Favourite Movie Soundtracks

[suzywong]

and I don't mean Dirty Dancing and Grease

They can turn up some real gems and be very evocative without being obvious.

What are you favourites?

Badlands - never was that old hack Orff used so well
ANYTHING done by Bernard Herrmann, Suzy!
Aimee Mann's superb work on Magnolia
The Klaus Nomi on Pialat's A Nos Amours for arthouse persons with long memories
Lovely use of Cajun music in The Big Easy
Vangelis in Blade Runner

and your faves are?

Oh, and Gabriel Yared for Betty Blue.

thanks Marina, I knew this would appeal to you

Well I'm a bit lacking in this department. I really should get my act together. I notice Hans Zimmer is rather prolific and David Arnold (I could name drop at this point but of course that's not at all like me).

I really wanted the ST to Internal Affairs which was composed by the director Mike Figgis but I have never been able to find it, maybe it doesn't exist

I didn't know he wrote the music too. That is such a nasty, good film - you do mean the one with Richard Gere and Andy Garcia, yes...
We have Shaken not Stirred at home and his work on Stargate is on the curriculum here - in fact we have a whole module on composing for film.
Wednesday night (us time) 10pm, Radio 2, documentary on Anne Dudley Suzy. She is terrific.

I used to love the John Barry soundtrack to Masquerade but it's been so long since I heard it that I can't remember any more.

Korngold is also taught here but from a WTF perspective I suspect - Robin Hood with Errol Flynn his best known work.
People always rate Apocalypse Now and Platoon for their use of classical music, don't they...but I found the Barber in the slow-mo scenes really quite grating. And need to be bound hand and foot to sit through any Wagner in any circumstances.
So you know Mr Arnold then do you? :)

will check out the Radio 2 website, I 'm not sure if I can listen as a foreigner, I have to pay to subscribe to video clips on the bbc news site. I heard a very interesting programme on the radio here, Suzanne Vega presenting about American Maverick \link{http://musicmavericks.publicradio.org\composers}

Yes Internal Affairs with dirty nasty Richard Gere and hot-headed Latino Andy - before he started eating all the pies

John Barry is the James Bond composer, no?

John Barry - another genius IMO, although I don't know that one cupcakes.

I found this by googling - apparently a poll of film historians and critics for the top movie soundtracks of all times:

Star Wars - John Williams
Gone With The Wind - Max Steiner
Lawrence Of Arabia - Maurice Jarre
Psycho - Bernard Herrmann
The Godfather - Nino Rota
Jaws - John Williams
Laura - David Raksin
The Magnificent Seven - Elmer Bernstein
Chinatown - Jerry Goldsmith
High Noon - Dimitri Tiomkin
The Adventures Of Robin Hood - Erich Wolfgang Korngold
Vertigo - Bernard Herrmann
King Kong - Max Steiner
E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial - John Williams
Out Of Africa - John Barry
Sunset Blvd. - Franz Waxman
To Kill A Mockingbird - Elmer Bernstein
Planet Of The Apes - Jerry Goldsmith
A Streetcar Named Desire - Alex North
The Pink Panther - Henry Mancini.

well, not really know him. Met him at a kids' party in Highgate a few years ago

wow, that's a good list to get started with , thanks

I think you can listen for free suzy, ironically I can't access web sound at work - bandwidth shortage :)
That series looks mighty interesting though, I do have a big soft spot for Tilson Thomas

Relieved but surprised to see that the bloody Warsaw Concerto from Brief Encounter is NOT on that list. Music to vomit to.
You can get compilations of Herrmann's music, he has had a resurgence over here lately. Was TOTALLY barking by all accounts, like all great creative minds.
I do hope Mr Arnold was not on balloon animals or Mr Davey's Magic Marimba duty

ooh yes, Aimee Mann's Magnolia soundtrack is beautiful

The Graduate (obviously)
The Piano

I also enjoyed the Lost in Translation soundtrack

Now I didn't like Michael Nyman's work in The Piano, SD. Much preferred his earlier stuff especially Draughtsman's Contract and a Zed and Two Noughts. Also, he did a smashing soundtrack for Monsieur Hire.
Oh, loved the soundtrack for Delicatessen while we're at it. Perfect for the film.

I must have dodgy taste Marina

Michael Nyman did the ST for The Libertine, which we haven't go yet, anyone seen or hear of it?

I really do love Gone With The Wind, esp after having watched the making of it

yy to Aimee Mann
The Royal Tenebaums has a great soundtrack
Mark Mothersbaugh composed a lot of it
A piece for Cello I tried to play (is harder than it sounds)
Love it
For Brits, there's a trailer for a programme about the elderly on c4 which uses a bit of his work

Aw SD, I didn't mean it like that
I was surprised to like it so little, I normally love his stuff.
None of us has mentioned Danny Elfman yet - gorgeous music, from Edward Scissorhands right through to Desperate Housewives titles...

I have the charlie and the chocolate factory soundtrack by Elfman. Very good.

Hey, do you think all scores, rather than soundtracks if there is a difference, are original? I mean how many scary violins and explosive action themes can there be? Does the studio pay for original material all the time or is there recycling going on?

Why is Aimee Mann so underrated? Everyone I know loves her voice and her writing, so how come she is not a multimillionairess and household name?
She was my dsis's ex's ex you know. They both loved her :)

She is brilliant I agree.

Danny Elfman - well, to me his music always sounds the same - v distinctive.

I note they're using Elfman music from Nightmare before Christmas for The Armstrongs - very witty!

What about Amelie? I love that ST, listen to it lots

Yann Tiersen...that's his name SD. He is excellent and his stuff varies hugely.
Suze, as SD points out, music gets reused all the time on TV, but for some reason not so much in cinema. Licensing and copyright issues presumably, and so many compilation soundtracks turn out to have bonkers re-recorded things on them.
Ah! Deliverance! Duelling Banjos...who's to blame for that?
And I also like Ennio Morricone's work on The Mission although that has been prostituted round X billion coffee ads since...

i love the music for titanic...how sad haha

It is odd how Aimee Mann is so unknown

Saw her a couple of years ago and she was fantastic and so funny and natural