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Is it because it perpetuates the experience of the film? Is it the music content? Is it just the vibe of the score? Is it all these depending on the composer?
As film music has changed over the years, have you had a new found affection for say, Golden Age composers whose music might have seemed "corny" or "over affected". Do you like the new trend (please, if we can, let's keep it positive- if you don't like the new, just concentrate on the scores and composers that you do like- thanks)
Can you name 5 scores off the top of your head that just floored you and have you coming back for repeated listenings?
For me, it's actually mostly the music content. I don't often see the films in theaters any more thanks to a busy work schedule and trying to compose on my off hours. When I do venture out, it's usually to the concert hall to see and learn more about how the orchestra works when playing masterpieces by Stravinsky, Mahler, Prokofiev, Sibelius etc. Heck, I even had a chance to see John Adams last year and attend live performances of Harmonielehre and Short Ride in a Fast Machine (kick ass piece BTW).
I actually was very turned off to Korngold, Rosza, Steiner, etc in my 20s. I loved Williams, Goldsmith, Horner, Goldenthal, Mancini, Silvestri, Elfman, and all those guys but couldn't make the connection to those older composers. then something clicked and I had a whole new appreciation for them.
I discovered Herrmann officially in a university film course. We watched Vertigo and I LOVED the opening credit music. While other students prattled away believing the credits weren't important enough to shut up during, I was fascinated by the story that Herrmann already got a jump start on right from the beginning. From there I started collecting various scores of his and loved them all because he was so different. He had his own musical vocabulary in many ways and while I will always put Williams first as my fave composer, I truly believe Herrmann was the greatest film composer we have seen. He "got" film. He was a great dramatist but also had the musical smarts to pack his scores full of goddamned great wonderfulness.
Today, I am still moved by Herrmann's final cue from F451. It's a beautiful lament and is as emotive as any Mahler adagio mvmt from any of his symphonies- or Barber's famed Adagio. Those last three chords haunt me.
I would say currently, I'm more interested in classic re releases or restoration scores by those wonderful folks at Tribute. They do marvelous work. I also appreciate labels like La La Land, Intrada, FSM, etc for cleaning up or releasing previously un released scores. I'd still love to see a release for DeVorzon's STICK (yeah First Breath will love that one too I'm sure  )
While I initially had very strong resentment towards the new breed of composers, I thought to myself whether I'd become the stereotypical grumpy old fart somewhere along the line. So this summer, I made a concerted effort not to pre judge the newer material and honestly see what I thought. I really enjoy Pacific Rim. Or at least most of it. It's fun and does have some clever bits in there but more important Djawadi threads his material throughout (structure and development are big points in my book). I also like ZImmer's MOS for the most part. There's an energy to it and I enjoy his electronic ambient bits too.
I've missed out on a lot of JN Howard offerings over the years, again blinded by a disinterest in RC styled scores and compared the little I heard to his amazing earlier works like Signs, Falling Down, Unbreakable, The Village, Wyatt Earp, etc. I bought Snow White and enjoyed parts of it. I also like a good part of Hunger Games. They still don't quite resonate with me like say, Grand Canyon or even Waterworld do, but they aren't bad. And I love his Wayne Family string theme. Classic JN Howard writing.
If I had to name 5 few scores from the past 10 years that I really keep coming back to these are the ones:
There Will be Blood
How to Train Your Dragon
The War Horse
The Incredibles
The Matrix Revolutions
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Posted: |
Jul 11, 2013 - 9:06 AM
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By: |
facehugger
(Member)
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When I do venture out, it's usually to the concert hall to see and learn more about how the orchestra works when playing masterpieces by Stravinsky, Mahler, Prokofiev, Sibelius etc. Heck, I even had a chance to see John Adams last year and attend live performances of Harmonielehre and Short Ride in a Fast Machine (kick ass piece BTW).
I still listen to films scores because one eventually runs out of new John Adams, Penderecki (and Goldsmith!) to listen to. After that the best alternative is to look for knockoffs of those in Don Davis and Marco Beltrami and Edward Shearmur (before he married the high executive of Paramount).
'sides, everytime you start listening to a new soundtrack, it's like opening a box of chocolate, you never know what you gonna get.
As for your list of five score, I would replace The Warhorse with Harry Potter 3, Incredibles with Ratatouille, put Horton Hears A Who! side by side with Dragon, add the other two Matrix scores. --And add in a bunch of Zimmer scores when I need mindless fun.
And replace Greenwood with any Marco Beltrami or Ed Shearmur's Reign of Fire/Sky Captain combo. Seriously, i don't get how you like There will be Blood but dismiss The Thing Prequel.
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Some good scores mentioned. Love Ratatouille as well. IN some ways, it's a stronger Giacchino score than INcredibles because it's more "his" style and less Barry/Mancini inspired.
Shearmur's Reign of Fire was a solid muscular effort. I also really enjoy his Sky Captain. terrific theme- probably one of my fave "hero" themes written in the past decade- actually let me amend that- it IS my fave!
Greenwood's TWWB didn't break a lot of new ground, let's be clear on that. I did like his use of the ebow on his guitar for those long glass like tones doubled with the strings but the modernist writing was definitely taking from Penderecki and more Bartok to be quite frank. I think in this case, it's the association with the film. I loved the film because it was so dark and uncompromising. Practically none of the characters are likeable in that traditional way. "Future Markets" knocked me on my ass the first time I heard it in the trailer. The sound he got from those strings was just stellar- perfect low end but not missing the mid's or high frequencies. I'd love to have been a fly on the wall for those recording sessions. I haven't warmed as much to his subsequent scores though. Anderson did a wonderful job melding the music with his Citizen Kane like view of early 20th century western expansionist capitalism.
In respect to my own wishes, I won't get into Beltrami but chalk it up to personal preferences. Just like I don't enjoy a lot of Mozart, I still acknowledge him as an important figure in music history.
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Some of the soundtracks I own, I have not seen the movie yet, but I like certain composers. I enjoy listening to the music and remembering the movie through the music. When I finally see a movie that I have had the score for years, I can see how I matched up the music to what I thought might be going on in the movie.
Star Wars (Episode IV)
The Wind And The Lion
Ben-Hur
Psycho
How To Train Your Dragon
(I rip on Zimmer so much here, but Paperhouse and Backdraft are great scores, but Zimmer does not score like that anymore, well I have not heard The Lone Ranger.)
I like a lot of Rozsa's large scale scores, but do not care for his lighter scores. Herrmann most of his scores are great. Mancini's Lifeforce is the only one I own, his 60's and early 70's score are just not for me. The other 50's, 60's, early 70's and most mid-late 2000's scores just are not there for me. So, I listen to a certain time period. I have tried a lot of scores outside that time period and usually am disappointed.
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Well, fings ain't what they used to be, but I still get a kick out of film scores.
There is a weird buzz in the not knowing what you're gonna hear next.
Two of my recent favourite scores are from films I watched just recently - Brian Tyler's IRON MAN 3 and NOW YOU SEE ME, which is strange, because I've never really rated Tyler that highly and have found most of his previous scores VERY underwhelming.
Pino, my favourite composer, doesn't write 'em like he used to, but I still play the hell out of his older, classic scores.
I still love Danny Elfman and must have played his REAL STEEL score a hundred times.
His other recent stuff has been excellent too, with HITCHCOCK and PROMISED LAND being hugely underrated gems to my mind.
JW still writes great scores that reward further listens - LINCOLN and WAR HORSE are stellar to me - and even James Horner can excite me from time to time - BLACK GOLD and KARATE KID were excellent.
My moods change all the time, as do my listening habits with them. One week I gorge on John Barry and the next I can't listen to another note by him. Ditto Maurice Jarre.
I am a fan of some 60's scores, most 70's and 80's scores and some 90's and 00's scores.
I don't really get the Golden Age sound.
I'll come back with my recent, best 5 scores when I've had a good ponder.
Cool thread
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Two of my recent favourite scores are from films I watched just recently - Brian Tyler's IRON MAN 3 and NOW YOU SEE ME, which is strange, because I've never really rated Tyler that highly and have found most of his previous scores VERY underwhelming.
Yes I really enjoy Now You See Me a lot. It's a fun, clever score. Tyler may have found his niche style. Groove based with a strong theme and balanced orchestra with electronics.
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My simple answer to the OP's question is that I've been a devotee of the artform for over twenty years and I still feel like I'm making new discoveries. With a century's worth of material to mine, I don't see that stopping any time soon.
And despite the tenor of discussions on this board lately, I'm still hopeful for future discoveries. Just last night I listened to Navarette's THE HOLE for the first time and was blown away by a very old fashioned orchestral horror score.
Cool, I will have to check that out. I'm not sure but did I hear that Navarette is attached to the new Godzilla film coming out? That would be amazing if that's the case.
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I'm not sure but did I hear that Navarette is attached to the new Godzilla film coming out? That would be amazing if that's the case.
You don't have to wait for Navarette doing a sequel to Pacific Rim the Djawadi film:
get your copy of "Wraith of the Titans" today to hear Navarette in Zimmer/Djawadi/Tyler mode.
Really? but is the music good or bad? I think I recall hearing it was pretty good...
What do you think of Alexandre Desplat? I used to be a real big fan but I think he started taking too many projects per year and while he's still producing very good scores, they don't have the same shine to them as a few years back when he was working on fewer projects.
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Posted: |
Jul 12, 2013 - 2:49 AM
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By: |
Francis
(Member)
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Can you name 5 scores off the top of your head that just floored you and have you coming back for repeated listenings?
Alien (Goldsmith)
Evil Dead (Banos)
Hellraiser (Young)
The Fugitive (James Newton Howard)
Tron Legacy (Daft Punk)
I still love listening to scores while working on something and have found myself playing a lot more CDs than before.
Is it because it perpetuates the experience of the film? Is it the music content? Is it just the vibe of the score? Is it all these depending on the composer?
I don't think there is a definitive answer for me so I'd go for a mix of all of the above; I do tend to stick to composers I like, but in most cases I get the album because I liked it in the movie and want to hear that music and vibe outside of it. I've found with many movies I rediscover on blu-ray, I tend to revisit the scores as well; just today I put on Profondo Rosso after having seen the blu-ray last night. And I watch a lot of movies (old & new) and if the score appeals, I'll definitely get it.
I also still get excited by releases of old & new, the last couple of days have been amazing with announcements of older titles (Day of the Dead, Insurrection, Crusoe... ) as well as new scores (The Conjuring, ...) I'm very much looking forward to! Not to mention the upcoming X-files set and I still need to get "The Call" by Debney and "Only God Forgives" by Martinez, which I've heard both in the movie and am looking forward to as well. I haven't been getting the recent releases as fast as usual because the international shipping has become an issue, add to that the threat of customs and suddenly I'm only saving up to get those titles I want real bad (and in the meantime get even more acquainted with my collection).
So much scores are getting released, for me it's difficult not to stay interested in film music!
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There's a lot of crap (IMO) coming out these days but there are some composer that get me excited. strangely they are mostly European composers.
Alexandre Desplat
Abel Korzeniowski
Dario Marianelli
Those are composers that I really enjoy nowadays, however just to complete my collection I purchase every John Wiliams and James Newton Howard whether I like the score (Snow White, Hunger Games, Green Lantern) or not so much (The Bourne Legacy, Duplicity).
I couldn't name my 5 favorite scores from last year because they change so often but I can tell you that they are always from these 5 composers I named.
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There's a lot of crap (IMO) coming out these days but there are some composer that get me excited. strangely they are mostly European composers.
Alexandre Desplat
Abel Korzeniowski
Dario Marianelli
Seconded. There's still a lot of good music out there, just not from Hollywood blockbusters. Thank you, Hansi.
Michael Giacchino is a talented composer, but some of his recent scores (Star Trek, Star Trek into Darkness) are weaker than others (Ratatouille, Up!).
Five scores that have been firm favorites of mine all these years:
YOUNG SHERLOCK HOLMES (Bruce Broughton)
UNDER FIRE (Jerry Goldsmith)
THE SEA HAWK (Erich W. Korngold)
VERTIGO (Bernard Herrmann)
LUST FOR LIFE (Miklós Rózsa)
I appreciate music independently of style, where it's late romantic, neo-classical, impressionistic or contemporary, as long as it's well done. Just not crap. Again, thanks Hansi.
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Posted: |
Jul 12, 2013 - 6:18 AM
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By: |
Thor
(Member)
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The word 'still' in the headline seems to suggest a premise that you may enjoy something DESPITE of something new. To me, that's not the case. I think film music is more vibrant and versatile now than it has ever been. There's basically not a single sound or approach that you won't find being used in a film at any given time -- both in Hollywood and outside. So good times for everyone if your eyes and ears are open! Not to mention all the reissues and restorations of old classics.
As for me, personally, I find that my film music passion hasn't wavered much since I became a fan in the early 90's. Sure, there are certain 'dips' now and then when I'm more drawn to my pop, rock, electronic or classical albums etc., but I'll always come back. I need the mix to stay sane. Versatility is the spice of life!
Even though I have a pretty good overview of the artform after 20+ years of collecting and exploring, and still have a strong connection to the music of my formative years, I still keep exploring and falling in love with new stuff -- both from today and yesteryear. In fact, there is so much good coming out that I can hardly keep up. I've had to stop buying CD's and instead rely on services like Spotify, iTunes etc.
For me, soundtrack listening has ALWAYS been about musical content and structure, the 'concept album' idea. Never about the film. I have a separate film interest that takes care of that
As for 5 scores I keep coming back to, is that another way of asking what my 5 favourite scores are? Are you talking about NEW scores or ALLTIME favourites? Scores-in-the-films or as listening experiences on album?
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