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

2000 is a bit of funny year where a strong emotional tie with Shore's music just puts it way above the rest.

The link to The Yards is nothing specific, but the music seems to resonate with some emotional states I sometimes feel.

It all sounds a biy wishy-washy but it does best explain my thoughts on this score.

And with such a strong emotional tie to the music, free of the imagery of the film I am always in two minds whether to watch the film.

Love it! So emotional and beautiful....

2001 - The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring - Howard Shore

Of all the 3 scores this is the one that I prefer. It somehow doesn't feel so "dense" compared with the others and I think that that has a lot to do with the higher proportion of Shire music, with its simpler orchestrations (relatively speaking). In this way I feel that this score echoes Williams' score for Star Wars. I like the way that the themes are introduced to us, like the simpler story arc (reflected in the score) - the majority of the themes are just great themes.

I still remember the first time I listened to this score and being disappointed by what I had heard. It sounded a lot different to the music Shore had composed before. I am sure that I was familiar with Looking For Richard but I was expecting (hoping for?) something nearer his Cronenberg scores. And so this score was not an immediate winner for me. But as time progressed and I better understood the ideas behind the score it as grown to be the score of the trilogy I return to most.

Howard Shore delivered The Score in 2001 as well, and this is another strong contender for this year. I just love the jazzy rhythms in this and I find that many of the tracks stand up remarkably well as stand-alone listens. Other strong scores for this year include Christopher Young's The Shipping News with its Celtic influences and a main theme that always reduces me to tears, Don Davis' The Unsaid featuring a very emotional and sensitive, piano-led title theme (very different from his Matrix scores!) and Elliot Goldenthal's epic Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, full of full-on orchestral power, catchy rhythmic cues and delicate themes. Danny Elfman's Planet of the Apes is another favourite of mine (I like percussion and this delivers in spades).

A few others worthy of mention from 2001: I love Jeff Danna's unreleased score for Reversal with it's small-scale ensemble that is tinged with a sort of southern Americana (to my ears anyway) and Yann Tiersen's Amélie is another catchy score that's a nice change from full-on orchestral scoring. Finally a mention for Masamichi Amano's Battle Royale. I'll forgive the Kilar/Dracula influences (because I like that score too) but there's much more to this score. I find it quite classical in style and it's unusual for me to like too much scores that have classical music influences.

I saw your choice over at the FSM messageboard and this prompted me to post (ahead of gentle prods from Tom or Tim!).

A.I. - Artificial Intelligence is a score that I don't really like that much. The dramatic "Abandoned In The Woods" and "The Moon Rising" along with the rhythms of "The Mecha World" are the tracks I only revisit from this score. I don't really like the film much and so the emotional connection isn't really there.

I haven't really listened to HANNIBAL much and it's been ages since I saw the film. But maybe once I familiarize myself with it, it'll join the contenders.

I think that, for me, the music for A.I. isn't helped by the film. There's a few scores that I have warmed to after having seen the film and there are films that I have appreciated more after having listened to the music away from the film, but I don't get any of that with this. I tend to be left feeling unmoved by a lot of Williams' more recent works and so there's not much chance being given by me from any quarter!

Erik, didn't you mention Lover's Prayer for last year too? (see top of this page)

Thanks for clearing that up Erik! On The Beach is one that, for me, stands out for the dramatic theme (related to the sub?) that's heard only a couple of times in the score.

Very difficult to choose a favourite. I took me a while to appreciate LOTR like I do now, I don't know why. I'd go for Final Fantasy, with its fantastic love theme, or LOTR. AI is a beautiful score but it doesn't really move me, except for perhaps the Dreams-theme, so I'm a bit on Alan's side with this one.

FELLOWSHIP is my favorite score from 2001 also. But I do want to give a shout-out to Mark Isham's LIFE AS A HOUSE, which is a very strong score from start to finish with some really lovely moments.

For 2001, Shore's LOTR and Gunning's Wild Africa are tied for first place. They are both so sublime I don't want to make the choice between them. The mists of Avalon (Holdridge) and Band of brothers (Kamen) are also favourites from this year.

Peter

Yes, I thought I remember you mentioning before that you like Wild Africa, Tim,

Sounds like I need to check out that Walking with beasts thing. If something is up there with LOTR and Wild Africa, it's my destiny to have it.

Peter

Alan made the obvious choice.
Tom

It was really the obvious choice and it isn't one of my favorites.
Tom