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 Posted:   Mar 25, 2014 - 1:58 PM   
 By:   Morricone   (Member)

http://www.tasteofcinema.com/2014/the-25-greatest-film-composers-in-cinema-history/

As usual I don't get too concerned with petty quibbling about what someone got right or wrong, it is all opinion after all. What I loved about this list is, for once, America isn't the be-all and end-all of the film music universe. The lists I have seen here have been so Hollywood centric that they all seem to be proud of their ignorance of a whole world of film scoring. Yes, Hollywood is the predominant composer source here, as it should be, but there is so much more.

And the thing I really loved about this list is who is Ilayaraja ? Does anybody have some scores they absolutely love by him? At 950 he blows Morricone away with productivity (it makes sense he is from India). I love the idea that after a lifetime of studying film music there are still new worlds to explore.

AND let me give special praise for putting Max Steiner #2. This is from me, who considered Max Steiner the enemy of the people during all my early years. There were so many Max Steiner jokes that I thought he WAS one. Then I realize why. He invented film music. When he started there were only silent film scores. HE had to figure out where to put music in relation to dialogue, or under it. He had to figure out how to best play the orchestra to get the most out the inferior sound systems that were utilized then. And then later what instruments played best under effects. And hence all the other composers then could tell him "that's terrible, this is the way it should be done". I essentially think most film composer's careers came from a dialogue with Max Steiner, right down to Goldsmith saying we have to move away from the sound that came out of the Vienna woods. And this isn't just one of those "let's pay our respects" moments. If he had come along later his voice was distinctive enough to have contrasted with others and would have made a mark of his own. He WAS the first and the sound everybody got tired of because he was all there was! I have to thank William Stromberg and John Morgan for giving me my epiphany that beyond all the tinny sound of those early scores there was this incredibly rich writing. His abilities were always there whether asked to do Korngold (THE ADVENTURES OF DON JUAN) or at the end of his career creating a hit by emulating the sound kids liked (A SUMMER PLACE).



Sure I have my complaints about this list. Joseph Kosma isn't here, but he is never on any list.

Rather let me praise the adventurous spirit of this list that can embrace everybody from Toru Takemitsu to James Horner.


...and now let the cynicism and snarkiness commence.

 
 Posted:   Mar 25, 2014 - 2:12 PM   
 By:   judy the hutt   (Member)

thanks for sharing.

anyway nice to know JW is Number 3

frankly, do not care if he is first or last, I love his music and venerate him appropriately


Judy in Tucson

 
 Posted:   Mar 25, 2014 - 2:19 PM   
 By:   Solium   (Member)

Still a most popular list. If it wasn't for Lord of the Rings, no one would know who Howard Shore was. Ennio Morricone is famous for his quantity of work. Menken had a great decade with Disney, but would otherwise be an unknown.

 
 
 Posted:   Mar 25, 2014 - 2:40 PM   
 By:   Thor   (Member)

And the thing I really loved about this list is who is Ilayaraja ? Does anybody have some scores they absolutely love by him? At 950 he blows Morricone away with productivity (it makes sense he is from India). I love the idea that after a lifetime of studying film music there are still new worlds to explore.

He's somewhat of a legend in the Bollywood industry, although the quality of much of his work leaves much to be desired (which is unsurprising, given the insane amount of work he's done -- there's a lot of self-copying and quick 'handles' being used). If they were going to include a Bollywood composer, I'm surprised they didn't include A.R Rahman instead. He's far more famous both in and outside India and a better composer. He's not called the "Mozart of Madras" for nothing.

As for the list otherwise, it's OK. It's just that person's subjective list, which is neither more nor less valid than anyone else's. If he had called it 'most influential' composers or some such thing, it would have been a different matter altogether -- then one could have used more objective criteria to judge.

 
 
 Posted:   Mar 25, 2014 - 4:11 PM   
 By:   joan hue   (Member)

I don't want to be snarky, but...ahh, errr. Glad to see my two favorites, Bernstein and Goldsmith, on the list. However, as I scrolled down from 25 to about number 4, I was sure that numbers 1 and 2 would be Alfred Newman and Miklos Rozsa. They are NO where on this list, so so..sputter, (slap my forehead), so...Guess I'm just speechless.

 
 
 Posted:   Mar 25, 2014 - 5:25 PM   
 By:   Morricone   (Member)

I don't want to be snarky, but...ahh, errr. Glad to see my two favorites, Bernstein and Goldsmith, on the list. However, as I scrolled down from 25 to about number 4, I was sure that numbers 1 and 2 would be Alfred Newman and Miklos Rozsa. They are NO where on this list, so so..sputter, (slap my forehead), so...Guess I'm just speechless.

Oh definitely Alfred Newman AND Franz Waxman...

...and where the hell is Erich Wolfgang Korngold!

But you see that is not my emphasis here. It is more along the lines of dealing with what IS here.

But, man, the emphasis on this board is what they didn't do, what they left off a CD, how they messed up the EQ and what the hell is it with those liner notes! That I can get a rally on.

Okay nobody here likes this Indian composer, Ilayaraja. I will maybe get some old Takemitsu or Hisaishi out. I will do my own exploring. Thanks.

 
 
 Posted:   Mar 25, 2014 - 6:02 PM   
 By:   The Juggler   (Member)

Maurice Jarre ahead of John Barry? I wouldn't even put Jarre on the list. Jerry Goldsmith at number 10. What a joke of a list. Michel Legrand is another guy who wouldn't make my list. I'd dump half those guys for Piero Piccioni, Clint Mansell, Mark Isham, Pino Donaggio, Bill Conti, Trevor Jones...

 
 
 Posted:   Mar 25, 2014 - 6:10 PM   
 By:   slint   (Member)

Obviously this list is very Oscar-Hollywood centered; I mean the only French or Italian composers are the one who made big Hollywood movies.

 
 Posted:   Mar 25, 2014 - 6:18 PM   
 By:   DavidCoscina   (Member)

I'd put James Newton Howard way before Menken.

 
 Posted:   Mar 25, 2014 - 6:23 PM   
 By:   LEONCIO   (Member)

vangelis,??????? Michel legrand???????????? these two composers are better than Korngold, Rozsa?? I think that has made this list was after drinking a few very hectic and with ice chintonic. I also would have added to this list my 5 great composers of Spanish cinema of all time. Jesús Garcia Leoz, Manuel Parada, Juan Quintero and Anton Garcia Abril.

 
 Posted:   Mar 25, 2014 - 6:58 PM   
 By:   DavidCoscina   (Member)

Goldsmith as number 10 is ridiculous also.

 
 Posted:   Mar 25, 2014 - 7:05 PM   
 By:   Loren   (Member)

Very Good list, here's mine, with some recent new entry:
1) the one and only Maurice Jarre
2) Ennio Morricone
3) Jerry Fielding
4) Nino Rota
5) Leonard Rosenman
6) Hans Zimmer
7) James Horner
8) Alessandro Cicognini
9) Carlo Rustichelli
10) Riz Ortolani
11) Philippe Sarde
12) Piero Piccioni
13) Vangelis
14) Mikis Theodorakis
15) Don Davis
16) Basil Poledouris
17) Fredric Talgorn
18) John Addison
19) David Shire
20) Ryuichi Sakamoto
21) Isaac Hayes
22) Elmer Bernstein
23) Jerry Goldsmith
24) Steven Price
25) Danny Elfman

For sure no Williams, no Barry, no Steiner in my list smile

 
 
 Posted:   Mar 25, 2014 - 7:07 PM   
 By:   dan the man   (Member)

I am a open minded person but my head is not totally cracked open. That list is very funny.VANGELIS MENKIN, REALLY NOW- Legrand ahead of Delerue. No Rozsa or Alfred Newman but they have Thomas Newman?It looks like they were trying to satisfy the U.N not list the best film composers of all time, Horner might be popular but is he one of the great composers of all time?To each one's own but they can keep their own.

 
 
 Posted:   Mar 25, 2014 - 7:08 PM   
 By:   dan the man   (Member)

delete

 
 
 Posted:   Mar 25, 2014 - 7:13 PM   
 By:   dan the man   (Member)

TO LOREN-Just curious why SARDE but not DELERUE.

 
 
 Posted:   Mar 25, 2014 - 7:19 PM   
 By:   dan the man   (Member)

I mean I am not saying prolific has to be the ends of all means, but how many scores did PHILLIP GLASS do? and how many scores did HANS SALTER, ROY WEBB, CARLO RUSTICHELLI etc etc etc do?The more I look at that list the more stupid it seems.

 
 
 Posted:   Mar 25, 2014 - 7:32 PM   
 By:   Matt S.   (Member)

Alan Silvestri? Really? He writes some good scores, is prolific and all, but one of the 25 GREATEST film composers in cinema history? Ahead of Rozsa, A. Newman, Korngold, David Raksin, Alex North? Wow.

Ok, you may hate Forrest Gump, but this guy also composed the memorable score for the Back to the Future trilogy, which is kind of a big deal. He also composed popular superhero movies like Captain America: The First Avenger and Joss Whedon’s The Avengers, so maybe it’s enough to put his name on the list?

Sorry, I don't think that's nearly enough.

Let's be honest; aside from some nice western themes in Part III, Back to the Future was basically the same score performed three times. And if Captain America and The Avengers were so good, why was he was replaced for both sequels by composers who don't appear anywhere on this list?

 
 Posted:   Mar 25, 2014 - 7:46 PM   
 By:   Loren   (Member)

TO LOREN-Just curious why SARDE but not DELERUE.

Honestly I think that Delerue used to repeat himself much more than Sarde copying someone else's music.
For the rest I'm sort of Delerue adept, I've recently visited Roubaix looking for his birthplace!

 
 Posted:   Mar 25, 2014 - 8:08 PM   
 By:   Advise & Consent   (Member)

Any number of strange inclusions AND exclusions.

 
 
 Posted:   Mar 25, 2014 - 8:47 PM   
 By:   nerfTractor   (Member)

They went quite light on the golden age composers. I was especially surprised to see Alex North omitted. My list would be very different, naturally, but these lists are never quite what you want them to be. Glad to see Jerry and Johnny crack the top ten, but if Alan Menken or Michel Legrand is a greater film composer than Goldsmith, I'll be a monkey's uncle.

 
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