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Favorite Telvision/Film Scores

NileQT87

NileQT87

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What are your favorite television/film scores? Specifically which tracks?

I tend to be a big fan of the emotional, moody or rising orchestral pieces of music.

John Williams and Danny Elfman for film & Christophe Beck and Robert J. Kral for television come to mind.

First off, best score ever is Amadeus, but that probably shouldn't count. It's all about the epic use of Mozart's Requiem in D Minor (Introitus, Rex Tremendae, Dies Irae, Confutatis, Lacrimosa & Lux Aeterna), Non Più Andrai, Là Ci Darem' La Mano, Die Zauberflöte Ouvertüre, David Penitente, Symphony 25 in G Minor, Piano Concertos 20 & 22 in C Minor and the thundering opening notes of Don Giovanni, A Cenar Teco M'invitasti!

Overall, Lacrimosa will always be his greatest (and tragically unfinished--by his hand, at least) masterpiece. The music is used as the tragically devastating punch in the gut in the film.

Here are some well-known and not-so-known favorites of mine (instrumentals only):

Film:
Star Wars - Binary Sunset
The Empire Strikes Back - Han Solo and the Princess
Return of the Jedi - Funeral Pyre for a Jedi
Raiders of the Lost Ark - Raiders March
Raiders of the Lost Ark - Marion's Theme
Temple of Doom - Nocturnal Activities
The Last Crusade - The Keeper of the Grail
Casper - One Last Wish
The Nightmare Before Christmas - Montage
Beetlejuice - Main Titles
Beetlejuice - The Fly
Beetlejuice - Laughs
Edward Scissorhands - Etiquette Lesson
Edward Scissorhands - Ice Dance
Sleepy Hollow - Main Titles
Batman Returns - Birth of the Penguin
Pete's Dragon - Main Title
The Swiss Family Robinson - Swisskapolka
Pinocchio - Little Wooden Head
Pinocchio - Coach to Pleasure Island
Peter Pan - Main Title (A Second Star to the Right)
Peter Pan - On the Rooftop
Ghost - Unchained Melody (instrumental)
The Sound of Music - Overture & Prelude
The Sound of Music - Ländler
Hocus Pocus - Main Titles
Hocus Pocus - Brother/Sister Theme
Evita - End Credits
Dr. Zhivago - Lara's Theme
The Wrath of Khan - Amazing Grace (beautiful version!)
Carousel - Carousel Waltz
Babes In Toyland - March of the Toys

Television:
Buffy, the Vampire Slayer - Innocence - Moment of Happiness
Buffy, the Vampire Slayer - I Only Have Eyes for You - Love is Forever
Buffy, the Vampire Slayer - Becoming, pt. 1 - Show Me Your World
Buffy, the Vampire Slayer - Becoming, pt. 1 - Devil Child
Buffy, the Vampire Slayer - Becoming, pt. 2 - Close Your Eyes
Buffy, the Vampire Slayer - Amends - Dreaming of...
Buffy, the Vampire Slayer - Graduation Day, pt. 2 - One Last Look
Angel: the Series - City of... - I'm Game
Angel: the Series - The Prodigal - The Birth of Angelus
Angel: the Series - Untouched - Darla's Fire
Angel: the Series - Untouched - Dreaming of Darla
Angel: the Series - Darla - Rebellion
Angel: the Series - Reunion/Billy/season 4 - Drusilla's Nursery/Stalker-Wesley/Evil-Cordy Theme (unreleased)
Angel: the Series - Lullaby - Darla's Sacrifice
Heroes - Sylar's Theme

And I'll just toss in some ride songs for kicks:

Pirates of the Caribbean - Yo Ho (A Pirate's Life for Me) (instrumental)
The Haunted Mansion - Grim Grinning Ghosts (organ)
 
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The Phantom Menace - Duel of the Fates
Attack of the Clones - Across the Stars
Revenge of the Sith - Battle of the Heroes
Star Wars - Binary Sunset
The Empire Strikes Back - The Imperial March (Darth Vader's Theme)
Return of the Jedi - Emperor's Throne Room
Jurassic Park - Journey to the Island
The Lost World - Malcolm's Journey
Terminator 2: Judgment Day - Escape From the Hospital
Beetlejuice - Main Titles
Halloween - Main Titles
 
The Fountains soundtrack is amazing but specificly "Death is the road to awe" and "Tree of life"

Buffy:TVS Sacrafice
 
 
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Oh--I forgot what may be my favourite use of diegetic music in any film--"Confusion," by New Order, from the Blade soundtrack.

That whole "bloodbath" nightclub sequence was inspired. I guess even a mediocre director like Stephen Norrington can film something interesting, once in a while.
 
I love a LOT of tv/film music, but picking out those where I like pretty much every track:

TV:
Charlie Brown Christmas (Vince Guaraldi)
Twin Peaks (Angelo Badalamenti)

Film:
Chariots of Fire (Vangelis)
Lord of the Rings (Howard Shore)
Victor/Victoria (Henry Mancini)
 
SUPER LONG POST ahead (click on film names for examples):



In no order, and only naming as many composers I can recall for each series (or as many to get my preference across):

"Batman: The Animated Series"
(Shirley Walker, Lolita Ritmanis, Carlos Rodriguez, Harvey R. Cohen, Peter Tomashek, 20 other composers)


"Gunsmoke"
(John Parker [frequently provided terrific efforts], Bruce Broughton, Jerrold Immel, Morton Stevens, about 40 something other composers)
http://www.tvscores.150m.com/Gunsmoke.html


"CHiPs"
(Alan Silvestri, Bruce Broughton [one episode], Luchi De Jesus, Mike Post & Pete Carpenter, others)
http://www.tvscores.150m.com/CHiPs.html


"Magnum, pi"
(Mike Post & Pete Carpenter, John Cacavas, Ian Freebairn-Smith, a few others)


"Star Trek: The Next Generation"
(Dennis McCarthy, Ron Jones, Jay Chattaway, some others)


"Dynasty"
(Peter T. Meyers, Mark Snow, Angela Morley, others)
http://www.tvscores.150m.com/Dynasty.html


"Nash Bridges" (so sue me)
(Elia Cmiral, Eddie Jobson, Velton Ray Bunch)


"Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman"
(William Olvis, David Bell)
The scoring has hints of the old timey stuff you might hear in Greg Edmonson's "Firefly", but the scoring is most John Barry like and very nice.


"Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (someone here already cincluded a number of samples)
(Christophe Beck, Thomas Wanker, others)
Beck won an Emy for his work, and I think other awards. Well deserved. This is not like his feature film scoring work which is too synthy and experimental. And this work was far more theme based.


"Knight Rider"
(Stu Phillips, Morton Stevens [one episode], Don Peake)
I have like five CDs of scor from the show, and Hitchcock Media Records will be releasing three more in the near future -- one a 2CD set of "Goliath". I say: bring it on. And while we seem to be in the Morton Stevens craze, maybe that label who did a Stevens score a while back (LLLR or BSX?) should look into his one episode score for the series, since Universal seems to be feeling very, VERY generous with KR music.


"Ducktales"
(Ron Jones, and a pilto score done by: Steve Rucker & Thomas Chase [whiched was tracked throghout the series])


"The X-Files"
(Mark Snow)


"MillenniuM"
(Mark Snow)


"Star Trek"
(Gerald Fried, Fred Steiner, others)


"Due South"
(John McCarthy, Jay Semko, & Jack Lenz [together])


"Hercules: The Legendary Journeys"
(Joseph LuDuca, and I think Velton Ray Bunch did some later ones)


"Qauntum Leap"
(Mike Post, Velton Ray Bunch)



Well, now I move on to film scores:

Jaws (John Williams)
Signs (James Newton Howard)
Sheena (Richard Hartley)
Ghostbusters (Elmer Bernstein, R.I.P.)
The Ten Commandments (Elmer Bernstein, R.I.P.)
The Great Escape (Elmer Bernstein, R.I.P.)
Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend (Jerry Goldsmith, R.I.P.)
Capricorn One (Jerry Goldsmith, R.I.P.)
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (Jerry Goldsmith, R.I.P.)
Star Trek: First Contact (Jerry Goldsmith [and Joel], R.I.P.)
Rudy (Jerry Goldsmith, R.I.P.)
Vertigo (Bernard Herrmann, R.I.P.)
Psycho (Bernard Herrmann, R.I.P.)
North By Northwest (Bernard Herrmann, R.I.P.)
Spartacus (Alex North, R.I.P.)
Conan the Barbarian (Basil Poledouris, R.I.P.)
Something Wicked This Way Comes (James Horner)
Explorers (Jerry Goldsmith, R.I.P.)
The 13th Warrior (rejected score; Graeme Revell)
The Big Blue (U.S. rescore; Bill Conti)
Victory (Bill Conti)
Unbreakable (James Newton Howard)
The Village (James Newton Howard)
The Mission (Ennio Morricone)
The Omega Man (Ron Grainer, R.I.P.)
Dances With Wolves (John Barry)
Watership Down (Angela Morley, R.I.P.; 3:02 to 5:50)
The Journey of Natty Gann (James Horner)
Robocop (Basil Poledouris, R.I.P.)
Serenity (David Newman; two examples provided this time) (example 2)
Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure / Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey (David Newman; 3:06 to 4:19)

I think that's it for now.
 
Movie wise EVRYTHING from the ROBOCOP soundtrack, Ditto for CONAN the barbarion, Starship Troopers, Indiana Jones and the last crusade ( the Grail music I thought was very well done & powerful) Star Trek TMP,TWK,TSFS,TFF,TUC,GEN,FC. James Bond (main theme) The terminator theme ( T2 version) and T.V wise I'd say most inventive was CRUSADE (the opening theme especialy)
 
The Legend with Goldsmith score
Powder
Gladiator
The Passion of the Christ
Starman
The last of the Mohicans
Dracula(1991 or 1992 version)
Schindler List
LOTR (all 3 movies)
Spiderman
Superman
Batman(1989)
Indiana Jones 1,2, & 3
ST:TMP
Star Wars
 
Since Campelord brought up effective diagetic music, I'll nominate this piece by Christopher Franke on Babylon 5. I've always loved that scene (note: spoilers for "The Face of the Enemy" from season four). Plenty of others worth mentioning, but others seem to be doing a better job with hotlinks than I.
 
TV
Batman: The Animated Series - "The Forgotten": Kickass old school harmonica-heavy score for the 'chain gang' episode.

Batman: The Animated Series - "The Last Laugh": Very bouncy and 'hum-able' 70s cop show-inspired theme for Joker's laughing gas scheme.

Batman: The Animated Series - "Read My Lips": Delightfully catchy jazzy score for a 40s gangsters tribute.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer - "Restless": I love the atmospheric tones of the various scores for each dream...they enhance the episode's surrealistic quality beautifully.

Movies
"Catch Me If You Can" - Obviously not as beloved and well-known as many other John Williams scores, but to me it's unforgettable with its infectiously playfully melody.

"Star Trek: First Contact" - Such a gorgeously moving main theme. Before the prologue of the latest Star Trek movie, this score caused "First Contact" to be the only Star Trek movie to make me teary in the first few minutes, and that's without anything actually happening yet - just that melody!

"Halloween" - The music is as much a memorable character as anyone else in the movie (and all the characters are great). That super creepy theme is stuck in my head forever and I never get tired of it.

"Ed Wood" - The theremin rules!

"Terminator 2: Judgment Day" - Everything about this movie is so brilliantly conceived and clearly composed with the utmost confidence from the first minute. That includes the direction, writing, cinematography and acting. The chillingly foreboding and ominous score is of course no exception.

"X2: X-Men United" - It's kind of a rip-off of John Williams-style scores (the composer even admitted it), but I love it anyway. Rousing and invigorating in a way that is perfect for a superhero/comic book movie.
 
Harvey said:
Since Campelord brought up effective diagetic music, I'll nominate this piece by Christopher Franke on Babylon 5.
Click to expand...

Nice. One of the advantages of setting scenes in bars and nightclubs is that you can make use of diegetic music.

The Tech Noir scene from The Terminator would be another good example. I love the way Cameron uses both slow motion and the music to heighten suspense in that scene: first, the dance music becomes increasingly dreamlike and distant, then it segues to menacing orchestral music as the Terminator spots Connor and moves in.

And then, after ratcheting the tension up to the point that it's unbearable--BLAM!
 
Bear McCreary's work on Battlestar Galactica takes the cake. I absolutely love the music from this show. I'm eagerly anticipating the release of the season 4 soundtrack. I recently watched Caprica and was impressed with McCreary's work on that, as well.

I'm also a huge fan of Michael Giacchino, whose portfolio of awesomeness includes Alias, Lost and the new Star Trek.

Jerry Goldsmith's TMP score is iconic and wonderful. His work in subsequent films was mixed at best. TFF was fairly good, and I really liked FC. His last efforts, on INS and NEM, were somewhat mediocre.

James Horner's work for TWOK and TSFS was equally as good as Goldsmith's. I also liked his score for Titanic.

Some people like to bash Hans Zimmer, but I was very impressed with his work on Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, as well as The DaVinci Code and Angels & Demons.

I liked Steve Jablonsky's score for the first Transformers movie, but the second one was a bit underwhelming and had a little too much Linkin Park (I like Linkin Park just fine... but they were featured a little too heavily here).

Lastly, I must give praise Christophe Beck for his work on Buffy the Vampire Slayer!
 
Superman - The Movie is my favorite score. Picking my favorite track from it is like Sophie's Choice.

A close second favorite would be Star Trek - The Motion Picture. "The Enterprise" is a wonderful cue.
 
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