The following is a list of religious film scores and associated film scores that I love:

1. Miklosz Rozsa for King of Kings - one of the only epic Gospel adaptations that can still stand up many years after its all star cast have gone onto other lives. Rozsa was central to the magic of this film - I remember his theme for Christ from when I was a child.

2. Rozsa for Ben Hur - the other night I saw this film on TV. I wasn't so much watching 4 hours of swords and sandals as listening to 2.5 hours plus of one of the esprit de corps of film music's finest works.

3. Gabriel for Passion - For some reason it seems that Scorsese's most impassioned films come off poorly, and the Last Temptation of Christ, like Gangs of New York, is no exception. But Gabriel's score is a fine meditative piece of music.

4. Ryuichi Sakamoto for Little Buddha - Oops, wrong religion! Halfway between western and eastern styles of music is always a safe bet for a film composer (the something for everybody argument), but it's this score that makes me appreciate Sakamoto's move into film music from Japanese rock. The final 9 minute epic track is a classic piece of music.

5. Philip Glass for Kundun - Until I saw Kundun, I think I really had no idea what people meant when they spoke of film as an artform. Kundun is a peerless match of light and sound - and the finest religious film ever made. Glass' score is the key to the success of the film - I may have played Escape to India, the final track, more than any other piece of music in the last couple of years.

6. Ennio Morricone's The Mission - in the end, I was never sure what Roland Joffe's film was trying to say. In any case, Morricone's non-Oscar winning (?!?) score launched a thousand imitators, and became the definitive sound of modern Roman Catholicism.

7. Moses the Lawgiver, also by Morricone. The second finest score for a TV movie (second to Morricone's Nostromo) is a completely different kind of score to the Mission, but just as powerful.

8. Morricone's rejected score for What Dreams May Come - technically, this is cheating. Morricone's score was rejected in the film, and I've only heard two tracks from the rejected score. But what tracks! This is the kind of thing that makes you wonder why any director is allowed to fire a composer like Morricone! (Although Kamen's replacement score is rather nice...)

9. Bernstein's Bringing out the Dead - this is cheating in two respects: (i) I've not heard the score outside the context of the film (though I can hardly be blamed for that); (ii) it's not a religious film per se. With (i), I watched the film enough times to know the score fairly well. With (ii), I'd argue the symbolic subtext of the film is explicitly religious (count the number of crucifixes Scorsese crams into the frame), while the subject matter is implicitly religious. It's about a practical savior - one who drives the streets at night and heals people in a rather haphazard fashion. But he lacks divine power, hence the angst. Incidentally, if anyone knows where I can download a copy of the main theme of the film (I presume there are Oscar promotion copies that found there way into the light), I'd be very interested in making your acquaintance.

10. The Thin Red Line - With it's tonal melodies, austere strings and choral colourings, Zimmer's score needs no defenders. I think of the often ambiguous voiceovers of the film as an alter to some unknown God that each soldier is seeking, some explicitly and some don't even know it, on the thin red line between the mad and the sane.

11. Star Trek V - The Final Frontier by Jerry Goldsmith. (Recall that the crew of whatever that starship was called went in search of God and found William Shatner as director. Cult suicides followed.) The film is remembered as an unfortunate strike for profundity in science fiction that was under-funded and poorly-scripted. Goldsmith's score is rightly held to be a classic, but I would suggest that the score as an entry in the religious film genre is too rarely considered. There are two motifs that particularly deserve admission to the canon of religious film music - (i) the four note 'barrier motif' that has since appeared in variations in subsequent Goldsmith scores; (ii) the five note 'God motif' that appears in "The Barrier", "A Busy Man" and "An Angry God".

12. Richard Einhorn's Voices of Light - I've never seen Dreyer's 1927 film Passion of Joan of Arc and Einhorn's 1994 score together. But both film and score are rightly held to be masterworks. The score is magnificent, and really benefits from having a copy of the libretto by your while it's playing. The score's combination of string orchestra, choir and soprano certainly lifted my appreciation of music to a new level.

Other honourable mentions go to William's Force theme, Morricone's Mission to Mars (tracks 1,2 and 9 in particular), Jones' Dark City (track 14 ends with music that wouldn't be out of place in a scene of the creation of the world).

Obviously this collection is incomplete, and I'd love to hear what others found really impressed them in this genre. As you can tell from the above list, you can be pretty loose with the definition of what constitutes a religious film!

Incidentally, has anyone heard Jarre's Jesus of Nazareth, and is it any good?

In Raiders, specifically the Arc and Medallion themes are delightfully unnerving spiritual themes in a minor key.

In the Last Crusade, there is of course the lovely Grail theme.

Sorry for the earlier omission, but it just seemed wrong to have a list with Zimmer and Goldsmith et al and not mention Williams in some capacity.

To your list I would add Bernstein's THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. Beautiful religious music. Also like Newman's THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD. His Christ theme melts your bones. Newman's THE ROBE is also lovely. David Raksin composed rather Baroque sounding music for a Spanish film about Christ called The Redeemer. Quite nice.

NP Greatest Story Ever Told

Gabriel Yared's City of Angels strikes me as reflective, without the shimmeriness of religion.

Howard Shore's Dogma seems to border on religious parody, but considering the source, the message is heard clearly.

I have mixed feelings on Snuffy Walden's score for The Stand, but there is some essence of goodness and Godliness in that music which gives me pause to reflect.

Also Williams SEVEN YEARS IN TIBET -the tibet theme is rather contemplative on its own and very spiritual...if you know what I mean.

City of Angels is an excellent score. The definitive Yared score, although he may exceed it later this year with Cold Mountain. I love track 11 on City of Angels in particular - "An Angel Falls" - superb build up and delicate follow through.

And Kikujiro ... also lovely. Though I never got the score for some reason (I think the film put me off a bit), I can still piece together Hisaishi's tune in my head years after hearing it for the first time.

I like the idea of metaphysics as a sub-genre in film. Soderbergh's recent Solaris would be a fine entry in the genre. (And you can include Martinez' ambient score.) Looking over my own list, you can probably see several types of films: (i) overtly religious films (King of Kings, Kundun); (ii) more covert religious films, where the religious content is disguised by some secular subtext (Bringing out the Dead); (iii) films that really aren't religious at all, but the composer imbued the score with a sense of religious awe (Raiders, Mission to Mars).

For a piece that seems to catch the fervor of the old religious film scores, I really like Williams' "You are the Pan" from Hook. There's also something about "Forth Eorlingas" from Shore's TTT score.

And joan, your additions are excellent ones. I've never heard Newman's Greatest Story Ever Told, but I can imagine it's among the greats. Bernstein's Ten Commandments is appropriately epic, but for me it gets near second place to Morricone's Moses.

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Originally posted by franz_conrad:
Azahid, I haven't heard Jarre's score for The Messenger. Is it easily found or is it a rarity of an album?

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It is a rarity but I can refer you two places where you can find the disc:
www.screenarchives.com (Thats where I got my copy)

and EBAY is a good palce to find a copy-I saw one last week infact.

check out my review at the following website:
http://www.filmscorecentral.150m.com/Titles/epicfilmmusic_mauricejarre.html

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Originally posted by franz_conrad:
Incidentally, has anyone heard Jarre's Jesus of Nazareth, and is it any good?

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While reading your post I thought you were going to miss out on this one.

I grew up watching this made-for-TV movie every year around Easter, Jarre's music has become so engrained in my mind as the definitive music of these events.

Also a piece of music I had become so asociated with this is Ernest Gold's theme for Exodus. I've always thought that this theme and some music in the Overture from Ben Hur sound very much alike.

You could add to the list "Cadillac of the Skies" and "Exsultate Justi" from Empire of the Sun, I have added them to my list of must-listens during Christmas and Easter.

I very much agree with him, though many composers try this too. One thing that Williams' has been famous for is his fanfares and so on, one of his strenghts are his pensive sort of uplifting moments in a score.

Even if there's some dislikeness, Horner has penned beautiful themes that have that "out of body" experience which ultimately could communicate to God.

Thanks also to Azahid for your remarks on Jarre's Messenger. A nice review as well.

Good call on Empire of the Sun. Oddly enough, when I think of Williams-makes-the-hairs-on-the-back-of-my-neck-stand-kind-of-music I often think of that piece on Empire of the Sun that cross fades into the Chopin piece from that film.

It's not strictly film music, but if I set the parameters of the list a little more broadly, Wojciech Kilar's Exodus would have found a place.

Scene Unseen from PLAYING BY HEART is (at the very least) borderline-mystical.

I'm just listening to the Scarlet Letter right now (it's been a real Barry weekend if you've followed my posts), and there is this track called "The Bird" which is just the most lovely thing - for the first minute, a flute plays, sounding like some morning bird. It's a cliche, but what a good one.

Other favorite religious or religious sounding scores are the following:
Alfred Newman:The greatest story ever told
Elmer Bernstein:The ten commandments
Georges Delerue:Agnes of God
Georges Delerue:Black robe
Miklos Rozsa:Ben-Hur
Miklos Rozsa:King of kings

It reminded me how much Wojciech Kilar's music makes me feel like I've ascended into Dante's ninth heaven. So many pieces by him are rich beyond reduction. "Father Kolbe" is obviously one, but you'd have to include "A Certain Light", "My Life Before Me", "Flowers of Firenze" and "Portrait of a Lady" from "Portrait of a Lady". Another superb piece is "Swiatynia Durmania" from Andrejz Wadja's film Pan Tadeusz.

Interestingly enough, Kilar has also cornered the sound of hell, if you've heard "The Ninth Gate" and "Bram Stoker's Dracula".

1. Map of Jerusalem from Alfred Newman's The Robe. A great way to kick off with an evocation of the powers that dominate Jerusalem through trumpet fanfares while Newman's lovely theme for Diana and Marcellus poignantly describes the personal dramas at play in the city.
2. I Am the Bread of Life from Jeff Danna's Gospel of John. A theme not too far from Elliot Goldenthal's Interview with the Vampire strangely describes the message of Jesus' very well, and acoustically sounds very full after the slightly dodgy sound quality of the surviving Newman score.
3. Miracle of the Fish from Maurice Jarre's Jesus of Nazareth. Proving that the Messiah is not simply the domain of a symphony orchestra, Maurice Jarre delicately works his beloved ondes martinot into this wonderful musical description of a miracle. The shimmering strings half way through as the miracle takes place is my favorite moment from that score.
4. Jesus Enters Jerusalem/A Tempest in Judea/Defeat/Phalanx/False Promises/The Last Supper/Feast of Passover from Miklos Rosza's King of Kings. While the lengthy battle sequence in the middle troubled me a bit - I can't see the average listener making it through to the beautiful other side of Phalanx where thematic treasures abound - this is the only representation of 'Palm Sunday', and to the friends I've given this to, I've described the middle as 'Jesus clearing the money changers out of the temple'... which is a bit dodgy given the violence of the music... I love the material Rosza wrote for the Passover feast, and the way this 14 minute cue contains just about every theme for the film.
5. A New Commandment from Alfred Newman's The Greatest Story Ever Told. From Rosza's expressive score to this introspective piece... it seems to work, and the austerity of this is even more moving coming after Rosza's Feast of Passover. So too the close-miked vocal and emotion of Jeff Danna's cue following contrast well again...
6. The Prayer from Jeff Danna's Gospel of John. A personal favorite moment on the album.
7. Crucifixion (Edit) from Maurice Jarre's Jesus of Nazareth. I kind of felt I couldn't have cues by Jarre at the start and end of the compilation and not refer to his music from the darkest moments. I edited the opening percussive piece out of this track, so what's left is a dirge based on Jarre's theme for strings and ondes martinot. I might be tempted to knock this one out next time around - I think it slows down the middle a bit.
8. Mary Goes to Jesus from John Debney's Passion of the Christ. Epic heights of emotion achieved here. Lovely cue - the moment in Debney's score worthy of comparison to the theme writing of Newman and Delerue.
9. Carriage of the Cross from Alfred Newman's The Robe. A return to the score which opened the compilation, this, together with the following cue, are my examples of how Newman wrote for this event in a more expressive fashion. His introspective writing is dealt with later.
10. Return to Faith (edit) from Franz Waxman's Demetrius and the Gladiators. *** This stands in for 'Crucifixion' from Newman's The Robe, since it quotes the Newman cue. As I wasn't wise enough to buy the Varese Club issue of the complete Robe when it was available, my compilation suffers a gap here. ***
11. The Death of Christ from John Debney's Passion of the Christ. Space permitted me to actually include the whole Debney's 'Raising of the Cross' with its moving theme for strings and ethnic woodwind. It might have given this compilation more of a climax, but I thought it would be an interesting experiment not to let it climax too much, hence this vocal and duduk based cue, which is well written by Debney.
12. Into Thy Hands from Alfred Newman's The Greatest Story Ever Told. The midsection of this compilation is actually dominated by Newman's incredibly modern scoring of the Crucifixion not in The Robe, but in the George Stevens film. The use of low chanting 'Requiem' and a haunting string based midsection guide the piece well to a climax. I think having both this cue and track 7 above make the compilation a bit much for the average listener.
13. Resurrection from from Maurice Jarre's Jesus of Nazareth. The ondes martinot and Jarre's extraordinary theme make a final appearance to begin the parade of Resurrection cues.
14. Resurrection and Ascension from Alfred Newman's The Greatest Story Ever Told. Newman's main theme is probably the closest thing in film music to Shore's theme for the Fellowship of the Ring... interesting... I can't say this would have worked well in the film, whose gharish star power shots deserved Handel's Messiah, but in the imaginary film which was worthy of Newman's score, this was a superb finale. It is followed by the final Newman cue...
15. Exit Music from Alfred Newman's The Greatest Story Ever Told... which restates the theme for Jesus heard throughout this compilation's sampling of the score. I love it, hence this score gets about 20 minutes of the compilation.
16. Follow Me from Jeff Danna's Gospel of John... the 'Prayer' and 'Bread of Life' themes are reprised in this sign-off of Danna's score. I wish I'd found room for Debney's 'Resurrection' cue as well...
17. Last Words of Christ/Golgotha/The Pieta/The Sepulcher/Resurrection from Miklos Rosza's King of Kings. Finally we return to Rosza for the first time since the Last Supper for his moving closing suite for the film, which moves through the themes for the Disciples and the Women before reprising Jesus' own theme...
18. Epilogue from Miklos Rosza's King of Kings ... followed by the theme Rosza memorably composed for the Lord's Prayer.

All recordings are the original soundtrack recordings. I set myself the restriction of only including scores which deal directly with the subject matter, so Delerue's Agnes of God was excluded, as was Richard Einhorn's Voices of Light, Newman's Angels in America, or Morricone's What Dreams May Come. I couldn't find places for relevant tracks from Lisa Gerrard's Immortal Memory or Jocelyn Pook's Untold Things, nor Oliver Lliboutry's Marie de Nazareth or Carl Davis' Ben Hur. I don't have Rosza's Ben Hur - hence its absence - and I don't have the complete Newman The Robe, hence the weak selection of cues from that score. I don't have Peter Gabriel's Last Temptation score either, nor the score for Barabbas.

Note: My copy of The Robe has a single scratch which renders 'Palm Sunday' unplayable, which is tragic as that particular cue by Newman is the single-best depiction of the event in any of these scores.

I know a lot of people love Jarre's music for JESUS OF NAZARETH, but I don't
remember any music emotionally touching me. Guess I should rent the
movie sometime. Have never seen or heard Danna's GOSPEL OF JOHN.

One idea to consider is to make a Part II compilation. Yours is reflective
of Easter. Perhaps a Part II could add some of those religious sounds
from other scores that you mention.

There is something about musically rendering God and Christ that has given
composers some of their best inspirations. (Handel..lovely.)

quote:

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Originally posted by Foobsie:
The Day the Earth Stood Still is FoobsZ's sign that there is

FoobsZ

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Does anyone have the remastered "limited edition" version of this? What extras (if any) does it have?

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Originally posted by Timmer:
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size=1 face=arial>quote:</font><HR size=1>Originally posted by Foobsie:
[b]The Day the Earth Stood Still is FoobsZ's sign that there is

FoobsZ<HR size=1></BLOCKQUOTE>

There'll always be a Foobs![/B]

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Indeed there will be!

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Originally posted by Timmer:
Franz, JESUS OF NAZARETH by Jarre is very much worth picking up, the main title is both beautiful and powerful!

Have you heard George Delerue's AGNES OF GOD? jaw droppingly beautiful work from this very missed composer.

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There's nothing like a good resurrection

No mention so far of John Williams MONSIGNOR which I've always felt was underrated, full of his "mystical" Vaughan Williams like writing plus the wonderfully religious 'Gloria'.....perhaps the fact it's never had a legit CD release makes this one a lesser choice?

Jerry Goldsmith's The Final Conflict...has it been mentioned yet?

You could also argue a legitimate case for Star Trek The Motion Picture to be included here?!?

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Originally posted by Joey168943:
Gabriel's 'Passion' really is a great one. Lots of...well, passionate music from one of Scorsese's most underrated and misunderstood movies.

Does anyone have the remastered "limited edition" version of this? What extras (if any) does it have?

Joey

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Misunderstood? That film was a mess in every word (and I'm talking from a film making perspective, in fact, just the other day one of my film professors mentioned the film as an example of things "not to do.").
The score, I must admit, was pretty good though.

Scott

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Originally posted by Scott:
Wow,
it took me two years to reply to this message. Call me Mr. Fast.

Scotty

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Originally posted by franz_conrad:
Well, as you may have noticed Tim, I did include STAR TREK V in my original list.

(Of course - I hadn't bought THE MOTION PICTURE back then, if my memory serves me correctly.)

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