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The common feeling in modern classical music is that the finest symphonic scores being written are done so as movie scores. I tend to agree. Herewith, my favorite film scores:
Star Wars: How brilliant is this? It's a marvelous bit of program music with passages people reference frequently in popular culture. How many people have hummed the Imperial theme when speaking of Dick Cheney? The yearning strings of Luke watching the double sunset on Tatooine? The score is beautifully married to the film itself and is as much part of it as the ubermyth it has become.
Lawrence of Arabia: Maurice Jarre's masterpiece. The lit match, the sun, and that brilliant score that evokes the wet and nautical out of the arid and ponderous but still works like they were born twins. It's an intense, sweeping score but is perfectly and beautifully subtle in such scenes as the rescue of Gasim. It is said there are only three stars in the film, the desert, O'Toole, and the Jarre's magnificent score. Few disagree.
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir: This is one of the two most heartbreaking scores in Hollywood history. It begins subtle and sweeping, like the waves on the rocks near Gull Cottage itself. This film is about subtlety and what goes unsaid and where things do go unsaid, the score states them emphatically. Think of that for a moment. The music is telling us plot points. The music is telling us something unspoken and unrevealed by the characters and yet, such is the brilliance of the film, that the actors and the score complement each other to tell a beautiful yet tragic tale that somehow resolves itself in a satisfying manner. Bernard Herrmann wrote many brilliant scores, but this score makes a good film exceptional.
Close Encounters of the Third Kind: The score is part of the film itself! Forboding, mysterious, but intriguing and ultimately revealing in lofty beauty. This is one of John Williams' best scores because it echoes not what the action is on the screen as much as what the audience is feeling. That's no small feat.
The Lord of the Rings: This one will go down in history. So many exceptional passages hosting a broad range of themes. Howard Shore did a yeoman's job and excelled. I knew this when I first head the theme for, The Shire and The Illumination of the Dwarrowdelf where the music ellicited such emotions of lost majesty that more than a few tears flowed. One of my favorite passages is the extended version of The Greetinf of Galadriel and Celeborn. This passage is extremely subtle but in a handful of chords it evokes tension, fear, foreboding, danger, and then release. It's the most extraordinary passage in the entire trilogy. The theme of Rohan is just brilliant. It's stark, beleguered, sweet, and even brown as the wood Meduseld is built of. It even sounds horsey. This score is a masterpiece.
A Beautiful Mind: I know he did Titanic but this score is James Horner's best. It is complex and illuminating. There's a strong strain of wistfulness through the whole score and the choir pieces build slowly and exotically, acting as a counterpoint to the action on-screen. The music is about the clarity and marvel of genius itself, sometimes soaring apart from the mundane world, sometimes dangerously close to it. The world, and reality, is neither here nor there, the score runs above all that yet somewhere in there, are strongly sentimental strains, even right at the beginning. The score evokes our fears, our dreams, but most of all, our wonder for the elusive brilliance that few of us possess.
Edward Scissorhands: How can you not fall in love with this? Some scores enliven a film but Danny Elfman's score wryly follows Edward alone, as wide-eyed and strange and postmodern as Edward himself until he discovers Kim and then it just blossoms into some of the most impossibly beautiful sounds ever written. It is oft said that that which is most sad is most beautiful and in that, Elfman excels.
Forbidden Planet: Louis and Bebe Barron created a soundtrack credited as, "electronic tonalities," and thus opened the door for electronic music years before it became common. Avant garde in concept, the score is little more than blips and whirrs and tones run up or down the scale yet it is among the most unique and evocative scores ever made. The synthesizer didn't even exist but come Hell or high water, it's not music but it IS a score. Indeed it is seminal but it's also wonderfully haunting and evocative, suited to this 21st century retelling of The Tempest. How do you score Shakespeare in outer space? This is the answer.
There are other scores which are exceptional scores but I wanted to focus on non-musicale scores and these are among my favorites.
What a great thread! And some great ones have been mentioned! I particularly like the theme of "Rohan" as well! I like the score from the movie "Somewhere in Time" with Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour. I just picked up a new CD of it this weekend because I only had a bit of the music. Love it!
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir: This is one of the two most heartbreaking scores in Hollywood history. It begins subtle and sweeping, like the waves on the rocks near Gull Cottage itself. This film is about subtlety and what goes unsaid and where things do go unsaid, the score states them emphatically. Think of that for a moment. The music is telling us plot points. The music is telling us something unspoken and unrevealed by the characters and yet, such is the brilliance of the film, that the actors and the score complement each other to tell a beautiful yet tragic tale that somehow resolves itself in a satisfying manner. Bernard Herrmann wrote many brilliant scores, but this score makes a good film exceptional.
I like the way you think Jason_Els! I was very happy when this movie came out on DVD so I could watch it whenever I want instead of waiting for TBS to run it. I just love that movie. You are quite right, the score is great.
I love the score to "Out of Africa." My DH loves the music to "Dances with Wolves."
I also think Elfman is a genius - and was robbed of an Oscar, thanks to all the hype around the movie Titanic. OK, so James Horner did well on that, but still, I wish Danny would have won. He should get a lifetime achievement award for his skills.
Here are some faves that come to mind...
Glory
Born on the 4th of July
Forrest Gump (the scored parts, though I also love the other music!)
Lord of the Rings
The Red Violin
Pirates of the Caribbean
As I've mentioned on a few threads, I'm a classical musician, and play viola with a local orchestra... we usually do a movie score every year, for our "summer pops" concert, and that's always one of my favorite performances. We've done The Red Violin, Lord of the Rings, Forrest Gump (main theme), Lemony Snicket something-or-other, and even The Simpsons! Can't remember what we're doing this summer, but I'll let you know if it's interesting.
I also think Elfman is a genius - and was robbed of an Oscar, thanks to all the hype around the movie Titanic. OK, so James Horner did well on that, but still, I wish Danny would have won. He should get a lifetime achievement award for his skills.
I just posted about doing the Simpsons before reading your post, and we've also done other stuff by Elfman... including his latest symphonic work, "Serenada Schizophrenia", which I personally thought was genius!! We actually invited him to attend the concert (it was the West-coast premiere of that work), and he said he would, but ended up getting stuck in LA that weekend. Anyway, you should all check out Schizophrenia if you can find a recording, because it's really a terrific piece!
Chariots of Fire, particularly Eric's Theme (IMO), Vangellis.
And, while not as epic, those of "Hannover Street" and "Peggy Sue Got Married" just tear me up completely -- beginning with the opening credits :>)
And would The ThornBirds (Mancini) count?
Another I've really liked is from "Manhattan" - mostly Gershwin, I believe.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mollysmiles
What a great thread! And some great ones have been mentioned! I particularly like the theme of "Rohan" as well! I like the score from the movie "Somewhere in Time" with Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour. I just picked up a new CD of it this weekend because I only had a bit of the music. Love it!
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Anyway, you should all check out Schizophrenia if you can find a recording, because it's really a terrific piece!
