Zimmer barely writes any of the scores his name is attached to; he has a warehouse in Santa Monica with scores of composers scoring away. His name is a good buy for the end roller though.
trent Reznor only of course counts if atticus Ross is working with him (a bit like zimmer’s best we’re with Lisa Armstrong).
(& I do often listen to clips of films without the music track and it’s very dull, but you appreciate the Foley artists more- the floor creaks / footsteps etc that are all out in artificially. And then covered in music. The layers and layers and layers of talent in film are quite magnificent- really skilled craftsmen whose work you hardly notice but which makes the whole)
There's many a film ruined by its soundtrack. Especially fifties and sixties westerns in which the music basically acts as a spoiler. Although that does point out how well Leone used soundtracks.
Compare Crossfire, which was unusual in the forties for barely having one at all, and it stands out a mile for it.
John Williams is a genius in film composing - head and shoulders above anyone else (with Morricone second). But film music is a very specific field: intended to stir emotions at a few key points in the film, and be somewhat unobtrusive in the rest of the film. It's almost a different discipline to writing a symphony from scratch.
If we are discussing popular composers generally, I agree. But greatest living composer? If that means contemporary-classical, minimalist, broken chord stuff, then maybe.
I was going to say Weir when I read this yesterday.
I have been taken to task for promoting ecclesiastical choral music by some here (a narrow genre, it was said, as for some "church" music is the poor relation of orchestral arrangement music - what balls and tell that to Handel).
The question why Weir is posed. Judith Weir is Master of the King's Music, so we should note that the late Queen Elizabeth saw fit to appoint her above others as the Master and that in itself is a judgement we ought to bear in mind when evaluating her credentials. But if you dont accept that (which is unreasoned) then perhaps the fact that she has unrivalled breadth: opera, musical theatre, large choral pieces, small orchestra, ensemble, large symphony, solo woodwind, brass, string, piano, solo choral, four voice ensemble, organ works. She has an extraordinary span of styles and subjects (from music to cherish brutalist architecture to modernist takes on historically important folk and church carols, more conservative and contemplative works). She also weaves in different heritage sounds - English folk sounds combined with the Orthodox bass/treble chant, monastic plainsong and so on.
Her harmonies and use of harmonics are fascinating. She also works to very limited lyric - usually one or two lines of poetry or prose disassembled and rebuilt like a fugue itself or based on a simple musical idiom developed into more complex works.
Take, for example, her "Illuminare Jerusalem" which I think is her most astounding work and a great example of her truly original style which still seems evocative of a choral tradition - echoing stuff we find more comforting and accessible while having no direct comparator or obvious style source.
If you asked someone to give you a short musical depiction of the terror of Herod's rage and a city's fear, ending in the assurance of God's benificence, this could not be beaten.
Prepare to be unsettled and then comforted by the same skills with organ and voice in Love Bade Me Welcome - minor and major choral chords, rumbling disrupting jarring organ runs, questioning, doubting, assuring, building, retreating, calming to peaceful close Love Bade Me Welcome - Judith Weir - YouTube
remarkable how she can, just in a score (with an able choirmaster/conductor) spotlight a single voice and hold it up above the ensemble of voices, then lower it and pick up another.
Saw Einaudi in Milan recently. It was comfortably one of the worst live performances I've ever seen - to the extent that I haven't played any of his music since (and I loved it before).
Back to Gangsta's Paradise for now (according to current shuffle)
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Ed Sheeran
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Behave
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Steve Reich?
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Yes, Philip Glass is still alive too. Rather niche though.
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I'm quite a fan of Francis Pott.
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John Williams?
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Don’t be ridiculous
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Judith Weir knocks any of those into a cocked hat.
Though I do like James MacMillan.
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I was going to say Harrison Birtwhistle but he died in April.
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Hans Zimmer is decent
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Steve Reich
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Assume that's a joke
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Why Weir?
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Morricone till recently.
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Mason Bates
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Mike Batt
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Reich, Glass and yes Williams are up there. Part as well. Good question.
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Williams and the film composers mentioned are mere craftsmen, producing pastiche to order. Clever and skilful, but limited.’
Shostakovich wrote probably the best film music ever, but in addition produced a large body of truly original music across many genres.
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Try watching any film without music.
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Wot OGR said.
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Trent Reznor.
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Zimmer barely writes any of the scores his name is attached to; he has a warehouse in Santa Monica with scores of composers scoring away. His name is a good buy for the end roller though.
trent Reznor only of course counts if atticus Ross is working with him (a bit like zimmer’s best we’re with Lisa Armstrong).
I like Macmillan
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(& I do often listen to clips of films without the music track and it’s very dull, but you appreciate the Foley artists more- the floor creaks / footsteps etc that are all out in artificially. And then covered in music. The layers and layers and layers of talent in film are quite magnificent- really skilled craftsmen whose work you hardly notice but which makes the whole)
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Ludovico Einaudi
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Yes of course great film music is worthwhile- but that doesn’t put John Williams or Hans Zimmer into the league of Shostakovich.
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There's many a film ruined by its soundtrack. Especially fifties and sixties westerns in which the music basically acts as a spoiler. Although that does point out how well Leone used soundtracks.
Compare Crossfire, which was unusual in the forties for barely having one at all, and it stands out a mile for it.
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Some reasonable shouts here, but for me one stands head and shoulders above the rest - John Adams.
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I think I'm only in the habit of listening to dead composers. guess I'm not the only one...
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50 cent
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John Williams is a genius in film composing - head and shoulders above anyone else (with Morricone second). But film music is a very specific field: intended to stir emotions at a few key points in the film, and be somewhat unobtrusive in the rest of the film. It's almost a different discipline to writing a symphony from scratch.
Lol at Einaudi though.
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Einaudi’s music is worth a mention.
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If you are going to nominate John Williams (I wouldn't) then Lloyd Webber should probably get a look in too...
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If we are discussing popular composers generally, I agree. But greatest living composer? If that means contemporary-classical, minimalist, broken chord stuff, then maybe.
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Einaudi is v dull.
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I was going to say Weir when I read this yesterday.
I have been taken to task for promoting ecclesiastical choral music by some here (a narrow genre, it was said, as for some "church" music is the poor relation of orchestral arrangement music - what balls and tell that to Handel).
The question why Weir is posed. Judith Weir is Master of the King's Music, so we should note that the late Queen Elizabeth saw fit to appoint her above others as the Master and that in itself is a judgement we ought to bear in mind when evaluating her credentials. But if you dont accept that (which is unreasoned) then perhaps the fact that she has unrivalled breadth: opera, musical theatre, large choral pieces, small orchestra, ensemble, large symphony, solo woodwind, brass, string, piano, solo choral, four voice ensemble, organ works. She has an extraordinary span of styles and subjects (from music to cherish brutalist architecture to modernist takes on historically important folk and church carols, more conservative and contemplative works). She also weaves in different heritage sounds - English folk sounds combined with the Orthodox bass/treble chant, monastic plainsong and so on.
Her harmonies and use of harmonics are fascinating. She also works to very limited lyric - usually one or two lines of poetry or prose disassembled and rebuilt like a fugue itself or based on a simple musical idiom developed into more complex works.
Take, for example, her "Illuminare Jerusalem" which I think is her most astounding work and a great example of her truly original style which still seems evocative of a choral tradition - echoing stuff we find more comforting and accessible while having no direct comparator or obvious style source.
Judith Weir: Illuminare, Jerusalem (Church of the Advent Choir) - YouTube
If you asked someone to give you a short musical depiction of the terror of Herod's rage and a city's fear, ending in the assurance of God's benificence, this could not be beaten.
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It helps people's wives go to sleep. Start them off on Einaudi then change up to Max Richter and Phil Glass.
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Prepare to be unsettled and then comforted by the same skills with organ and voice in Love Bade Me Welcome - minor and major choral chords, rumbling disrupting jarring organ runs, questioning, doubting, assuring, building, retreating, calming to peaceful close Love Bade Me Welcome - Judith Weir - YouTube
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Einaudi - Richard Clayderman's less competent cousin.
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Airs from another planet - huge direction change. Where does this come from? Enormously complex Judith Weir: Airs from Another Planet (1986) - YouTube
contrast with Drop Down Ye Heavens From Above Judith Weir: Airs from Another Planet (1986) - YouTube
remarkable how she can, just in a score (with an able choirmaster/conductor) spotlight a single voice and hold it up above the ensemble of voices, then lower it and pick up another.
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Mutters, have you listened to Hildur Guonadottir and/or Kristine Tjogersen?
Both quite unusual in very different ways.
I think history will be kind to Karl Jenkins - I think he's still going...
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Mutters, have you listened to Hildur Guonadottir and/or Kristine Tjogersen?
no
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Just because he hasnt been mentioned yet, honourable shout for Morten Lauridsen.
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Weir is surpassed by her fellow Scot Jimmy Mac on Herod - the LPO recording of his Christmas Oratorio has just been released.
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Paul McCartney.
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That was the Liverpool Oratorio.
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Frog Hallelujah Chorus ?
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Saw Einaudi in Milan recently. It was comfortably one of the worst live performances I've ever seen - to the extent that I haven't played any of his music since (and I loved it before).
Back to Gangsta's Paradise for now (according to current shuffle)
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Trevor Horn - he was right, as the radio star has never made a come-back
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