Classical Music for the Film Music Fan

The Classical Albums That I Own

Adams, John - Harmonielehre
Adams, John - John Adams: Violin Concerto; Shaker Loops
Adams, John - On the Transmigration of Souls
Adams, John - Road Movies
Arkenstone, David - Inspired By Middle Earth
Barry, John - The Beyondness of Things
Barry, John - Eternal Echoes
Berlioz, Hector - Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique
Bruckner, Anton - Bruckner: Symphony No. 2 in C minor
Bruckner, Anton - Bruckner: Symphony No. 6
Copland, Aaron - The Copland Collection - Orchestral Works, 1948-71
Dudley, Anne - Ancient and Modern
Elfman, Danny - Serenada Schizophrana
Elgar, Edward - Elgar: Symphony No. 1, Op. 55
Giacchino, Michael - Camden 2000
Giacchino, Michael - The Holy Cross Fight Song
Glass, Philip - The Secret Agent
Goldenthal, Elliot - Fire Water Paper: A Vietnam Oratorio
Goldsmith, Jerry - Christus Apollo
Herrmann, Bernard - Moby Dick/ For the Fallen
Hindemith, Paul - Hindemith: Mathis Der Maler, Nobilissima Visione, Symphonic Metamorphosis
Hisaishi, Joe - I Am
Holdridge, Lee - Holdridge Conducts Holdridge
Holst, Gustav - The Planets, Star Wars and Also Sprach Zarathustra
I Salonisti - I Salonisti Play Film Music
Ifukube, Akira - Symphonic Fantasia No.1
Kamen, Michael - Concerto for Guitar and Orchestra (Live)
Kamen, Michael - Concerto for Guitar and Orchestra (Tomoyasu Hotei)
Kamen, Michael - Concerto for Saxophone and Orchestra
Kamen, Michael - A New Moon in the Old Moon's Arms
Kilar, Wojciech - Requiem Father Kolbe
Korngold, Erich Wolfgang - Korngold: Between Two Worlds
Korngold, Erich Wolfgang - Korngold: Symphony in F sharp / Einfache Lieder / Mariettas Lied
Kunzel, Erich and the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra - Chiller
Kunzel, Erich and the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra - Symphonic Spectacular
Libera Boys Choir - Luminosa
Mahler, Gustav - Mahler: Symphonies 6 & 8 (Disc 3)
North, Alex - Romeo and Juliet
Prokofiev, Sergei - The Best of Prokofiev
Prokofiev, Sergei - Prokofiev: The Complete Symphonies 4CD set
Prokofiev, Sergei - Sergei Prokofiev: The Originals
Schumann, Robert - Schumann The Symphonies
Shostakovich, Dimitri - Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5 & No. 9
Siliotto, Carlo - The Dog's Master
Stravinsky, Igor - The Rite of Spring / Firebird Suite
Tchaikovsky, Peter - Symphonic Battle Scenes
Ten Tenors, The - Here's To The Heroes
Vangelis - Mythodea
Vaughan Williams, Ralph - Vaughan Williams: A Sea Symphony
Vaughan Williams, Ralph - Vaughan Williams: Symphonies
Vaughan Williams, Ralph - Vaughan Williams: Symphony No. 5 / Norfolk Rhapsody / The Lark Ascending
Vaughan Williams, Ralph - Vaughan Williams: Symphony No. 5 etc
Vaughan Williams, Ralph - Vaughan Williams: Symphony No. 9 / Job
Wagner, Richard - The Best of Wagner
Williams, John - The Concert Music of John Williams: Live!
Williams, John - The Five Sacred Trees
Williams, John - Soundings
Williams, John - Treesong
Williams, John - Yo-Yo Ma Plays the Music of John Williams

-Erik-

Forgot to take that out when exporting the list from Excel

-Erik-

You don't have "Orchestral Spectaculars" as well?


http://www.amazon.com/Orchestral-Specta … B000003CTO

The thing is... I don't listen to it. Well, most of it.

-Erik-

This MUST be rectified!!

First thing to do is give The Lark Ascending your full and undivided attention! It starts off quiet and atonal (if that's the right word to use) but then flourishes into the kind of beauty and power Vaughan Williams was famous for. Definitely one of my favourite pieces of music ever composed!

I'll get the obvious suggestions (and some of my favourites) out the way first for this thread:

Georges Bizet (October 25, 1838 – June 3, 1875)

Carmen Suite I & II

Very much a thematic work, so for a film music fan it would feel very much familiar in terms of structure. Also, you might here a bit of Horner's Zorro in there. Actually, you definitely will.


Aaron Copland (November 14, 1900 – December 2, 1990)

Rodeo

The first of two ballet scores I would suggest, fans of Fievel Goes West would appreciate this one. (Horner again!)

Appalachian Spring

So much fun these pieces are and certainly well worth a listen if you like your Western scores, Copland must have been one of the biggest influences on Western scores.


Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky (May 7 [O.S. April 25] 1840 – November 6 [O.S. October 25] 1893)

The Nutcracker Suite

An absolute must. No way to get around it, this should be in every orchestral music fan's collection! If you like your music melodic , memorable and magical, this is the piece for you. So many famous and recognisable tunes from just one suite.... just magnificent. The essential playlist for Christmas.

Symphony No. 6 - 2nd Movement

Let's just say if you liked the music in Minority Report (i.e. not the score), you'll love this.


Gustav Theodore Holst (21 September 1874 – 25 May 1934)

The Planets Suite

Another absolute must, I told you I was going to get the obvious out of the way! Makes me proud to be British this music does. It's of particular significance to film music fans since The Planets has been one of the most influential pieces ever written.


Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns (9 October 1835 – 16 December 1921)

Carnival Of The Animals

Let's just say this is to Saint-Saëns as The Nutcracker Suite is to Tchaikovsky. Perhaps another one of those works that a film music fan would feel 'comfortable' with. Melodies in abundance!


Johann Strauss II (October 25, 1825 – June 3, 1899)

By The Beautiful Blue Danube Waltz

Aka the theme from 2001: A Space Odyssey or when Homer opens a packet of crisps in space and has to eat them. Another must have.

Die Fledermaus - Act 1. Overture

Aka the music from Tom & Jerry and the Hollywood Bowl. Rarely has more catchy and FUN a piece of music ever been composed!


George Gershwin (September 26, 1898 – July 11, 1937)

An American In Paris

One of young Gershwin's most famous pieces, and for good reason. And orchestras love playing this 17 minute piece just because of the shear fun it is to play and to listen to. I love Gershwin's style of orchestral jazz, a composer who had such an untimely death and would surely have gone to even more amazing things.


Edvard Hagerup Grieg (15 June 1843 – 4 September 1907)

In The Hall Of The Mountain King

For those who live in Britain or know of the advert, it's theme music used for Alton Towers. I'm sure most people have heard this tune, but not all can place it. So here it is, a very famous unknown tune. (Generally for non-classical fans it tends to be 'unknown', stating the obvious there.)


Johann Strauss I (March 14, 1804 – September 25, 1849)

Rudetsky March

Father of Strauss II, the family seemed to excel in ridiculously catchy melodies. One of the versions I have has the audience clapping to the beat, so its definitely a crowd pleaser this one.


...oh man, so much to suggest. I'll stop there for the moment.

I've tried with Erik who I consider a good friend. To get him to listen more than once in awhile is difficult. The two obvious ones that come to my mind are The Red Pony and Sinfonia Antarctica. Both of these classical works are performed in the films Red Pony and Scott of the Antarctic. I believe the Red Pony is included in the Copland work he already has.
Thomas

This thread will be good for me too, there's so much I haven't heard from many of the composers I love (obviously ).

I tend to only have a few pieces by many composers rather than the other way round. So I have a very general view of classical music instead of a detailed, specific one. I "only" have about 9-10 days of classical music in my library (and lots more that needs to be ripped).
So bring in the suggestions!

There's still an awful lot for myself to discover too, I'm always checking out peoples recommendations.
Steven, I'm presuming you only have In The Hall of The Mountain King as part of a compilation?

p.s. Did you also know there's a choral / orchestral version!?

Can you elaborate? Endless lists are ultimately pointless since readers won't be able to discriminate between the choices. The idea is to help them, not burden them. (Including me.)

^
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FAIL!

Peter

Hehe.

Let's just keep this one running, there's been many interesting recommendations so far. I just wanted to try out that FAIL internet meme.

Personally I've always enjoyed Mendelssohn's 2nd violin concerto. Gorgeous stuff!

Peter

When it comes to Dvorak, I would recommend the Ninth Symphony and Cello Concerto. Interestingly, the theme from Cello Concerto was expanded by Goldsmith as the main epic theme from The 13th Warrior.

Oh don't worry, I've already taken your suggestion to heart.

Elaborating on a few of my choices above. I was trying to pick very recent stuff that would only have come out in the last three years or so.

- Dharma at Big Sur (electric violin concerto) / My Father Knew Charles Ives (John Adams)
This was a double album that came out 2 years ago. Dharma at Big Sur is a musical portrait of sorts of a Californian Buddhist community (Adams is based in California), and the electric violin soli suit the serenity one would expect from that subject. For me the real treasure here is the three movement My Father Knew Charles Ives. Charles Ives was an early 20th century American composer based in New England, and his music often interpolated the melodies of others in a dense polyphonic texture where the sources became bent beyond recognition (but not always). The most famous work of his, which has been used in many films, is the solemn tone poem 'The Unanswered Question' - where musical ideas float over the listener in something a bit more like a collage than a conventional composition. Now Adams' father didn't actually know Charles Ives, but they would have walked the same streets of New England, and had similar temperaments. The Adams composition attempts a collage composition in the spirit of Ives, but charged with the composer's own minimalist energy. You'll appreciate it more if you know a bit of Ives' work.

- New Impossibilities (Silk Road Ensemble - Yo Yo Ma et al)
This is the third Silk Road album from Yo Yo Ma's ensemble, and I reckon it equals the first, featuring fewer compositions of longer length than the more fragmented second album (which was of course excellent in its own way). The highlight for me is the ensemble's reworking of Osvaldo Golijov's 'Night of the Flying Horses' for far earthier tone colours that anyone would have heard it before. There are other pleasures however - 'Arabian Waltz' is spirited and energetic; 'Song of the Eight Unruly Poets' could be an action cue with its syncopated percussion and brass; 'The Silent City' has a great pulsating string rhythm; and this album's performance of the lengthy 'Ambush from Ten sides' is definitely another highpoint. You have to like 'world music', or music constructed from authentic period instruments to really enjoy this stuff. (There's no soft string backing here.) Lots of energy.
Samples should be available from the three albums here: http://www.silkroadproject.org/music/re … ities.html

- Symphony 2 for string orchestra / Suite from the Red Violin (John Corigliano)
I reviewed this album when it came out:
http://www.musicweb-international.com/f … suite.html
The five points of the symphony are a great journey. In 'Scherzo', you're racing somewhere with incredible speed, flying in the face of all danger. 'Nocturne' is a serene night in Morocco, the string voices approximating the blending of mullah voices calling all to prayer. 'Fugue' is an unusual asymmetrically-structured fugue where all serenity unravels. 'Postlude' reveals where we really were all along - a man dying of AIDS in the back of an ambulance, his life flashing before his eyes. This piece just wrecks me. It was a string quartet by Corigliano that he later expanded for full string orchestra (moments of it still feature a quartet at the centre), and he won the Pulitzer for it. It's not an easy listen at times - Corigliano is one of the key post-romantic composers of our time, mixing avante-garde harshness with the emotional intensity of late Romantic composition. As with his pupil Goldenthal, there are some very harsh edges.
The suite from the Red Violin probably doesn't need to be talked up - if you like that score, you'll already know if you want more of it. I think this suite works a bit better than the full concerto.

- Oceana / Tenebrae / Three Songs (Osvaldo Golijov)
I started to look into Golijov when I heard he was going to be scoring Coppola's Youth without Youth. (Note: he's also doing Tetro, Coppola's next film.) This was the album I started with, and it contains three works. Tenebrae is the highlight for me, a serenely beautiful two-movement work for string quartet. The Three Songs, which feature Dawn Upshaw, are also superb - containing much more than mere songs. The songs feature fine orchestrations and some great non-vocal moments as well - the highlight being the incredible 'Night of the Flying Horses', goes from a lullaby to a memorable two minute allegro finale. 'How Slow the Wind' is a reworking of a cello piece he wrote called 'Mariel', and its a haunting piece either way. 'Oceana' - the main work of the album - is one that I haven't quite warmed to, probably due to my lack of enthusiasm for classical choral music. It's growing on me with its multiple choirs, soloists, and Latin rhythms, but I would recommend this album for the other two works, which make it more than worth it.

More on the others later.