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Post by Nalkarj on Nov 24, 2021 3:18:52 GMT
moviemouth’s Hans Zimmer thread got me thinking about film composers, so I just had to ask: Who are your favorites? My favorite is probably Bernard Herrmann ( Psycho, Vertigo)—the conventional choice, but for good reason. Some of those scores are astounding, in several cases better than the movies around them. And they’re just so wedded to the movie, as a score should be; his North by Northwest score, for example, conveys character, mood, setting… His excellent, undercelebrated score for Brian De Palma’s Obsession, by the way, convinces us of Cliff Robertson’s character’s madness far more than Robertson’s acting does. Other favorites… Henry Mancini ( The Pink Panther, Breakfast at Tiffany’s), Danny Elfman ( Batman Returns, Sleepy Hollow), Miklós Rózsa (that violin concerto from The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes—magnificent), Pino Donaggio ( Dressed to Kill, Carrie)… OK, whom am I forgetting? And who are your favorites?
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Post by movielover on Nov 24, 2021 3:32:51 GMT
Off the top of my head...
Hans Zimmer John Williams James Horner Benard Herrmann Ennio Morricone Tangerine Dream John Carpenter Vangelis
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Post by moviemouth on Nov 24, 2021 4:54:22 GMT
Hans Zimmer John Williams Ennio Morricone Jerry Goldsmith James Horner Thomas Newman Philip Glass Vangelis Michael Nyman Bernard Herrmann
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Post by politicidal on Nov 24, 2021 14:54:19 GMT
John Williams
Hans Zimmer
Jerry Goldsmith
Danny Elfman
Michael Giacchino
James Newton Howard
Elmer Bernstein
Max Steiner
James Horner
Basil Poledouris
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Post by Nalkarj on Dec 3, 2021 20:27:01 GMT
This is kind of a side issue, but have you ever noticed how few film composers are also film song composers? Henry Mancini was, of course: He wrote the music for “Moon River,” “Two for the Road,” the Victor/Victoria songs. Danny Elfman wrote songs for The Nightmare Before Christmas, Corpse Bride, and, according to Wikipedia, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (though I can’t remember any songs in the last one except Deep Roy’s).
But who else? Elmer Bernstein tried theater songwriting in How Now, Dow Jones, lyrics by the amazing Carolyn Leigh (“The tears that overtake ya / And ache ya in the trachea / Don’t kill ya till they make ya / Old and gray…”), and Merlin, the Tonys performance of which I couldn’t stomach. But I don’t remember any songs he wrote for movies.
But I can’t think of anyone else. I know I’m missing someone, but I’m thinking that film-score writing just takes a separate set of skills than songwriting, even film songwriting. Which may be obvious, but I find it interesting. Or could it just be that increasingly fewer movies have songs?
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