there is MARNI NIXON'S underwater vocalize cues in BOY ON A DOLPHIN and then there is everything else. she makes those cues pure magic. that being said , i will have to go with AMERICAN NIGHTMARE: BENEATH THE 12= MILE REEF and VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA. and yes , THE SHARKFIGHTERS. nice to see someone else here likes that score.
there is MARNI NIXON'S underwater vocalize cues in BOY ON A DOLPHIN and then there is everything else. she makes those cues pure magic. that being said , i will have to go with AMERICAN NIGHTMARE: BENEATH THE 12= MILE REEF and VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA. and yes , THE SHARKFIGHTERS. nice to see someone else here likes that score.
Marni Nixon was the vocalist on Russell Garcia's classic FANTASTICA LP.
I'd also agree with the diving bell sequence in THE BEAST FROM 20.000 FATHOMS (David Buttolph)...nicely recreated on one of the Monstrous Movie Music discs.
Without thinking about this too much, the aforementioned Bernard Herrmann scores for BENEATH THE 12-MILE REEF and parts of MYSTERIOUS ISLAND are the ones which spring to mind as immediately evoking the depth of the ocean. All those harps!
Another one would be the track "The Diving Bell" from CABO BLANCO (should that be one word?). Actually, I'm not too sure if that track is really evocative of the murky seas or if it's just a terrific piece of music in itself. Let's say both.
I suppose I'd pick Herrmann and also some of the Cousteau stuff mentioned above.
I met a marine-biologist recently when I was recording a VO for a museum display, and he told me he'd actually named his first child 'Jacques' ... and he isn't even French. Dedication.
I do think Barry's underwater 'Thunderball' stuff is outstanding. There's a particular bittersweet brass/woodwind set of staccato chords he keeps repeating there, and they're just heart-rending. I don't know why you'd WANT that quality in a JB movie, but it has a strange elegaic feel that just grabs you.
To the scores already mentioned I'd like to add Thomas Newman's Finding Nemo, James Newton Howard's Atlantis: The Lost Empire, and undersung composer Joel McNeely's Flipper and Ghosts of the Abyss.
I'm going with the Herrmann scores mentioned before (Beneath the 12 Mile Reef/Mysterious Island). I also like James Newton Howard's music for the underwater swimming scene with the Mariner and Enola in Waterworld. Very atmospheric if not necessarily "underwater-music-like". Oh, and I'll add Cocoon to the list as well.
I should also mention Elfman's music for DEEP SEA 3D, the IMAX movie, although it mostly consists of arrangements of his concert work "Serenada Schizophrana". I saw the film in an IMAX theatre in BARCELONA and while it left something to be desired, Elfman's music was really great and created much of the "meaning" itself.