Here's the results - Greg:

classicfm :: top 50 movie soundtracks

Thousands of you voted...and here's the result - the Top 50 Movie Soundtracks.

And what a fascinating list it is too - no surprises that John Williams clocked up the highest number of entries - 7 in total. But the sweeping popularity of The Lord of the Rings just goes on and on. When we ran a similar poll in 2001, Star Wars was top, with Gone with the Wind at No.2, Lawrence of Arabia at No.3, Titanic at 4 and Casablanca at 5. This time, The Lord of the Rings has stormed to the top, giving Howard Shore his only place in the chart. Yann Tiersen, Maurice Jarre and Gabriel Yared become the first Frenchmen to enter the list.
The British composers in the chart are John Barry, Michael Nyman, David Arnold, Eric Coates, Stanley Myers and Patrick Doyle. The 40 year old James Bond series makes only one entry into the chart with The World is Not Enough, music by David Arnold.
Here's the list in full, see how many you agree with!

The Top Ten

1 The Lord of the Rings Howard Shore
He's been writing film scores for three decades, particularly for maverick Canadian director David Cronenberg as well as for Hollywood movies such as Silence of the Lambs and Big. But Howard Shore's really hit the big time with The Lord of the Rings. He'll be re-uniting with director Peter Jackson for the forthcoming remake of King Kong.

2 Gladiator Hans Zimmer/Lisa Gerrard
Hans Zimmer is one of Hollywood's hottest properties but he only has one entry in our chart. Zimmer began life working with The Buggles and writing TV themes, but Disney's The Lion King catapulted him into the big league. Backdraft, The Power of One and Black Hawk Down are other Zimmer masterpieces. The Australian-born Lisa Gerrard has recently scored the New Zealand hit film, Whale Rider.

3 The Star Wars movies John Williams
The highest of seven entries for the undoubted modern master of movie music. Each of the five Star Wars movies opens with the rousing march and that writing disappearing off into space.

4 Schindler’s List John Williams
For Steven Spielberg's holocaust drama Schindler's List, John Williams explored the traditional music of middle-European jews and brought violinist Itzhak Perlman in to play the haunting theme which has become a classic in its own right.

5 Out of Africa John Barry/Mozart
John Barry is Britain's most enduring movie composers - the master of the big, romantic theme. But it's the use of Mozart's Clarinet Concerto which stands out in the memory as Meryl Streep and Robert Redford fall in love in the veldt.

6 The Mission Ennio Morricone
Morricone has four entries in the chart. The Mission tells the story of Jesuit priests trying to protect indigenous Amazon tribes as colonial conquerors and the Vatican threaten their way of life. Morricone drew on the baroque music of jesuits of the time - notably Zipoli - to produce his finest score.

7 Titanic James Horner
Celine Dion's rendition of My heart must go on made James Horner a very rich man indeed. Titanic is the highest of his two entries in our chart.

8 Dances with Wolves John Barry
Once again Barry's music brought romance and sweep to Kevin Costner's epic native American movie.

9 Lawrence of Arabia Maurice Jarre
A huge sweeping score from a Frenchman who did his best work for the epic films of David Lean.

10 Jurassic Park John Williams
Steven Spielberg chose his favourite composing colleague when he launched a series of dinosaur shockers onto audiences.

The rest of the best...

If I choose the top 10 portion of that list it would be something like. (in no particular order)

Star Wars
Out of Africa
Dr. Zhivago
Gone with the Wind
Braveheart
Indiana Jones
Chariots of Fire
Edward Scissorhands
The Great Escape
Ben Hur

I think these would be the best, because they are the most influential. Most people recognize them when they hear them, and these scores are immitated the most.

NP- Agnes of God - Georges Delerue

LOL

At least Moross was mentioned.

Thank God for Mozart in Out of Africa and Shawshank Redemption!

This poll just goes to show you, unsurprisingly, that the typical classical fan does not have a clue about film music. I'm really confused as to why classical fans would grade Gladiator so highly...

Fantasia and West Side Story??? Whutever, dudes.

quote:

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Originally posted by jonathan_little:
I'm really confused as to why classical fans would grade Gladiator so highly...

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Easy. Here's the three step. Actually it's step 1, and two substeps.

1 The British Bias.

1.2 People thought Gladiator was composed by Gustav Holst. A Brit. Therefore Gladiator is good.

1.3 People thought the rest of Gladiator was composed by William Walton. A Brit. Therefore Gladiator is good. They never read the credits.

See? Simple as 1-2-3. The British Bias explains it all.

quote:

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Originally posted by Dinko:
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size=1 face=arial>quote:</font><HR size=1>Originally posted by jonathan_little:
[b]I'm really confused as to why classical fans would grade Gladiator so highly...
<HR size=1></BLOCKQUOTE>

Easy. Here's the three step. Actually it's step 1, and two substeps.

1 The British Bias.

1.2 People thought Gladiator was composed by Gustav Holst. A Brit. Therefore Gladiator is good.

1.3 People thought the rest of Gladiator was composed by William Walton. A Brit. Therefore Gladiator is good. They never read the credits.

See? Simple as 1-2-3. The British Bias explains it all.

[/B]

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Awww Dinko, where's the wink icon man!

quote:

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Originally posted by Gae:
We had this discussion before didn't we?

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2001: A Space Odyssey - Richard Strauss