31 replies to this topic

[Bondian]

Who is your favourite film score Composer?.

I must say that I have many, but I feel that John Williams top's my list because of his heartfelt and clever ways of creating a character or mood.

My a few of my list is :

John Williams
Jerry Goldsmith
John Barry
Edwin Astley
Alan Silvestri
Bernard Herrman
Vic Mizzy
Neil Hefti

and many many more.

All the best,

Cheers,


Ian

[trs007]

I have been a soundtrack fan since the age of 8, in fact, my first soundtrack LP was Thunderball. Although I enjoy the music of many composers, John Barry is my favorite. In addition to enjoying his style of music, Barry remains the only composer, who, through years of blind buying soundtracks, yielded the least dissapointment in his work.

[zencat]

My favorite film composer is Carter Burwell:

Fargo
Gods and Monsters
Being John Malkovich
Adaptation
The Man Who Wasn't There
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Miller's Crossing
Barton Fink
The Hudsucker Proxy
Rasing Arizona

I think he's the bee's knees.

IMDb

[Qwerty]

Well, I'll just list a couple:

John Barry
John Williams
Danny Elfman
Bernard Herrman -Vertigo's score is a masterpiece

[Doubleshot]

For me, John Williams, Danny Elfman, John Barry, David Arnold, Alan Silvestri, and Thomas Newman are the all-time favorites.

[Triton]

I think my favorite film composers are Bernard Herrmann, John Barry, John Williams, and Jerry Goldsmith. Although the latest scores by Barry and Goldsmith have been weak compared to their previous work.

I have also enjoyed some of the themes composed by Henry Mancini, Maurice Jarre, Danny Elfman, and Hans Zimmer.

For nostalgia reasons, I also enjoyed Edwin Astley's work in The Saint television series and the work of Barry Gray in the many Gerry Anderson television series.

[JackChase007]

Triton - are you aware that Goldsmith's rejected score to Timeline is being released sometime soon as a Special Edition? It's been getting some good reviews, and Richard Donner loves it.

As for my favorites...

- Jerry Goldsmith (especially for Rambo: First Blood Part II and his Star Trek theme)
- David Arnold (love almost everything this man does, except for his recent work - aside from Die Another Day, that is...)
- Alan Silvestri (Predator main titles, anyone???)
- Basil Poledouris (Conan The Barbarian is quite possibly the best score I've heard...)
- John Debney (one album - CutThroat Island)
- Danny Elfman (Batman and Spider-Man especially)
- Brian Tyler (his Children of Dune score is amazing)

[Lancaster]

For me it has to be John Barry (with OHMSS being his best Bond score). He was always my favorite because of his Bond work, then I went to see in at The Royal Albert Hall and it opened my eyes to all his other work.

[deth]

James Horner (only for Zorro though)
John Barry (duh)
Danny Elfman (Batman....Hulk)
Jerry Goldsmith (Batman Forever, Batman and Robin..... don't know why most ppl don't like these scores....)
John Williams (only really like his Star Wars scores.... the rest seem too.... "movie"ish)
Don Davis (I've only heard his Matrix scores.... but they are absolutely BRILLIANT)

[JackChase007]

Jerry Goldsmith (Batman Forever, Batman and Robin..... don't know why most ppl don't like these scores....)

Uh, just FYI, deth - Jerry Goldsmith didn't do the scores to Batman Forever and Batman And Robin - that was Elliot Goldenthal.

But in response to your question about why people don't like them - they have a TOUGH act to follow. While Goldenthal's music is in no way bad, and his theme isn't terrible either, it's just that Danny Elfman's musical portrayal of Batman was so DEAD ON. This theme was PERFECT for Batman, just like Norman and Barry's arrangment of the James Bond Theme (I still really give Barry credit - have you HEARD Norman's version on the Dr. No album???).

[The JB Shop]

At the moment the best composer is Howard Shore with his three Lord of the rings soundtracks.

But Hans Zimmer is also a favorite. Gladiator is the best but i also like The last samurai.

John Barry is ofcourse a favorite and that for making thje Bond music (TLD is the best) and also for making the music to Chaplin.

In my collection i have about 100 soundtracks and i use to lisen to them while at work.

John wiliams is also good becuse of his many varius theme music.

[IndyB007]

Vic Mizzy...... is his score for The Ghost and Mr. Chicken available on CD yet?

[Bryce (003)]

Various scores and soundtracks make up about 80% of my music library.

I was lucky enough to have recently picked up a CD of music to "I Spy" (the TV show, NOT the movie). Earle Hagen did some great stuff aside from the main theme and (unlike many shows of the time) each episode had a completely unique score created for it.

As to some of the above composers, by all means yes! Barry, Mancini, Goldsmith, Williams, Elfman - All talented and each has (more often than once) had a hit with either a theme or score that made their mark.

Does anyone know of any good monthly magazine dedicated to film scores and/or soundtracks?

[IndyB007]

I don't know of any magazines, but I just ran across this website and it is rather useful... check it out...

www.soundtrackcollector.com

[Xenobia]

I'll be honest....I won't cleve to one particularly composer over the other, although I do own a few scores composed by Bill Conti and John Barry, and I do enjoy their work.

My taste in music tends to be very eclectic, so the soundtracks I like best are ones where the score comes from various sources.

-- Xenobia

[trs007]

Does anyone know of any good monthly magazine dedicated to film scores and/or soundtracks?

Film Score Monthly (which is actually a bi-monthly) is probably the best magazine for this topic. Additionally, they also have a website at filmscoremonthly.com. They also had a booth at Spyfest.

Their I SPY CD is excellent, as are both their 2-CD sets of THE MAN FROM UNCLE.

[gkgyver]

If you look at ALL of the composers' scores, then Danny Elfman is the king. For me. Definitely.

My second choice would be Howard Shore, too, but there's a problem. Yes, he composed three perfect scores (yes, PERFECT), but he did some jobs which are average at best, too.
It could very well be that LOTR was the exception of the rule (which does not reduce its splendor in any way); It could also be that Shore discovered his real talent through LOTR. we have to wait for his next few scores to know for sure.

I guess an awful lot of big budget movies will be offered to him, now that he showed his quality.

[General A. Ourumov]

John Barry
- mainly for Bond

John Williams
- Star Wars Series, Jaws, Indiana Jones

Michael Kamen
- Band of Brothers

Richard Bellis
- Many TV Movies

Bill Conti
- For Your Eyes Only, Masters of the Universe.

Jerry Goldsmith
- Gremlins, Rambo.

Elmer Bernstein
- The Amazing Mr Blunden, The Great Escape.

Marvin Hamlisch
- The Spy Who Loved Me

Lalo Schifrin
- Many 70's films including Dirty Harry films.

Johnny Mandel
- Escape to Witch Mountain

Alan Silvestri
- Predator

David Shire
- Return to Oz

[Johnboy007]

John Barry
David Arnold
Bernard Herrmann
Bill Conti

[batchgc]

John Williams is top. He is a god

Next is Hans Zimmer, who is excellent (especially Gladiator and MI2)

Obviously David Arnold.

Then a tie between Alan Silvestri (BTTF is incredible) or Jerry Goldsmith (cos he's done loads.

[TonicBH]

John Barry's my favorite Bond composer. Arnold's a close second, followed by Conti. (This is speaking from Bond music perspective.)

For the rest, I like Alan Silvestri's work.

[DLibrasnow]

Maurice Jarre

[Harmsway]

1. Bernard Herrman - Vertigo. 'Nuff said.

2. Howard Shore - Lord of the Rings. A great, outstanding piece of work.

3. John Williams - Maybe overrated, but you can't argue with his success: Jaws, Indiana Jones, Star Wars, E.T.

4. Danny Elfman - His Batman score is a masterpiece.

[Neil S. Bulk]

John Williams and Jerry Goldsmith are my favorite composers. I also love Erich Wolfgang Korngold and Bernard Herrmann. John Barry isn't bad, either.

Neil

[mkkbb]

Why is everyone forgetting Elmer Bernstien. Ghostbusters and the Great Escape are fantastic soundtracks, as is The Magnificent Seven.

Alan Silvestri, lately, has been my favourite, the BTTF soundtrack is hard to compete against.

Barry and Arnold for their obvoius Bond connections, and Barry's The Ipcress File soundtrack is great.

Eric Serra (sorry) has some good soundtracks, if you're inthe mood for something edgy and different.

I still like Hans Zimmer, James Horner, Howard Shore and the like, but they don't seem to be able to get decent memorable themes into their scores (apart from TLOTR I suppose).

Danny Elfman and John Williams probably produce the most memorable tunes, although why was there not a super-hero theme for Spiderman nor Hulk.

[JackChase007]

Just a little FYI, as some people have named Silvestri as one of their favorite composers, you might be interested that he is currently set (according to www.imdb.com) to score Alien Vs Predator.

[Lotman]

John Williams. Probably the best ever.

Danny Elfman, David Arnold, James Horner, Bernard Herrmann.

N

[JackChase007]

[quote name='Lotman' date='15 January 2004 - 04:16'] N

[SirMiles83]

No certain order...
-John Barry
-Howard Shore
-Bernard Herrman
-Danny Elfman
-Akira Ifukube
-Koh Otani
-John Williams
-Nino Rota
-David Arnold

[Neil S. Bulk]

Just a little FYI, as some people have named Silvestri as one of their favorite composers, you might be interested that he is currently set (according to www.imdb.com) to score Alien Vs Predator.

I've heard that's just a rumor. I rarely trust the IMDB for in production films. The latest rumor is Marco Beltrami is on that film.

Neil

Edited by Neil S. Bulk, 15 January 2004 - 03:50 PM.