Everyone has his own opinion about averything and that is right, in this case the list is about the most influential original scores of all times (not necessary the bests), and this kind of point of view always raises controversy, but I have wanted to share my own preferences on that subject . I know many of you probably will disagree with more than one of the choices , but here we go, feel free to leave your comments or your own list.
1) 2001 a Space Odyssey, 1968, Richard Strauss, Johann
Strauss Jr. Aram Khachaturian y György Ligeti: Director Stanley Kubrick used music by classical composers instead of the score that Alex North composed for the film, and used Ligeti's works without his consent, sparking a great controversy. In spite of all this the soundtrack is wonderful, because Kubrick created a kind of poetic dance between its filmic vision and the music of the great masters, in my opinion the use that the director does of the introduction of Thus I speak Zarathustra by Strauss caused such a association with dawn that it became a cliche..
2)The Godfather 1972, Nino Rota: Another classic of film score, the Italian composer Nino Rota better than anyone could draw the world of the Italian mafia through music , and two years later he won an academy award for his work to the sequel of this film.
3)Psycho 1960, Bernard Herrmann: Whatwe can say about this super classic of the movies?who has not listened the music of the shower sequence that has become a suspense genre standard imitated and parodied countless times in film and TV.
4)Jaws 1975 John Williams: The great composer John Williams won his very first academy award for this extraordinary score that could keep everyone under suspense until the end of the movie.
5) Gone with the wind 1939 Max Steiner: Marvelously lyrical and romantic this beautiful score belong to the golden age of Hollywood films written by the extraordinary Austrian composer Max Steiner.
6)Chariots of Fire 1981, Vangelis: Despite it is not my favorite style of sound I have to recognize the enormous contribution that this soundtrack has made to improve and enrich the vocabulary of film music and that is why is here.
7)The Good, The Bad and The Ugly 1966, Ennio Morricone: This Score is the fruit of the collaboration of Master Ennio Morricone with the director Sergio Leone and it helped to establish a genre (Spaghetti Western) absolutely recognizable and distinguishable using among other important elements, an unusual orchestration that combine traditional symphonic instrumentation with guitars, whistling, gunshotshuman voices and noises.
8)The Lord of The Rings Trilogy: 2001-2003: Master Howard Shore created a Sound Landscape dark and deep to accompany the colossal trilogy that was based on the books written by J.R.R. Tolkien.
9)The Dark Knight 2008, Hans Zimmer: A masterpiece of film scoring, in my opinion Master Hans Zimmer has redefined the concepts of film composition with his work along the years and this extraordinary score is an example of that.
10) Star Wars 1977, John Williams: I think this is one of the most recognizable Scores in the History of films, and is undeniable its impact in the popular culture of our times. The uses of Leitmotiv as an emotional anchor to every of the principal characters is one of the multiple reasons that makes this score unforgettable to the great audiences.
One of my favorite movies of all time, written and directed by Giuseppe Tornatore and
released in 1988 is the story of Salvatore Di Vita (toto) a filmmaker who
returns to his hometown for the funeral of his friend Alfredo and there he recalls
the memories of his
childhood and youth. The
soundtrack was composed by maestro Ennio Morricone with collaboration of his son
Andrea Morricone and in my opinion has some of the most beautiful and tender themes
that have been written for film.
Although
a simple orchestration,( very different from the large format of Hollywood
blockbusters) its evocative power, charm, beauty, and deep emotional connection
with the story make it a masterpiece of film music until the point of turn
it transcend even the movie itself, as it has been popularized by many artists
who have adapted the melodies (especially the love theme) to play in different
formats to audiences that probably don't know the film.
Maestro
Morricone also is well known for his
scores for films of spaghetti western as A Fistful of Dollars (1964), For a Few
Dollars More (1965), The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) and Once Upon a Time
(1968) all of writer-director Sergio Leone with whom he helped develop the genre.
Strauss Jr. Aram Khachaturian y György Ligeti: Director Stanley Kubrick used music by classical composers instead of the score that Alex North composed for the film, and used Ligeti's works without his consent, sparking a great controversy. In spite of all this the soundtrack is wonderful, because Kubrick created a kind of poetic dance between its filmic vision and the music of the great masters, in my opinion the use that the director does of the introduction of Thus I speak Zarathustra by Strauss caused such a association with dawn that it became a cliche..
