So I guess for Williams it´s obvious: THE STAR WARS Series Goldsmith`s THE OMEN Trilogy Holdridge I guess THE BEASTMASTER Trevor Jones THE DARK CRYSTAL? Alan Silvestri The BACK TO THE FUTURE Trilogy Miklos Rozsa BEN HUR Morricone The DOLLAR Trilogy? Conti THE RIGHT STUFF or The two ROCKY ? Alex North SPARTACUS Rosenthal CLASH OF THE TITANS Poledouris CONAN for sure Howard Shore THE LORD OF THE RINGS Trilogy Don Davis MATRIX Trilogy Waxmann TARAS BULBA
Magnum Opus refers to a single large work, but if you're broadening the definition I think Nino Rota's Fellini scores qualify. More than just a bunch of films featuring a director/composer collaboration, Rota's music for any individual Fellini film can be enjoyed on its own and carries the spirit--and sometimes themes--from the others.
With Newman, I personally would argue that The Robe is his magnum opus, though a case could certainly be made for Captain from Castile or The Greatest Story Ever Told. Herrmann is a little trickier to pick for his magnum opus, though I personally would go with Vertigo.
For Jerry Goldsmith, it's even harder to peg one down but I would argue very strongly for QB VII because it so successfully encompasses so many diverse aspects of his mastery.
Magnum Opus refers to a single large work, but if you're broadening the definition I think Nino Rota's Fellini scores qualify. More than just a bunch of films featuring a director/composer collaboration, Rota's music for any individual Fellini film can be enjoyed on its own and carries the spirit--and sometimes themes--from the others.
Great call - and the blurring of the lines between the scores helps with that impression. Love those scores.
I don’t think John Barry has been mentioned and I’d pick the Bond scores by your liberal definition. Some might go for Dances With Wolves if it’s narrowed down to just one score.
Magnum Opus refers to a single large work, but if you're broadening the definition I think Nino Rota's Fellini scores qualify. More than just a bunch of films featuring a director/composer collaboration, Rota's music for any individual Fellini film can be enjoyed on its own and carries the spirit--and sometimes themes--from the others.
Great call - and the blurring of the lines between the scores helps with that impression. Love those scores.
I don’t think John Barry has been mentioned and I’d pick the Bond scores by your liberal definition. Some might go for Dances With Wolves if it’s narrowed down to just one score.
Just to add my 2 cents... I think that we can certainly broaden the definition because film compositions don't exactly align with the parameters of concert compositions. All of Williams' work on Star Wars is a valid magnum opus, seeing as how it's the thematic material introduced and developed over multiple scores. Choosing just one of the Star Wars scores as a magnum opus would be akin to selecting only the 4th movement of Beethoven's 9th symphony as his magnum opus. So, I'm in total agreement that we can expand this term when discussing film compositions.
I would add in that I think Silvestri's magnum opus might just now be his "Avengers" scores, but of course it's a close tie with the BTTF trilogy.
Steiner has plenty of possibles with King Kong, Gone With the Wind, Casablanca, The Searchers and so many others. My two favorites are Adventures of Don Juan and Treasure of the Sierra Madre, but for "magnum opus"? It has to be Gone With the Wind.
For Korngold... I'll go for The Sea Hawk, just ahead of The Adventures of Robin Hood.
John Scott... Anthony and Cleopatra
Moross... obviously The Big Country
Bernstein... most would say The Magnificent Seven, but I say The Ten Commandments.
I’ll post a few that haven’t been stated so far, and my approach here is more along the lines of what Yavar said about QBVII, which is the score that comes closes to capturing the full breadth of the artist’s genius.
Williams - SUPERMAN has it all but I also feel the two JAWS scores are the Rosetta of all he can do Goldsmith - ALIEN same, but also possibly LEGEND or maybe STAR TREK. For about twelve years everything he did was a new career pinnacle. Barry - THE LION IN WINTER for drama and yes the BOND films for action Shore - Agreed, it’s LOTR but as a body of work I’d put his Cronenberg scores along anyone else’s very best Fenton - PLANET EARTH with honorable to MARY REILLY Morricone - THE UNTOUCHABLES sums up his whole career perfectly for me Horner - the STAR TREK scores Goldenthal - TITUS is an encyclopedia of all his greatness
