This was a very difficult list to compile, for a number of reasons. Firstly, most (but certainly not all) of the great scores had already been included in the Top 100 scores (as you would expect). Secondly, and more importantly, because everyone has different taste in music it will mean that there will be a level of discussion (even argument) over what music is more worthy of being included in one of these lists. There is a third reason, specific to my radio show. As we seek to feature brass playing, we will discount or ignore movie scores that perhaps do not feature brass predominantly. This will almost always mean that lighter score work will be overlooked, as will most contemporary music (guitars/drums/keyboard).
That still leaves us with a lot of music to choose from.
I chose, in a lot of instances, with movie scores that I had bought after watching the movie. I think that the mark of great score is one that not only works well within a movie but also as a piece (or pieces) of music on its own. I think most, if not all of this music on tonight fits that category.
I also decided that I wanted to look at some of the composers who have become legends in the genre of movie scoring who failed to get a mention in the Top 100 (even 200). I will explain more about this later.
So without any further delay (and in no real order) I present my playlist for tonight:
1. Fanfare for Rocky (Bill Conti)
Bill Conti has not produced music for many movies. Apart from the Rocky franchise, his other well known works would probably include the original Karate Kid movies, For Your Eyes Only from the James Bond stable, as well as the TV themes for Dynasty, Falcon Crest, Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous and Cagney & Lacey. He also received an Academy Award for his work on The Right Stuff (1983).
The music for Rocky, and more specifically the instrumental Gonna Fly Now (which topped the charts in 1977), is what made Conti famous. This recording of the Fanfare for Rocky is from the 30th Anniversary release of the soundtrack, and is a great introduction to this program.
2. Batman (Danny Elfman)
3. Beetlejuice (Danny Elfman)
A few people queried the omission of any works from Danny Elfman in the Classic Countdown Top 100. The theme from Batman actually comes in at 196.
Elfman has had a very long professional relationship with movie director Tim Burton, having scored almost all his movies (the two exceptions being Ed Wood and Sweeney Todd). Whilst Elfman has never won an Academy Award he has been nominated 4 times. We will be ignoring those scores nominated and instead play from Batman (1989) (with Jack Nicholson as The Joker), because I think it is one of his best scores, and Beetlejuice (1989), because my sister asked for it.
4. Welcome to Australia Overture - Australia (David Hirschfelder)
I think Baz Luhrmann gets a bad rap for his movies. I quite like his style, and there is a definite connection in the five movies that he had directed to date, as he knows how to do a love story.
I think that in particular, his 2008 movie Australia gets harshly judged, and unfairly so. As part of this, the musical work of Australian David Hirschfelder has been largely ignored. Whilst the score uses a number of well know tunes (such as Waltzing Matilda, and Over the Rainbow) Hirschfelder expertly weaves these tunes with his own work. He also collaborated with The John Butler Trio and Mark Lizotte in various parts of the score. The Welcome to Australia Overture is at the start of the movie (obviously) and provides a good range of the music to be heard throughout the movie.
5. Overture - Ben Hur (Miklós Rózsa)
6. King of Kings (Miklós Rózsa)
7. Overture - El Cid (Miklós Rózsa)
Rózsa's musical career included not only movies, but a significant number of other works for orchestra, piano, chamber music and choir. The Hungarian born Rózsa scored over 100 movies between 1937 and 1982. It was difficult choosing from his vast list. I have gone with three epic movies.
Ben Hur (1959) is the only movie that coined its own saying (Bigger than Ben Hur), unless you also include the first prequel from Star Wars (Worse than Phantom Menace). Starring Charlton Heston in the title role, this movie would go on to be nominated for 12 Academy Awards, and to win 11, including for Best Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture (Rózsa's third). There were 12 recording sessions for the score, lasting 72 hours, and in the end, of the 3 hours of music composed for the film, 2 1/2 hours were used in the final cut. Ben Hur is considered by many to be Rózsa's finest movie work.
This was the only score of Rózsa's to be listed in the Classic Countdown at 118.
King of Kings (1961) is the story of Jesus Christ, very unlike Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ (2004). Rózsa's score was nominated for a Golden Globe. This movie has the record of being the first major studio sound film in English to actually depict Christ's face.
El Cid (1961) is one of my favorite movies of this era (Martin Scorsese called it "one of the greatest epic films ever made"). It also starred Charlton Heston as well as Sophia Loren and Frank Thring (who was also in King of Kings). This movie was nominated for three Academy Awards, including for Original Music Score.
8. Suite from Henry V (William Walton)
The full name of this movie is The Cronicle History of King Henry the Fift with His Battell Fought at Agincourt in France (1944) and is an adaptation of William Shakespeare's play Henry V. It was directed by, and starred Laurence Olivier. It was nominated for 4 Academy Awards, including William Walton for Best Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture, but won only a special Academy Award to Laurence Olivier for "for his outstanding achievement as actor, producer and director in bringing Henry V to the screen."
William Walton is now best known for his choral and orchestral works, most notably the massive cantata, Belshazzar's Feast. It is a testament to his work on Henry V that it is now seen as a piece of orchestral music in its own right. Interestingly Walton has been recorded as noting that film music is ineffective when performed out of context.
The Suite from Henry V is in 5 movements:
- Overture - The Globe Playhouse
- Passacaglia: Death of Falstaff
- Charge and Battle
- Touch Her Soft Lips and Part
- Agincourt Song.
This recording is by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra with Andre Previn as conductor. This came in at 184 on the Classic Countdown list.
9. Independence Day Suite (David Arnold)
Independence Day (1996) was a blockbuster film about aliens attacking Earth. The music is by David Arnold. Whilst the movie was fairly average, I remember this buzz about the soundtrack, including some discussion about the insane scoring for the brass section. That's enough for it to be played on tonight's show. Arnold received a Grammy Award for this score.
10. Promise Me - First Knight (Jerry Goldsmith)
Jerry Goldsmith wrote a great many scores over a 50 year period, yet the Classic Countdown only includes his work on the Star Trek movies (5 of them). Looking through his list of scores and I see the Rambo movies, Basic Instinct, Mulan, The Mummy, Gremlins, Chinatown, The Planet of the Apes; the list goes on and on. He was nominated for 18 Academy Awards, and won only one, The Omen (1976). Interestingly he attended classes in movie scoring that were taken by Miklós Rózsa.
I have chosen the movie First Knight (1995) for tonight's show as it was one of those times that the music captured my attention more than the movie when seeing this for the first time. It may not be considered his finest score but it one of the ones I have enjoyed listening to the most.
11. Back To The Future (Alan Silvestri)
The only nomination of Silvestri's works on the Classic Countdown is for Forest Gump (No 138). I don't like that score much, but greatly respect other works by him, including Avengers (2012), The Polar Express (2004) and Captain America: The First Avenger (2011). However for those of you around my age, he may probably be best known for his music for the Back To The Future trilogy (1985, 1989 and 1990). This one was originally chosen by my sister for tonight's show but I must admit I am happy to agree with her.
12. The Battle The Duel The Victory - Robin Hood (Erich Wolfgang Korngold)
This score is considered by many to be the finest score ever written, which is then amazing that it only reached 103 in the Classic Countdown.
Korngold composed his first orchestral work at age 14, and drew the attention of both Richard Strauss and Gustav Mahler. He has written a large number of orchestral and choral works as well as a couple of dozen movie scores, but was not well known as a composer around the time of his death in 1957.
Korngold received an Academy Award for his work on Robin Hood in 1938.
13. For The Love of A Princess - Braveheart (James Horner)
The score of Braveheart was another one of those overlooked in the Classic Countdown, coming in at 108, which surprised me, as I expected it to be in the top 20.
It is one of the many scores by Horner nominated for an Academy Award. Admittedly not a great deal of brass in this score, but just enough to sneak in it for tonight's show.
14. Quaritch - Avatar (James Horner)
Avatar is the second highest grossing movie of all time - behind Titanic. Both scores were from James Horner, although both are very different from each other.
Horner worked with an ethnomusicologist to create a music culture for the N'avi. Horner has stated that this project has been his biggest, to date. One of my all time favourite soundtracks.
15. Legend of Navarone - The Guns of Navarone (Dimitri Tiomkin)
Tiomkin, together with Alfred Newman (see below) and Max Steiner, were considered the godfathers of film music. Their combined works for over 600 movies during their respective careers have earned them this title.
Tiomkin himself scored over 120 movies, and was nominated for 22 Academy Awards, winning 4.
I chose music from The Guns of Navarone as one of the movies scored by him that I remember from watching TV back in the seventies. The Classic Countdown only has High Noon from Tiomkin, in at 144.
16. Twentieth Century Fox Fanfare (Alfred Newman)
17. How the West Was Won (Alfred Newman)
Newman scored over 200 films over his career. He received 9 Academy Awards, the most for any composer and second only to Walt Disney and was nominated an astonishing 45 times, only behind Walt Disney and John Williams.
The Twentieth Century Fox Fanfare is heard before the screening of every Twentieth Century Fox film, making this the most heard piece of music in cinema history.
The score for How the West Was Won was listed at number 25 of the 25 best scores as decided by the American Film Institute in 2005.
18. Anvil of Grom - Conan the Barbarian (Basil Poledouris)
I have read the declaration on many different websites that the soundtrack to Conan the Barbarian is the greatest film score of all time, which is strange that it is all but ignored in both the Classic Countdown as well as the American Film Institute's list.
Even so, I think this is a cracking soundtrack, although probably not the best mixed one.
19. One Summer's Day - Spirited Away (Joe Hisaishi)
OK. I must admit that Hisaishi would not have featured anywhere in my top 200. There were quite a few on Twitter during the Classic Countdown that queried why he wasn't in the top 100. At that time, I didn't know what he had scored and why people thought so much of him. Then I did some research.
Hisaishi had scored over 100 movies, mostly from his own country of Japan. From an Australian perspective, he is most known for his collaboration with animator Hayao Miyaziki as having scored many of his films, including Castle in the Sky (1986), My Neighbour Totoro (1988), Spirited Away (2001), and Howl's Moving Castle (2002). These animations are more than "kids' films" even though they have been marketed as such here in Australia and also in the USA. Steven Spielberg is a big fan of Miyaziki, and is instrumental in introducing him to western audiences. From there, the connection with Hisaishi is made.
The Score for Spirited Away comes in at 152 on the Classic Countdown. I have chosen One Summer's Day from that soundtrack for tonight.
20. Hero - Kung Fu Panda (Hans Zimmer)
Excluding Fantasia, the only animation to make it into the Classic Countdown top 100 was Zimmer's score for The Lion King (1994). This is a shame, and probably at least partially reflecting of those that actually voted for the Countdown not being exposed to many current animations (and I do include CGI here).
Having two youngish kids meant that I have seen most of the animated movies over the last 12 or so years, and I reckon that some of the best music over that time has been written for that genre.
King Fu Panda (2008) should have made it in the top 100, I believe. Or at least the top 200. Hans Zimmer has created a wonderful score, and should at least have been nominated for best score in 2009, given the competition that it was up against. This is a score that references many a kung fu movie over the years, providing an adult shine on a very well thought out animated movie. Hero, is the music from the opening sequence of the movie. Think Kill Bill, here.
21. The Incredits - The Incredibles (Michael Giacchino)
From their first feature movie, Toy Story (1985) onwards, I don't believe that Pixar have produced a bad movie. Critics may not agree, and in particular have panned Cars, and its sequel, but I disagree. They appear to have the Midas touch.
There are favourites, though. One of my top 3 Pixar movies would have to be The Incredibles (2004) (don't ask me what the other 2 are. You'd be disappointed). The story, of a super hero family, takes the genre and turns it into something not dealt with before, making this movie much more than a kid's film.
Giacchino received the IFMCA Award in 204 both for Composer of the Year as well as Score of the Year for The Incredibles, as well as Grammy award nominations for both the score and the composition we will be listening to, The Incredits. Although he received subsequent awards for other Pixar movies such as Ratatouille and Up, I think that the Incredibles Soundtrack is superior. Some interesting comments about the recording of the soundtrack can be found here.
22. Lieutenant Kijé Suite (Sergei Prokofiev)
I can hear many readers saying "What?" I don't blame you. This was on my sister's list and again I needed to do some research. But I am more than happy to have this on tonight's playlist.
Prokofiev, is seen by many as being one of the 20th century's most important composers. For most, he is best known for his piece Peter and the Wolf, though he has written many orchestral works, as well as being an accomplished pianist and conductor. The Suite is arranged from music composed for a Soviet comedy called Lieutenant Kije (1934). Its five movements are titled:
- The Birth of Kijé
- Romance
- Kijé's Wedding
- Troika
- The Burial of Kijé
This one is on the list against my better judgement. My sister believes it should be here which is the sole reason why it is being played tonight.
Daft Punk is an electric music duo, otherwise known as Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangelter. Better known for their house music, they have only worked on one movie score, that for Tron Legacy (2010). And whilst they composed the music, it is actually orchestrated by Joseph Trapanese, so a first for everyone there. The piece we will be playing is therefore an all-round collaboration.
24. Main Titles - Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (Michael Kamen)
I remember seeing this at the cinemas with my girlfriend (now my wife), being enthralled by the music and opening credits sequence and being disappointed with the movie. Kevin Costner will never make a good Robin Hood. The music tried hard to save the movie, and it is only on the strength of it that I can recommend this for others to see.
Michael Kamen had a varied, and a very successful career, both as a movie scorer as well as an arranger for pop and rock music. As an arranger he worked with Pink Floyd, Tom Petty, David Bowie, Eric Clapton, Queen, Aerosmith, etc.etc.etc. As a scorer, his movies include X-Men (2000), The Iron Giant (1999), Mr Holland's Opus (1996), Die Hard 1, 2 & 3, as well as the underrated Adventures of Baron Münchhausen.
Rather than using the original soundtrack, I have gone with a recording by the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra with Erich Kunzel at the baton, from the album The Great Fantasy-Adventure Album (one of my favourite albums).
25. Promontory - The Last of the Mohicans (Randy Edelman & Trevor Jones)
The score of this movie is excellent, but the story behind it makes you wonder how it became this good. The director, Michael Mann, originally asked Trevor Jones for an electronic score for the film, but then much later decided an orchestral score would be more appropriate for the film. Jones than struggled to rearrange the music for orchestra in time, leading to Randy Edelman being called in to assist Jones as deadlines approached. Unfortunately the score was ineligible for nomination of an Academy Award as the rules at the time disallowed co-contributors from being nominated (this has since changed). Had the rules allowed it, I think this would have won the Award for best score in 1993.
The main theme has been taken from an old tune, titled The Gael.
26. Main Title and First Victim - Jaws (John Williams)
It was an absolute outrage that the score from Jaws did not make it into the top 10 of the Classic Countdown. Even more astounding is at that it came in at 102, not even in the top 100. This same score had been ranked at number 6 of the top scores in the last 100 years in 2005.
This is undoubtedly one of John Williams' finest scores, and the bass and tuba theme is probably one of the most recognisable themes in movie history.
27. Hymn To The Fallen - Saving Private Ryan (John Williams)
I conclude tonight's show with a piece from a movie that has, for some reason, had a significant impact on me.
The Steven Spielberg movie, Saving Private Ryan (1998), was a movie set during World War II, starred Tom Hanks, Edward Burns and Matt Damon. It was nominated for 11 Academy awards in 1999, including best score, and won Best Picture, Best Director, Best Sound Effects, Best Film Editing and Best Sound Mixing. Funnily enough the opening half hour is one of the most dramatic movie openings ever, recreating D-Day, and has no music whatsoever.
It is the final scene, where Private Ryan visits the war graves of those that saved him that is one of the most emotional and poignant scenes I have seen in a movie. Music assists in creating the emotional narrative of a film and this is why I believe Hymn to the Fallen to be one of John William's greatest pieces.
Well, what do you think? Has any music been missed that doesn't feature in either the ABC Classic Countdown or in my shows over the last two weeks? Please feel free to add your comments below.
Next week we go back to brass bands as we explore the works of Philip Sparke.
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