Nearly anything by Lalo Schifrin...Baz

wattsb6, March 22, 2009; 5:41 PM

I know it's not very original, but for me JERRY GOLDSMITH was the greatest film composer ever. Not only his music was superb, but it worked wonders in the films for which it was composed (good, not so good, and even bad films).

So my favorite film composer is Jerry Goldsmith, and my favorite score is, mmm... It's hard to say, but I think Goldsmith's PLANET OF THE APES could be my choice.

Cheers,
Angel

angeldibujo, March 22, 2009; 5:41 PM

This is so subjective that I've tried to be a little more mechanical (not quite objective) about it. There are many, many composers who have composed a number of superb pieces and to choose based solely on favourite pieces of music seems flawed.

So I look to find the composer who fails ... to let me down. Who always "comes up with the goods".

So whilst someone like the aforementioned Jerry Goldsmith is a favourite of mine (he wrote many, many wonderful scores) he slips down the list because he wrote many banal scores, too. Even his most ardent fans (see Film Score website) say that his "by-the-numbers" action scores of the late 80s/90s aren't that good.

Personally I don't rate his "Planet Of the Apes" score at all - clever and distinctive, maybe, but not particularly involving and certainly not a score I'd choose in my top ... 1,000 - make that 2,000 or ... you get the picture.

John Williams has many followers and I shall be ever grateful to him for re-introducing the symphonic score when all modern films were then being plastered with pop songs. But tedious, and boring ... and repetitious are words I associate with many of his scores so he certainly isn't anywhere near the top.

I think Ennio Morricone is a truly superb talent and even his difficult works pay dividends given the time. But I'm not convinced that his scores always work when accompanied with the visuals (not that I've seen that many of his scored films).

I love a lot of melodies composed by Henry Mancini but if you listen to his full score works (some of which have been released in recent years) you realise why he always re-recorded his scores for album listening.

Bernard Herrmann is, of course, a master but many of his scores have a similar feel. Perhaps I need to listen to more of his works since I like most of what I hear but my exposure to him is limited (even after nearly 40 yrs of collecting).

Modern composers - including people like Hans Zimmer - don't come close in my book.

Elmer Bernstein has produced more than his fair share of truly superb works ... his life output puts most composers to shame.

And only one composer, for me, outdoes Mr. Bernstein, in that he writes music which not only fits the images - every single time - but he creates sounds which stay with you and make you want to listen, again and again.

John Barry.

A subjective view.

Oh, and favourite score: The Last Valley

Mitch, March 22, 2009; 6:21 PM

Peer Raben is definitley my favourite composer. But picking a favourite score is hard for me, as there are so many scores I like for so many different reasons....

philkws, March 22, 2009; 7:49 PM

Hello,


After mulling over these two question on my own for the longest time I am unable to reach any definitive answers. All I can say is my favorite composers are Miklos Rozsa, Elmer Bernstein, and Maurice Jarre. As for a favorite score, Pick any of the top scores by these three composers and some where in there my favorite score resides.


Best Regards,
David Phoenix, AZ.

deg63iami, March 23, 2009; 1:33 AM

Easy.....JOHN BARRY....always go back and listen to a Barry score...often so lyrical
Favourite score....The Lion In Winter

tanemahuta, March 23, 2009; 2:54 AM

Soundtrackcollector for allready about 40 years are the " old " generationcomposers the best, scores from the 40-50-60-70's, too much to write it down. If you ask a " special " one : Georges Delerue, I knew him a little bit closer and he was a real craftsman.
This question is too difficult for me to give the right answer, nearly 3000 scores in my collection !

robertbettens47, March 23, 2009; 4:57 AM

There are only two worth mentioning: John Barry and Christopher Young. ;))

Favorite scores are THE LAST VALLEY and (if you ignore the horror stuff from Mr. Young!)
SHADE.


PS: It was not quite eays to ignore the likes of Georges Delerue, Francois de Roubaix, Mark
Isham, John Ottman...

coma, March 23, 2009; 10:23 AM

The two John's - Barry and Williams, - and from the golden age there is Franz Waxman.

arne.dupont, March 23, 2009; 1:47 PM

My favourite composer used to be John Barry, but for about ten years now, it's is ENNIO MORRICONE.

handstand, March 23, 2009; 2:56 PM

Just found out Michael J Lewis who is one of my favs and did the score for the animated The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is making his own movie and has samples of the score on his website http://www.youmakemydaythemovie.com definitely worth checking out. Wrote songs for it as well, can see music video here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMvqfxsyYQs

argax, March 25, 2009; 4:24 PM

My 10 favourite composers -

- Hans Zimmer
- James Newton Howard
- John Williams
- Jerry Goldsmith
- John Powell
- Alan Menken
- Alan Silvestri
- Michael Giacchino
- Howard Shore
- David Arnold

I love them all equally! :)

sicronis, April 19, 2009; 1:55 PM