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

Thank you Peter, just got home ( don't ask ) and will listen tomorrow.

Timmer, no problem. Hope you'll like the clips. Think of them as a birthday present.

Thor, I don't think that musical merits and cheesiness have to be mutually exclusive. I agree that there's a new age cheesy feel to some of their tracks, for instance in the third clip I posted, but I don't feel that takes anything away from it. Others have a more classical feel, and then there are the tracks with an irish feel, so I don't think the new age sound is prevalent in all of their music.

Then again, when they make songs, like on the album Inside I'm singing, then there's so much cheese that it turns me off completely; no offense intended for your friend.

Funny, the beginning of Illumination always makes me think of Canon in D and Air on a G string. I've no idea why.

Peter

Never listened to them

When do we hear about 2005? It was June since the last year.

I should have a final "big push" to finish this off. 2005 will be up today and I will aim to get a year-a-day up to 2011.

And looking at the more recent years it's clear that I am finding scores that are not "mainstream" feature more prominently...

2005 - Doctor Who: Series 1 - Murray Gold

2005 was a big year with the re-appearance of the time-travelling doctor (and his assistants) and, although Ron Grainer's iconic theme was more-or-less preserved with only a few embellishments, I was initially disappointed with Murray Gold's (who?) score. What I remember most was the very synth-based score that was used for some, if not all, the episodes.

The subsequent release of the score on CD (coupled with tracks from the second series) featured the score re-recorded by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. And this completely transformed my opinion of the music Gold had composed. Ranging from the grand "cinematic" scoring in tracks such as "I'm Coming To Get You" and "Rose Defeats The Daleks" (some people have complained in the past that Gold's music is too cinematic for the TV) to the more intimate moments such as the beautiful "Rose's Theme" and "The Doctor's Theme" (with the haunting vocals from Melanie Pappenheim who would excel with Series 2's "Doomsday"), the music is a grand success and captures the excitement and the enthusiasm of the programmes as well as the fan's expectations.

Murray Gold's music for Doctor Who edges out a couple of blockbuster Hollywood films and scores: Batman Begins (Hans Zimmer/James Newton Howard) with the score almost centring around that sustained tone motif and John Williams' Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. This latter score is particularly close to Gold's score as it contains a lot of excellent music (and sits well with any of the original trilogy scores) but the sheer volume of music dilutes the effect of the highlights for me and so Doctor Who gets it this year...this time.

A few other scores worth mentioning - predominantly because of the themes contained within the scores - are Brett Rosenberg's score to the film Half Light and Clint Mansell's Sahara. The latter score in particular has an awesome theme that, when heard in the score as a whole, grabs the attention. Dario Marianelli's score for The Brothers Grimm is also worth mentioning. Not really for it's themes but more for the overall quality of the scoring. It's a great score that may have had more success if the film itself had have been more well received.

Perhaps the composer who had the most successful year in 2005 was Patrick Doyle. As far as I can gather, Doyle came up with Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Nouvelle France and Man To Man. All scores definitely worth hearing and a major achievement to all be realised in this year.

Cheers Tim. But don't take too long - 2006 will be going up tomorrow evening!

My choice goes to Memoirs of a Geisha a heavily personal score for me. A definite highlight as an ALBUM is Horner's The New World.

2005? Quite a few good scores in that year: Matt Dunkley's The 4 Musketeers is a great release from MSM, very enjoyable and quite action-packed.

Horner's Legend Of Zorro is huge (although I think Mask is the better score), Adrian Johnston delivers a rousing wallop with his The Mighty Celts, and while Trevor Jones' [b[Aegis[/b] is underrated, it's Loch Ness that is his highlight of the year: tender, clever and thoroughly melodic!

Overseas Rombi once again flexes his not inconsiderable skills at melancholia with Joyeux Noel, but Cusson's Aurore is the better French score that year with an almost spry innocence in sound that makes it really appealing! In Italy it's Andrea Guerra with his stunning piano work on the bittersweet Cuore Sacro that made a very strong impression on me.

For TV McCreary raises the bar very high with his first release of Battlestar Galactica, and, although I'm not a big fan, Giacchino's work on Lost certainly leaves a mark!

On the game front, some seriously excellent thunder and mayhem with excellent scores from Jeremy Soule (Guild Wars Prophecies), Gerard Marino (God Of War), Jack Wall (Jade Empire) and my own favourite: Jesper Kyd's dark and glorious Freedom Fighters

So then to to a top 5:

5. Clint Mansell's Sahara: Yeah, yeah. Many people say it's derivative. Don't know. Don't care. This is a frigging great score with a marvellous theme!
4. Mychael Danna & A.R. Rahman's Water: I love that Indian sound, and this is close to an ideal mix!
3. John Powell's Robots: I cannot resist it! It's one of his most fun, most quirky (in the best way possible) works!
2. John Williams' Star Wars: Revenge Of The Sith: the only "Star Wars sounding" score of the prequels, dark, foreboding and pulling out all the stops. My very favourite prequel score.
1. Murray Gold's Doctor Who Season 1: Huge surprise when it hit! Varied, clever, catchy, smphonic, melodic. LOVE IT! And totally agree with Alan: a VERY worthy winner this year!

2006 - The Virgin Queen - Martin Phipps

Phipp's score for this 2006 BBC drama (it aired in 2005 in US) seems a bit out of place for a story set during the lifetime of Queen Elizabeth I: modern rhythms, organs, electric guitars, etc, mixing them with more traditional-sounding instruments plus using lyrics based upon a poem written by Elizabeth.

It does sound quite intrusive as part of the programmes themselves but Phipps (together with a significant contribution from female ensemble Mediæval Bæbes) has fashioned a score that's quirky and a fine album. From upbeat, toe-tapping tracks such as "Miseria Nomine", "Essex" and "I'll Be Blunt, Blount" to the stunningly beautiful and heartbreaking "Remember Me", I hadn't heard much that came close to sounding like this. It's the vocals that stand out for me but there are also some very good instrumental tracks. I definitely pull out this very regularly.

A very close second is a more "traditional" score: Kolja Erdmann's score for the German TV documentary Expeditionen Ins Tierreich: Wilde Heimat is a hint of greater things from Erdmann in more recent years years. Grand in style (written for large orchestra and performed by the NDR Radio Philharmonic-Hannover it's a score that would give any George Fenton-composed documentary score a run for its money). Marco Beltrami's Underworld: Evolution also stands out this year for me. A big fan of Beltrami's style this has the usual mix of brash, bold and loud action scoring offset by more sombre and emotional passages.

Andy Price's rollicking score for the BBC TV series Robin Hood (TV scoring is on a bit of a high at the moment!) is great Saturday matinee-type scoring and Chris Tilton's score for the game Black (this was my first digital purchase) with its (perhaps used too much but great) theme are also worth a mention. Eragon (another score with an over-used theme?) and Pan's Labyrinth (Patrick Doyle & Javier Navarrete, respectively) are also highlights.

And three other lesser-known titles all have their merits and feature there-or-thereabouts in 2006: Debbie Wiseman's Middletown (a slow-burner this one, very dark), Cody Westheimer's The Runner (rhythm-heavy orchestral score that's sweeping and intimate when required) and Marco Werba's Amore e Libertà – Masaniello (another great theme for this Italian historical drama).

2006 was not a shabby year either, although not as great as 2005. I must admit I hadn't heard about many of your picks, Alan, but I love that you sometimes pick more offbeat and unknown things. My lists are usually more conventional, unfortunately.

Honourable mentions for 2006 are: NANNY MCPHEE (Patrick Doyle), INSIDE MAN (Terence Blanchard), UNITED 93 (John Powell), NACHO LIBRE (Danny Elfman), PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN'S CHEST (Hans Zimmer), CASINO ROYALE (David Arnold), BLOOD DIAMOND (James Newton Howard), CHARLOTTE'S WEB (Danny Elfman), THE NATIVITY STORY (Mychael Danna), COCAINE COWBOYS (Jan Hammer), BABEL (Gustavo Santaolalla), PERFUME: THE STORY OF A MURDERER (Tykwer/Klimek/Heil) and THE FOUNTAIN (Clint Mansell).

But the best, by far, is the one I listen to right now -- as fate would have it!:

THE DA VINCI CODE (Hans Zimmer)

Not a bad year, my # 1 is....

INSIDE MAN - Terrance Blanchard


Other very fine scores from this year ( some of these more in the film and visa-versa ) include Klimek/Tykwer/Heil's PERFUME: THE STORY OF A MURDERER, Clint Mansell's THE FOUNTAIN, Javier Navarrete's PAN'S LABYRINTH, John Powell's UNITED 93 and X-MEN: THE LAST STAND, Hans Zimmer's THE DA VINCI CODE, Mark Isham's THE BLACK DAHLIA and David Arnold's CASINO ROYALE.

I AM LEGEND is the only score you mentioned that I own, and there are only two others I'm even remotely familiar with. Very interesting choices, Alan

My favorite score from 2007 is Philippe Rombi's ANGEL, which is gloriously beautiful and thematic. A very close second is Mark McKenzie's THE LAST SIN EATER. That score has a great story arc, for lack of a better term. I really like the use of pan flute, and how much better can it get than to hear McKenzie's take on Barber's Adagio? Michael Giacchino's RATATOUILLE is great fun, and my favorite score of his. Dario Marianelli's ATONEMENT rounds out my top four. I think all four of these are really strong scores, and I enjoy them a lot more than any other score I've heard from 2007.