I'm out to change his mind.

The first step is as follows: He has agreed to listen to a mix tape if I put one together. I intend to assemble a mix of film music, game music(à la Soule or Uematsu), and classical music, in random order, and I'm not going to give him any track titles. I want all of the music to be powerful and deeply moving. As and after he listens to it, I'm going to defy him to tell me which of the music was classical and which wasn't.

So what I need is ideas for tracks to include. I want only the cream of the crop, people - the absolute best film score tracks ever written. For those of you with knowledge thereof (Brian and Jeron, for example), I want game music tracks as well. I also want some relatively obscure but powerful classical music.

I want to have the tape completely ready in 5 days. I'm counting on you here, folks. Let's get these names in, and let's have them be magnificent.

"Easy Street":
"The Dark Side Beckons" from Return of the Jedi.
Closing Credits from Glory, Hymn from Courage Under Fire.
"Theology/Civilization" from Conan the Barbarian.
Something from
Edward Scissorhands.
Don Juan DeMarco
Legend of 1900
Much Ado About Nothing
The Prince of Egypt
The Shawshank Redemption

"Shall We Play A Game?":
Medal Of Honor: Underground - Mannon's Theme, Battle of Monte Cassino. (it's all good.)
Bruce Broughton's Heart of Darkness.

"Slightly Challenging":
Adventures of Don Juan - Max Steiner.
Lionheart - Jerry Goldsmith

For game music, I would go with "Final Fantasy VIII Orchestra" tracks.

I'd say:

Dance With The Balamb Fish
Balamb Garden

I also might suggest track 8 from "Hannibal" there is no dialouge in the track.

I would stray away from themes because if he has seen the movie or played the game, he might know the theme (if he took the time to remember.)

I'll give this some thought and be back later, but those are my ideas for now.

Something from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, maybe "Sorrow" or "The Eternal Vow."

"Adagio" from Goldenthal's Alien 3.

If you want to give him sort of a "trick question," include Don Davis' piano piece "Illicit Felicity," which is a concert work based on a film score (Bound).

And speaking of Davis, something from Warriors of Virtue, perhaps? "The Price Petard" from House on Haunted Hill would be great, too. You could try The Matrix as well, but the elctronics would give it away.

"A Wild and Distant Shore" or "Big My Secret" from Nyman's The Piano.

For classical music, perhaps you could throw in a bit of Rozsa's Hungarian Sketches. If you want music that's not very well-known, pick up Gloria Cheng's CD Piano Dance: A 20th-Century Portrait on Telarc. Some great piano work by many composers you've probably never heard of.

--Brian

Chouans! (Delerue), main title

Tours du Monde, Tours du Ciel (Delerue) several tacks apply

Portait Of A Lady (Kilar), several tracks apply

William The Conqueror (John Scott), main theme

From Joe Hisaishi's Works: II CD: the suite from Sonatine and the cue Asian Dream Song.

From Nyman's The Claim: The Burning, and perhaps The Snowy Death as well.

From Philip Glass' Kundun: Escape To India

From John Barry's The Lion In Winter: the Main Title.

From Alan Silvestri's Contact: Good To Go.

I'd list more, but there are too many good ones. A word of caution: while Williams' music is good, it's too recognizable. Also avoid Horner.

quote:

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Originally posted by John Dunham:
From Alan Silvestri's Contact: Good To Go

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Bravo!

One of the best pieces of scoring I have heard in all my years... first time I saw it, I was white-knuckling my seat in the movie theater.

So you're looking for film music that doesn't sound like film music? I'm not being much help yet, so let me just dive in head first and give you some things that have come to mind:

Bernard Herrmann: maybe one of his achingly heart-felt love themes (eg Vertigo).

John Williams: the lesser-known stuff. "Restoration" from Jane Eyre is a cracking piece. Or what about the anguished "Arlington" from JFK? These concert-versions of his from Angela's Ashes or 7 Years In Tibet might work too.

Have you got any Philippe Sarde? Fort Saganne has got some amazing cello tracks on it.

Patrick Doyle has done some exqusite work. Try his elegy from Carlito's Way, or his..."Hob Nobbly Nobbliness"...(?)...from Henry V.

James has mentioned John Corigliano. Good choices there (though it might be cheating to use work by someone who isn't really a film composer).

Goldsmith's "The Artist Who Did Not Want To Paint" may be bending the rules a bit too, but you ought to squeeze it in because it's bloody blinking wondrous.

If you want, you may try some more experimental stuff also. Goldsmith's "No Escape" from Planet Of The Apes is a humdinger, and thankfully hasn't become a cliche. That's still a strikingly original score.

Leonard Rosenman: I'd say that much of his stuff could be played quite comfortably in the concert hall. Fantastic Voyage as a whole, for instance, or the 9 minute-plus "Cal's Vindication And Finale" from East Of Eden. That's an absolutely spell-binding piece of music.

Oh, and Goldenthal, as someone else said.

Good luck! Hope I've been a better help this time! Or do I STILL not understand you?

I saw the film a few weeks ago for school and the music is very good.

Great suggestions, though, and John, lots of good stuff there, backed up by BB on Contact(love that score!).

Brian - sorry man, haven't heard Hamlet. I'll look for it at the music store tomorrow, though.

This is great!

I also have several of the John Scott and Don Davis cds mentioned (as well as Hisaishi's Works II), so if you would like tracks from those, just lemme know.

Jeron

Jeron - send it over whenever, man.

And when you begin to realize how much time and energy went into music that would likely be reproduced through a speaker worse than a car stereo it makes you rethink this music a lot.

Imagine "Bride of Frankenstein" without music, or "King Kong"...how about "Adventures of Robin Hood" or "Peyton Place" or "To Kill a Mockingbird"...not to mention the fun of "The Pink Panther"...the simplicity of "Jaws"...the complexity of "Planet of the Apes."