAgx8f2wQEs

"The Journey of Natty Gann":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iC1bwAogfc

"Something Wicked This Way Comes":

"Titanic":

"The Rocketeet":

"Rascals and Robbers":

youtube.com/watch?v=XXsv9Fax_XI (poor quality TV rip done before Film Score Monthly released it not too long ago)

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James, this is Alexander.

Alexander, this is James.

*Handshake*

damn i was going to post the same! :lol:

I like Aliens, Willow, the two Zorro movies, Avatar. and of course the land before time.

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Now, if you hear bits of classical music plagarized in his scores, rest assured it's purely coincidental, according to him. Never mind that's it's often note-for-note and practically Xeroxing the orchestration. You're just hearing things.

Oh, and I hope you like the four note danger motif, 'cause you'll be hearing that a few times.....

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Surprised to see Natty Gann mentioned so many times. I'll have to give that one another listen.

I highly recommend Aliens, but you gotta get the Varese Deluxe Edition

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Jason I disagree. While Aliens is a good score, it's really not great if you wanna introduce someone to Horner. Too many non-thematic stinger and suspense music.

My first 2 were TWOK and Willow. Braveheart is good too, and Titanic.

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Jason I disagree. While Aliens is a good score, it's really not great if you wanna introduce someone to Horner. Too many non-thematic stinger and suspense music.

So? It's still great music. I'd recommend Alien to someone starting to get into Goldsmith as well, even though thats not a typical Goldsmith score. It's just great music.

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Some good scores to start with would be in my opinion

Rocketeer

Willow

Apollo 13

Brave Heart

Legends of the Fall

Titanic

Journey of Natty Gann (yes it is excellent)

Star Trek II

Glory

Krull

A very basic lineup of Horner's bigger hits.

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As you may have gathered by now, this will always be influenced by the poster's subjective taste. If I were to make a list of some 'must-haves' from a SLIGHTLY more objective viewpoint (although these things will never be entirely objective, of course), I would say you'd need:

STAR TREK II and III

BRAINSTORM

ALIENS

KRULL or WILLOW (the former is more horror-oriented than the latter)

BRAVEHEART

TITANIC

AVATAR

Then I also have some others that may not be quite as 'essential', but that are still personal favourites of mine:

ROCKETEER

LEGENDS OF THE FALL

APOLLO 13

MASK OF ZORRO

BOY IN THE STRIPED PYJAMAS

Be careful not to overdo it on the big, rambunctious, adventure things, as he's often brilliant in the softer, calmer material as well.

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The Land Before Time

Legends of the Fall

Glory (may not be the most original theme, but its beautiful)

Apollo 13

Star Trek II

Willow

Krull

Mask of Zorro/Legend of Zorro

Those are the big must haves you could start off with.

I personally think Aliens ranks among his weaker scores (although its still good), and Titanic is overrated in my opinion. So I wouldn't rank those amongst his best.

If you want a summary of all of Horner's trademark 'Hornerisms' and stylistic choices, then just listen to Avatar (if you're already familiar with Horner, you'll hear almost every major idea of his career put into that score, just shown differently through unique instrumentation). Its a good score (despite its lack of originality) and its one the best packages of of his previous compositional ideas that he's put forth.

If I were to make a list of Hornerisms, it could go on forever, so I'll save that for another time ;)

Horner is one of my favourite composers, but if you're very picky on originality, you might not be so fond of some of his scores (I say some because he's had some great scores that are very original as well).

- KK

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The earlier Horners I can remember owning were Star Trek 2 & 3, Willow, Aliens, and The Rocketeer.

I remember having to import Willow cause it was already OOP in the US at the time. It and Krull were two of the first soundtrack CDs I bought to films I hadn't seen, going on the word of others that they were similar to other scores of his I liked

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I've never seen Krull, but it's a fun album.

Karol

You should never see it. It might ruin the score, so awful it is.

I never want to see Krull.

A correct decision. :P

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I remember seeing a sealed copy of "Willow" for like $11.00, but I skipped out, because of money issues, and I thought for sure we'd get a limited edition one day. That day has not come to pass you stupid Daikini's!

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If you want to become familiar with James Horner, I suggest the following works:

Rachaminov's 1st Symphony

Holst's The Planets (specifically "Jupiter")

Copland's Our Town

...

;)

Seriously speaking, my favorite Horner scores are Star Trek II, Titanic, Avatar, Field of Dreams, and A Beautiful Mind.

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Now, if you hear bits of classical music plagarized in his scores, rest assured it's purely coincidental, according to him. Never mind that's it's often note-for-note and practically Xeroxing the orchestration. You're just hearing things.

Oh, and I hope you like the four note danger motif, 'cause you'll be hearing that a few times.....

:)

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Hmm, Aliens is probably my most listened to Horner score after Titanic. Fantastic music and supremely effective as score - it's one of Horner's finest (made back when his balls were full of spunk) and a great introduction to the man's work.

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Start at the top, with "Brainstorm" ("Michael's Gift To Karen" is absolutely beautiful!), and "The Name Of The Rose". You really don't need to go any further, but should you wish to, I recommend "ST II", "ST III", "Coccoon", (avoid "Coccoon: The Return" at all costs!!!) "Aliens", "The Rocketeer", and "Gorky Park".

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Start at the top, with "Brainstorm" ("Michael's Gift To Karen" is absolutely beautiful!), and "The Name Of The Rose".

Name of the Rose? :| That is like saying Images is a good place to start with Williams since it represents the classic JW sound and style. But I understand that it is no good patronizing new listeners. Give them taste of the hard core and obscure stuff instead of main stream fluff.

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I'm surprised more people aren't recommending Something Wicked This Way Comes. The main theme and end titles are just wonderful.

As for Krull, it's a cheesy movie but the score makes it enjoyable. Especially "Ride of the Firemares."

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