Movie/TV/Game Scores Through The Ages - Alan's Personal Favourites

Indeed, the movie Drengene/Gutta/The boys from St. Petri is excellent. The score has a wonderful theme and some decent standalone tracks, but it's not enjoyable all the way through. I'd probably give it a ****-rating. I think it still deserved a mention even though it's not one of the best of that year.

Peter

Hehe, well, not only is the theme great but the way it's performed at the end credits, with bells and everything is one of my all-time favourite tracks. The somber "Tristesse" theme is quite good as well. The track called "Irene" is pure summer, to my ears, a really pleasant and nice piece, reminding me of Stefan Nilsson. "Otto's theme" is surreal and sounds just like it came from "Donnie Darko" even though that score came 10 years later. I think with these gems it definitely deserves all four stars even though the album also has some tracks that are difficult to enjoy.




Indeed. I've learned about many rarities through this thread. I like when people give choices other than the obvious ones.

Peter

It's probably impossible to find a place to listen to them online, but I'll be happy to mail you some tracks, Thor.

Peter

I see that as we enter the 90's this thread will gain more activity.

I'm beginning to think about my list starting earlier with some of the modern scores that were written for silent films.
Tom

It would be interesting to compare the new scores with the originals too, when available.

As would I
Tom

Carl Davis certainly has contributed greatly to the silent era in terms of composing music for films from this period.

Though I don't think that the music is particularly relevant to when the film was originally made. I would imagine that the composer has his/her own modern-day take on the images. But I'd be surprised if any modern-day composer would compose music for a silent era film trying to compose music of the period.

It's hard to beat the original, but Korzeniowski's version from a few years ago comes pretty darn close.

No rush Alan but it's been some time since May 11th, do you have any idea what you're going to choose for 1992?

1992 - Jennifer 8 - Christopher Young

This is a tough year to choose just one title to highlight and I've gone for a score that somehow just touches me in a way that I can't really fathom. Listening to the title theme for this it could be argued that it is too similar to Young's other strong piano-led themes, but there's something about this theme and tracks within the score that puts it above some of the titles mentioned below.

The tentative beginnings of the title theme track sets the scene for a beautiful piano theme that's the backbone of the score. To me there's something strong as well as delicate in the theme - maybe reflecting something in the Uma Thurman character? - and it's easily adaptable to a more filled out rendition as heard in "Eight To Nine". And tracks like "Cello For Helena" are just so beautiful with the cello solo towards the end of the track. As I mentioned, this score does sound like a few of Young's other efforts - "What You See" contains a secondary theme that is very reminiscent of a piano theme heard in Copycat - but the way the composer brings everything to an upbeat resolution finishes everything off well.

It's not an easy listen in that there's some suspense tracks that I tend to miss out (and break up the CD a bit) but the rest is excellent.

A few other titles just miss out on being picked this year: Goldenthal's Alien³ might have gotten the nod on another day. I just love this score, especially away from the film. It highlights all that's great in a Goldenthal score and I particularly love how the title track builds and builds to its climax, "Lento", "Adagio" and I particularly like "Lullaby Elegy" with it's bleakness and that wonderful echoing piano line. (Writing about it does want me to consider again whether this could be my main choice!) Wojciech Kilar's Bram Stoker's Dracula is another title that I'm disappointed doesn't get a mention, as well as Trevor Jones' The Last of The Mohicans (with a bit of a nod to Randy Edelman for tracks such as "The Courier").

I want to mention too Danny Elfman's Batman Returns - such a good companion to the over-the-top Batman. The music he wrote for The Penguin (e.g., "The Cemetery") and for Selina's transformation is Elfman at his best for me. Georges Delerue's Diên Biên Phú is also worth a mention (but was expensive to acquire!)

Mentions in dispatches for great themes/tracks within scores that I don't tend to listen to include Vangelis' 1492: Conquest of Paradise, Goldsmith's Basic Instinct, Philip Glass' theme for Candyman and the score that brought Thomas Newman to my attention: Scent of A Woman.

I do remember hearing Kilar's score in the film and thinking it was a great fit for the film and the style/feel of it. His music was quite different from what was around then.

Bram Stoker's Dracula was my first exposure to Kilar's work.

I think my favorite score from 1992, by a very narrow margin, is Patrick Doyle's INDOCHINE. Others that haven't been mentioned that I enjoy are Isham's A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT and Barry's CHAPLIN.

How about two other scores you didn't mention, James Horner's SNEAKERS and John Williams HOME ALONE 2, both of which are very good, particularly SNEAKERS which has long been a Horner favourite of mine.