How would you compare the musical scores of John Williams and Jerry Goldsmith?

[suarezguy]

Agreed that Goldsmith's music is a lot more melodic and Williams on the other hand generally very bombastic, both generally work for the kinds of films they were involved in.

 

[Praetorian]

I hate to sound negative towards Goldsmith because he's one of the top guys of all time, but I have to dock him vs. Williams for two reasons.

#1) in his final years, Goldsmith's scores got kind of quiet and dull and too synth-heavy. Most of Trek V and Nemesis are like that.

#2) at times, Goldsmith's music feels derivative or insincere. Mercenary is maybe the best word for it. In his interviews you can kind of get the sense that he's maybe not as sentimental about his job as you'd think he would be, that he knew it was "a job". I think Williams, who has been accused of being a sappy composer, makes more of a direct emotional investment in his work.

For instance, take his work on Supergirl. That is Goldsmith following Williams' footsteps and just kind of mimicking Williams. It's good, but it feels inauthentic, forced, maybe a little by-the-numbers cliche'.

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(this version doesn't have the cheezy synth stingers that are in the actual movie.)

Goldsmith's legacy lies more in his experimental side like raking the piano wires in Planet of the Apes or the TMP blaster-beam, doing things that were his unique innovations.

I think he got tired of doing complex and innovative scores for crappy movies and nobody giving a crap about his scores.

It's true that sometimes it seems like Goldsmith was simply on auto-pilot. I only felt that from Williams in the lattest Star Wars movie.

 

[eyeresist]

Agreed that Goldsmith's music is a lot more melodic and Williams on the other hand generally very bombastic

I disagree with that. Williams is well known for his film themes. Apart from TMP/TNG, I can't think of a famous Goldsmith one offhand.

 

[ToddPence]

If I would get around to making a top five individual TV episode scores of all time. Goldsmith's for "The Invaders" episode of THE TWILIGHT ZONE would be a lock on it.

 

[tharpdevenport]

...BASIC INSTINCT, POLTERGEIST, GREMLINS, FIRST BLOOD, FIRST BLOOD: PART II, RAMBO III, TWILIGHT ZONE: THE MOVIE, OUTLAND, LOGAN'S RUN, CONGO, THE MUMMY, THE BLUE MAX, SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION, SEVEN DAYS IN MAY, TORA! TORA! TORA!, SPACE JAM, THE FINAL CONFLICT, A PATCH OF BLUE......

Not only is "space Jam" not famous, it's not by Goldsmith -- it's by James Newton Howard.

Williams only took the leap with the electronic backgrounds of Attack of the Clones.

I'm not sure what you mean here, but if you mean Williams had never used any synths before, that's not correct. He's used synths on a number of scores, but it's usually to beef something up, not to meld synths in. Even the glockenspiel that plays the Harry Potter theme, is synth; there was a video about how it was made, with I think either William Ross of Conrad Pope, but I can't find it. There's a thread at jwfan.com about synths he's used in what scores.

 

[Basill]

I have four all time favorite composers, and while I'm loathe to rank them by stark numeric values, I find other comparisons easier. A mythological figures analogy definitly provides its hierarchies, but also allows for a bit of overlap and wiggle room. To borrow from Greek mythos, John Williams is kind of like my Zeus, whereas Jerry Goldsmith would make a fine Poseidon. I suppose John Berry could be my Apollo, while James Horner might fall in line with an Ares.

I love a ton of individual composers, but these guys are at the top of my respect and admiration tier. Still, amongst the four, I don't think I could ever choose one of them over another.