It has the quite parts, with the harp entering the center stage as demonstrated in ET and me.

It has exciting chase music as in Adventures on earth.

It has eerie, strange and scary sounding cues as in the beginning.

It presents a great theme, the flying theme. If that doesn't lift you up, nothing will.

Above all, it offers a dramatic finale that is so beautifully composed it brings tears to my eyes to this day. And that last fanfare like finish. Genius I tell ya.

So, yes, if I had to showcase John Williams' talents, all in one, it would probably have to be ET.

Naturally there is one runner up, who really is on the same level.

Jerry Goldsmith, but since I know that Jeron just loves the guy I won't say anything yet.

For a bad movie, it really has a tremendous score.

the score is the summation of the Star Wars saga, and really does, even more than Empire, tell the film's story musically.

The power of the Emperor's Theme is surpassed only by the male chorus employed during the final lightsaber battle.

hey, it even has a harpsichord for that classical touch (Forest Battle).

and the action music is some of Williams' best.

Yoda's Death is touching and emotional, signifying the passing of a great muppet.

ROTJ is magical in the exact opposite way that ET is magical.

To sum up Jerry Goldsmith:
I'll go on a limb and say...The Edge.

The Edge!!!!!!!??!?!?!?
yes, because it displays certian aspects of his compositions from the last 30 years. We have smooth jazz (for whatever reason), great, dramatic action music, sliding trombones (for the eery feeling every film needs), and a whopper of a main theme.

it's certainly better than Hoosiers (or Best Shot for you European folks).

Actually, The Edge was just the first one to pop into my mind when thinking about Goldsmith. I really don't know why.
I would push for an expanded release of this one (I assume that there IS more in the film than on the CD).

To sum up Danny Elfman:
this guy is a hard one to pigeonhole. There's 2 different Elfmans. One scores Good Will Hunting, Sommersby, Black Beauty, and A Simple Plan. The other scores Batman 1 and 2, Sleepy Hollow, Scrooged, and Edward Scissorhands.

Well now that Elfman has been mentioned, I will defer to Andre Lux to start with the informed insults.

Zimmer (The Thin Red Line) - WTF was I saying above? I totally just blanked and TTRL didn't even come up. Definately his best score in my opinion, and though many think it is "boring", I think it is a different side to him that represents what we'll be seeing in the future! (hopefully Pearl Harbor). A masterpiece is an understatement.

Williams (Star Wars) - How could you pick anything else? Sure Raiders and Schindlers List were huge... But Star Wars it THE score of all SCORES... and I think definately this score got more people into scores than any other, ever.

Rabin =P (Armageddon) - I love this score, and I'm well aware that most of you hate it (and him). Great themes and I don't mind the mixture of synthesizers and orchestra.

Edelman (Dragonheart) - Gettysburg and Dragon both have excellent themes, but neither of them have a lasting impact on you like Dragonheart. Track 2 from the score is one of the most beautiful tracks I've ever heard. As a whole score, this one is also better than Gettysburg and Dragon (Kindergarten Cop rules!)

Horner (TIE Glory/Land Before Time) - Glory has to be one of the most effective in film scores I've ever heard. It brought out emotion for me in the film that surpasses words. Same goes for Land Before Time. On pure beauty, Land Before Time might be #1 of all time (in my opinion, of course)

Elfman (Nightmare Before Christmas) - Batman was a great, and revolutionary score. Edward Scissorhands was extremely haunting and beautiful. Nightmare Before Christmas, though, is one of the most enjoyable soundtracks I own. Just the fact that Elfman wrote the score, the lyrics, and SUNG the Jack Skellington songs blows me away every time I think of it. Almost every track is beautiful in it's own way.

Vangelis (1492, Conquest of Paradise) - Like Blade Runner, love Chariots of Fire... Adore this one.

Powell (Chicken Run) - Who else could write this score? It's one of the funnest scores I've ever heard... Face/Off was a good action score, but as a whole this album blows it away. Same goes for Gregson-Williams.

Jones (Last of the Mohicans) - Brilliant! =) The best score I've heard from him... Hell, it's even popular among non-score fans. His part was much, much better than Edelmans.

Newton-Howard (Dinosaur) - Sure, many of you will disagree with this one, but I just haven't enjoyed any Newton-Howard score as much as this one.. It's pretty incredible.

Mancina (Speed/Return to Paradise) - Speed is one of my favorite action scores, and it was another score that got me hooked on to film scores themeselves. Return to Paradise is simply beautiful, I simply cannot mention it.

Menken (Beauty and the Beast) - I'm not a HUGE fan of the guy, but he hasn't had any bad scores (I actually liked Hercules). B&TB was pretty fantastic, though.

Glennie-Smith (Man in the Iron Mask) - So many different themes... All so good! I cherish this cd. It is definately one of my favorites. I just wish the guy would do more (the new Highlander movie looks terrible).

Goldsmith (Gremlins) - It's hard for me to say. What I've heard from him in the 90's is nice stuff, but nothing extremely memorable to me. Gremlins, though, is classic. I used to hum the music when I was about 7, what does that tell you?! Gizmo's theme is beautiful, and the do do, do do, do, do. do do, do do, do, do. do, do do, do do do do do do, do (?) was awesome!

quote:

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Originally posted by JJH:
[B]it's certainly better than Hoosiers (or Best Shot for you European folks)./B]

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Couldn't resist...could you?

Scotty

I hate being the one who always says this, but the score that best represents Horner is Star Trek II. He's been using it for 18 years now. Either that or Brainstorm.

quote:

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Couldn't resist...could you? Scotty

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Of course not! Like The German before you, I shall nitpick at you forever with this, since I have found your weakness!

aaaa ha ha ha ha ha haaaaaa!!!!!!!!

{JJ, looking and feeling very evil right now}

Yes!!

Carter Burwell : Three Kings
Hopefully, I can get at least JJ to agree with me that this is less a Burwell score than it is a Thomas Newman re-write. Personally, I'd pick either Miller's Crossing or Barton Fink (since he reuses both of those score's ideas frequently----that's not exactly a bad thing).

As for John Ottman and The Usual Suspects being most representive of his style, I'm going to STRONGLY disagree. Pretty much everything in this score (not including the main theme) was based heavily on the temp track. What about say....Incognito?

And as for the Media Ventures crew, I'm not trying to be a dickhead about this, but have Trevor Rabin, Harry Gregson-Williams, Jeff Rona, and John Powell written enough scores to warrant them one score that best represents them as a unique composer? I mean, John Powell AND Harry Gregson-Williams both wrote Antz (along with at least two others), so who's to say whose style that best represents? As for Mancina, he barely has enough output, either, but if I would chose ANYTHING, it'd be without a doubt his score to Speed (the score Bad Boys sounds nearly identical to).

To the layman (or even most of us here), throw on any Media Ventures score and try to get them to differentiate Zimmer from any of the others. Really.

Shaun

quote:

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Originally posted by JJH:
Great Scott wrote:

Of course not! Like The German before you, I shall nitpick at you forever with this, since I have found your weakness!

aaaa ha ha ha ha ha haaaaaa!!!!!!!!

{JJ, looking and feeling very evil right now}

Yes!!

NP -- [b]The Woodlanders, George Fenton[/B]

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Lol.

Very funny. However, you erred in one way, my dear friend, although I spend a lot of time in Germany and have German relatives, I am not German. I am an American and very proud of it.

Now before anyone jumps on me in the spirit of Politicall Correctness; I am not dizzing you if you are from another nation. As in music I just have my prefernces.

ahhhh....JJH...u found my weeknes he? Yeah, that's cool...Lion in the Winter...it's a phoo score alright, ain't it?

Scott

As for Bad Boys and Mancina, I was gonna write: Speed/Bad Boys, you are right, they both sound almost identical - but BB has stronger action themes than Speed does, IMO.

With Antz, Harry Gregson-Williams did write most of the score which was more his than Powell's and the other composers are credited to certain tracks which they helped out on. I read somewhere that Gregson-Williams would write pieces for the film and Powell would slightly alter the one's he choose. So, as a whole, the score is more Harry Gregson-Williams' than the others at MV. Not "unique" composers, but ones that just came off the top of my head, I never said they were unique.

GOLDSMITH efinatelly PAPILLON.

NORTH:SPARTACUS

HERRMANN:VERTIGO

ROZSA:Miklos'masterwork is SPELLBOUND.This score is the first example of the romantic-horror style that was followed by many in later years.

BERNSTEIN efinatelly MAGNIFICENT SEVEN which created a new standard for westerns.

SCHIFRIN:Lalo's unique stuyle is represented
by his score for BULLITT.

NEWMAN:CAPTAIN FROM CASTILE

MORRICONE:LE CLAN DES SICILIENS and ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA.

VICTOR YOUNG:SCARAMOUCHE

MORRICONE: "The Mission"

GOLDSMITH: "Rambo II"

WILLIAMS: "The Empire Strikes Back"

POLEDOURIS: "Conan, The Barbarian"

DOYLE: "Much Ado About Nothing"

GOLDENTHAL: "Alien 3"

HORNER: "Krull"

PREISNER: "At Play in the Fields of the Lord"

SILVSTRI: "The Abyss"

ELFMAN: "Midnight Run" (screw you JJ! )

ETC...

Williams: Superman (The best score...EVER)
D. Arnold ID4 (In which Arnold does what Arnold does best!)
Goldsmith ST: TMP (One of the most recognisable themes from the movies)
Silvestri Back To The Future (The first in what went on to become one of the best series of film scores)

quote:

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(screw you JJ! )

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well! I've been violated!

And in either case, it's a difficult choice because of the kind of ground composers can cover. Take Goldsmith--he can be Martial (Patton, Rambo, In Harm's Way, MacArthur, etc.) but also Romantic and tender (Patch of Blue, various love themes and harmonica-based scores) as well as modern and alien (Twilight Zone: The Invaders, Freud, Planet of the Apes, Link, etc.). What one score catches it all--The Blue Max? The Wind and the Lion perhaps or Papillon? It's hard to say.

Herrmann and Rozsa have action, romance, and the modern sound depending on the film--the choice is just as difficult. You could say Spellbound for Rozsa and get the romance and theremin sound in but be neglecting his Orientalism, the crime sound, his bent for action cues, or the "gray/maroon" sound of his last scores. What one score best captures his range and personality or best represents what he is to an audience, each one I think of seems to be missing part of what he is in total, which isn't to say that there isn't a score that he put all of himself into and that points to what isn't there. But which one? Thief of Bagdad, Double Indemnity, Spellbound, Quo Vadis, and Providence all represent a certain different facet or type of sound and style of Rosza's and each points to a number of other similar scores that they could be grouped with, but does one include enough of the other types to stand for the whole?

Lou, if you wander back to this thread, I'd appreciate it if you would explain the image "gray/maroon" that you attached to Rozsa's last scores. I'm not sure I understand its significance, and I'm intrigued.