To start off: Yes. I know Goldenthal fans pretty much love him, almost unconditionally. Personally, I respect him, his talent, his capability. He's not the composer I go looking for on the shelves, but I do have a moderately substantial representation of Goldenthal's works. I did seek out the Othello ballet, and even Demolition Man, which, given my restrained and underwhelming enthusiasm for his body of work, is (was) employing a good deal of faith.

There may be those of you (and I'm talking to the Non-Goldenthal fans, here) who don't think much of his work at all. Dissonant, atonal. I can appreciate where that impresses and entertains some people. Me, I think it has its' place in the musical world. Doesn't mean I want a library full of atonal albums, but yes, I do appreciate it, from time to time. In moderation. Heck, even a lot of action music is dissonant, percussive....chaotic, but with an almost-indiscernable pattern.

Ok. Now, for those of you still following--with me? good? yes?.....

I try and find something good about every composer, even if I don't care for the body of work on the whole...this generally requires that I take these occasional "leaps of faith" when it comes to acquiring soundtracks....You may be one of those people who takes personal "leaps", as well.

I know that Goldenthal fans will insist on getting Goldenthal albums. What I'm curious to know is the opinion of those who do not rave about Goldenthal on a regular basis. Mostly--(though not entirely)--I apply this to his recent effort, the Final Fantasy motion picture. If you took a "leap" purchasing the soundtrack, what do you think? Worth the effort? Too much? Too little? Interested to hear more Goldenthal? Less? Your contemplations on the matter, please.

Personally, I've found that lots of good music, particularly atonal music, requires you to take your time with it and listen to it over and over again until you start to appreciate it. When I started out on film music, I would have loathed Planet of the Apes, Alien and other scores that I now consider favourites. I certainly don't like all atonal music, I probably don't like very much of it. Yet, I'd advise you to really deal with his scores a bit more, until you decide you don't like them. I know that it took me weeks to "accept" Planet of the Apes, and I didn't really start to appreciate it before I saw the film.

Oh, and Bear: Alien³ among his most melodic? This is the one Goldenthal score in my collection that I still find difficult to listen to, though I consider it a masterpiece.

--Brian

I can't say I'm a huge fan of Goldenthal's work, I'm basically in the same position you are. I respect the man for his unusual techniques, but I'm not going to be at the record store the day his album arrives. That said, Final Fantasy was a complete surprise for me. It was still very dark and, at least for me, took a few listens to fully appreciate. Once it clicked, though, it really did. Up until A.I., I found it to be the best score this year so far (Moulin Rouge was right up there with FF).

Now, regarding Goldenthal in general. Over at Filmtracks, there is a quite nasty debate going on over this score, and Goldenthal in general. It has degraded to flaming and the like (with one poster saying he wanted to spit in Goldenthal's face, and that Goldenthal should retire before fans who want "good movie music" find him and murder him), while just a couple of sensible people (basically Tim and I) are the only ones debating with some sense of civility and some actual musical ideas in our posts. Everyone else makes silly faces, brings in other composers, yet they fail time and time again to make vaild points about why they don't like Goldenthal's music (other than calling it noise). It is a pleasure to see the score, and Goldenthal in general, discussed with a touch of class at this board, and even reminding me, indirectly, that I needed to buy GOLDEN GATE!