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 Posted:   Sep 29, 2022 - 7:58 PM   
 By:   lacoq   (Member)

Unsurprisingly, people are jumping in here to proclaim their own favorites. I think that response ignores what is most interesting about Mr. Kendall's post. He notes that his personal preferences reflect the music he was exposed to in his youth. That is a common phenomenon. There is recent research showing that tastes formed in adolescence often prevail for life. All the more remarkable, then, that the great achievement of Lukas Kendall is the creation of an archival record label that preserved the treasures of mostly earlier times. What's more, the documentation on those discs (commissioned by Lukas and often written by him) shows a degree of care and knowledge far surpassing that of any other label in the field. To have done that great work is an achievement that goes beyond the promotion of one's personal favorites.


Well said!

 
 
 Posted:   Sep 29, 2022 - 10:31 PM   
 By:   Tall Guy   (Member)

Ennio Morricone
I love the idea of having a certain craziness as a condiment to a solid musical education, and it’s this inspired edge to his music that makes him my favourite.

John Barry
Always in my top two favourites from literally as far back as I can remember. A better and more rounded and sophisticated composer than many people allow.

John Williams
I didn’t really want to include him because there are many other composers I’m fonder of in smaller doses, but then I think of The Eiger Sanction, Earthquake, Cinderella Liberty and a few others and I can’t exclude him.

Nino Rota
His music for Fellini is amongst the most wondrous ever written for film.

Akira Ifukube
Really first among equals of a whole range of composers that could take this last spot, including Sakamoto, Fielding, Goodwin, Giacchino, Legrand, Jarre, Delerue, and Gold. My favourite of his is Ritmica Ostinata, not a film score at all.

If the question was “who are your favourite composers who have ever written film music”, I’m afraid Williams and Ifukube would have to make way for Shostakovich and Weinberg, who’d take two of the top three spots.


i totally agree with you!!!



You have excellent taste!

 
 
 Posted:   Sep 30, 2022 - 12:06 AM   
 By:   simon377   (Member)

My favorites:
1. Jerry Goldsmith. Cannot bear to not own his scores and I definitely listen to them the most. (speaking of which time to play the new Deluxe Edition of Rudy again). Sadly never met him, but i know he once publicly referred to his music being played at my wedding. (Which it was, Theme from First Contact).
2. John Williams. For those of us who grew up in the last 40 years he has written the score to our lives.
3. Bernard Herrmann. I the score to your life was written by Benny, i worry about you, but then again i look forward to the movie about your life. Pity Benny won't get to score it.
4. Howard Shore. For the achievement that is Lord of the Rings (and the Hobbit).
5. Erich Korngold. My favourite golden age music.

And why stop now...
6. Danny Elfman. Probably second contender to having written the score to our lives over the last 40 years, especially if you wear a lot of black (and very dark grey).
7. Alfred Newman. The fatheriest of fathers of film music.
8. Nigel Westlake. He has only written a handful of scores but they are all excellent and i wanted to include and Australian.
9. John Powell. Currently the composer whose new scores i look forward to the most (but Bear McCreary is giving him a run for his money.
10. Max Steiner. Because I like his music much more than Yavar does (not because he invented film music because he did not).

 
 
 Posted:   Sep 30, 2022 - 6:54 AM   
 By:   John McMasters   (Member)

Forgive some personal ramblings: Re: Youth and tastes.

I think that my generation was lucky (born in 1953) in that musical styles and genres went through dramatic and rapid changes during my youth and adolescence. I grew up in a smotheringly small Midwestern town, but somehow through radio, TV, movies, and recordings (and because I worked as a DJ/announcer for our local radio station starting at age 15), I was exposed to almost everything that was exploding at the time: the British pop invasion, Leonard Bernstein popularizing classical music on TV, the astounding variety of guests on variety shows like, but not exclusive to, Ed Sullivan. Also in the mix were the loosening of strictures in film and the onset of truly loud metal rock music. Country music was already in the air in my town, but even country started to edge into pop, just as folk edged into rock.

My mother also worked at the radio station, and before I started working there (no nepotism, they chose me from a bunch of unmarked tapes that they solicited from kids at my high school), she would bring home LPs that no one else wanted -- usually Columbia classical releases. many soundtracks, along with some weird specialty items like "Music of the Wolves". I also think that "2001: A Space Odyssey" just blew into my brain with a big whoosh when I grabbed the soundtrack at an early age and then saw the film on first-release in Cinerama. The music was so challenging at times, and unutterably beautiful in general.

I think those earlier experiences have left me with a continuing interest in exploring new music and new takes on old genres. So I personally don't feel locked into preferences that were determined in my younger days.

I feel truly blessed to have had such a multitudinous exposure to music. It must be different for current generations when everything is available all at once, but exposure, it seems to me, tends to be siloed for most folks.

This impression may be totally wrong of course!

 
 Posted:   Sep 30, 2022 - 2:38 PM   
 By:   First Breath   (Member)

A "My Bottom 5 Film Composers" would make for a nice change of pace.

1. Marco Beltrami
2. Michael Kamen
3. Marc Shaiman
4. John Ottman
5. Brian Tyler
6. John Debney
7. Elmer Bernstein
8. Alexandre Desplat


Sit down, you're drunk.

Next!


I don't think I am. I have seen 94 films scored by these 8 composers, and their music has never grabbed me in any way. Sad but true.

I like the odd score by other "traditional" composers though, so it's not neccessarily because these 8 are predominantly symphonic in their approach.

 
 Posted:   Sep 30, 2022 - 6:21 PM   
 By:   BTTFFan   (Member)

A "My Bottom 5 Film Composers" would make for a nice change of pace.

1. Marco Beltrami
2. Michael Kamen
3. Marc Shaiman
4. John Ottman
5. Brian Tyler
6. John Debney
7. Elmer Bernstein
8. Alexandre Desplat


Sit down, you're drunk.

Next!


I don't think I am. I have seen 94 films scored by these 8 composers, and their music has never grabbed me in any way. Sad but true.

I like the odd score by other "traditional" composers though, so it's not neccessarily because these 8 are predominantly symphonic in their approach.


I kind of agree with these except for Beltrami and Debney.

 
 Posted:   Oct 1, 2022 - 2:03 AM   
 By:   MusicMad   (Member)

...I think those earlier experiences have left me with a continuing interest in exploring new music and new takes on old genres. So I personally don't feel locked into preferences that were determined in my younger days.

I feel truly blessed to have had such a multitudinous exposure to music. It must be different for current generations when everything is available all at once, but exposure, it seems to me, tends to be siloed for most folks.

This impression may be totally wrong of course!


I have similar views but from a different background: a few years younger than you, I was brought up in a household which enjoyed music, mostly easy-listening, some C&W, some jazz, and on a diet of films (mostly US as my parents thought our British films were poor in comparison). Although I liked some pop music, I spent my youth fighting the culture which forced me to listen to the pop/rock bands.

My exposure to classical music was limited but when I finally started to delve and collect recordings I had the advantage of the major labels looking to generate income by repackaging old recordings in box sets. Instead of paying GBP 10+ for a single CD OST, I found I could buy 50 CDs for less than GBP 2 a disc. Yes, I now have multiple recordings of some works but this was/is no problem.

And the massive benefit it brought: I now have a collection which includes dozens of composers I'd never heard of ... hundreds of works which would never have been played in this house ... etc. I can't believe how much we enjoy choral, chamber ... even operatic and song cycles (for me, at least) works.

So, whilst I still enjoy film music and can nominate favourite composers I now accept that, as a genre, film scores do not represent the majority of music to which I listen.

 
 
 Posted:   Oct 1, 2022 - 2:15 AM   
 By:   Prince Damian   (Member)

Today my top five are............



And tomorrow they are.........



The day after they are.........

smile

 
 
 Posted:   Oct 1, 2022 - 3:41 AM   
 By:   paul r   (Member)

Jerry Goldsmith
John Williams
Bernard Herrmann
Miklos Rozsa
Elmer Bernstein

 
 Posted:   Oct 1, 2022 - 8:52 AM   
 By:   MutualRevolver   (Member)

John Williams
Vangelis
Elliot Goldenthal
James Horner
Michael Kamen

 
 
 Posted:   Oct 1, 2022 - 11:41 AM   
 By:   knisper.shayan   (Member)

ennio
il maestro
ennio morricone
mio fratellino
morricone

in no particular order!

 
 Posted:   Oct 1, 2022 - 1:58 PM   
 By:   Adam.   (Member)

John Williams

The man who got me into collecting soundtracks in the mid-seventies with his blockbuster scores and it continues to this day almost a half century later. Amazing.

Jerry Goldsmith

No one wrote action music like Goldsmith. His 1980s to 1990s output with spectacular works such as the Rambo trilogy, The Challenge, Extreme Prejudice, Total Recall, The Mummy, etc. cemented his reputation as the action master (even if he did not want that title).

James Horner

You really have to admire his meteoric rise in the industry in just a few years from low budget schlock films to A-List composer sometimes scoring 6-8 films a year!

Basil Poledouris

His two masterpiece scores, Conan the Barbarian and Starship Troopers, put him on my list even if those two were the only films he ever worked on.

Bernard Herrmann

His Harryhausen scores The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, Mysterious Island and Jason and the Argonauts alone are enough to make my list. I've heard he scored a few other films as well. smile

 
 
 Posted:   Oct 1, 2022 - 2:10 PM   
 By:   Phil567   (Member)

John Williams

The man who got me into collecting soundtracks in the mid-seventies with his blockbuster scores and it continues to this day almost a half century later. Amazing.

Jerry Goldsmith

No one wrote action music like Goldsmith. His 1980s to 1990s output with spectacular works such as the Rambo trilogy, The Challenge, Extreme Prejudice, Total Recall, The Mummy, etc. cemented his reputation as the action master (even if he did not want that title).

James Horner

You really have to admire his meteoric rise in the industry in just a few years from low budget schlock films to A-List composer sometimes scoring 6-8 films a year!

Basil Poledouris

His two masterpiece scores, Conan the Barbarian and Starship Troopers, put him on my list even if those two were the only films he ever worked on.

Bernard Herrmann

His Harryhausen scores The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, Mysterious Island and Jason and the Argonauts alone are enough to make my list. I've heard he scored a few other films as well. smile


Didn't Basil Poledouris also do the score for Robocop?

 
 Posted:   Oct 1, 2022 - 2:19 PM   
 By:   Adam.   (Member)

Didn't Basil Poledouris also do the score for Robocop?

He certainly did. And a terrific score it is.

 
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