Great film scores/soundtracks ???

[SEAWOLF97]

.
I'm stuck inside right now, so catching up on my DVD/BD acquisitions this last year. The one on top was an old favorite, but re-remastered. NxNW.

Besides being a star powered, location hopping, AH classic, I came to the conclusion
that what really pushed it over the top was the soundtrack.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053125/

B. Herrmann https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Herrmann was just masterful at this genre. Worked frequently with Hitchcock.

Guess I really appreciate his mood & suspense tracks.

Q. ? Do you have movie/film soundtracks in mind that are almost characters in their own right ? Favorites ?

An Academy Award-winner (for The Devil and Daniel Webster, 1941; later renamed All That Money Can Buy), Herrmann is particularly known for his collaborations with director Alfred Hitchcock, most famously Psycho, North by Northwest, The Man Who Knew Too Much, and Vertigo. He also composed scores for many other films, including Citizen Kane, Anna and the King of Siam, The Day the Earth Stood Still, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, Cape Fear, Fahrenheit 451, and Taxi Driver. He worked extensively in radio drama (composing for Orson Welles), composed the scores for several fantasy films by Ray Harryhausen, and many TV programs, including Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone and Have Gun – Will Travel.

[SEAWOLF97]

.
yesterday I got out the DVD of "Cat Ballou"

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059017/

ST was nothing special , but Nat King Cole and Stubby Kaye play two singing minstrels , invisible to everybody in the scene, who strum their banjos , sing to the camera and advance the plot. That was a great musical extra.

https://www.imdb.com/video/vi1522336...tt_pv_vi_aiv_1

[Ducatista47]

A soundtrack consisting of solo performances on a single instrument, and on one of the all-time classic films. Anton Karas played his own compositions on a zither and you know the theme song even if you don't know what it is called. If I recall correctly, the opening credits are run over a tight closeup of the zither strings vibrating to play the theme song. The musical performance open the movie.

Other than The Third Man, I tend to favor the output of particular soundtrack composers/creators before thinking of random films. Mark Isham, Lisa Gerrard, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, and David Lynch come to mind.

Some pop music stars have been chosen for inclusion on soundtracks so many times they have become woven into Hollywood's fabric. Madonna is currently cited on IMDB 451 times in that role as writer or performer. The film "At Close Range", while the soundtrack is by Patrick Leonard, is musically dominated by Madonna's composition "Live To Tell" starting with a note or two and building through the film's run time, being fully presented in the closing credits with her vocal finally added. It's a serious film and the effect is that of an extremely evocative character.

A vintage Pathe feature of Karas. It is an extra feature on the DVD of The Third Man. This footage of a posh London club is vintage gold.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFz79SBnuk8

[Robh3606]

The Third Man

Oh absolutely that zither soundtrack was just awesome one of my favorites! I also really like the sound track to Casablanca.

Rob

[SEAWOLF97]

Oh absolutely that zither soundtrack was just awesome one of my favorites! ...
Rob

Totally agree , soon as I heard that theme, it was like an old friend.

Never knew exactly what a zither was


In modern soundtracks ... I tend to enjoy many by Hans Zimmer.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Zimmer

especially the ST for "Crimson Tide" . It does everything a ST should do ..sets the mood/scene , manipulates the emotions. That one is spooky and can shake the windows.

plse give this a try and see ===>>>

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRhsJ_KQf6w

[Ducatista47]

especially the ST for "Crimson Tide" . It does everything a ST should do ..sets the mood/scene , manipulates the emotions. That one is spooky and can shake the windows.

plse give this a try ===>>>

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRhsJ_KQf6w

Zimmer refers to himself as old school, so I should have guessed he would wrap it up with the Mariner's Hymn. For those like myself who can never remember the lyrics, here they are. I expect you know them, being ex Navy.

Words: William Whiting (1825-1878), 1860.
Music: Melita, John B. Dykes (1823-1876), 1861.

1. Eternal Father, strong to save,
whose arm hath bound the restless wave,
who bidd'st the mighty ocean deep
its own appointed limits keep:
O hear us when we cry to thee
for those in peril on the sea.

2. O Christ, whose voice the waters heard
and hushed their raging at thy word,
who walkedst on the foaming deep,
and calm amid the storm didst sleep;
O hear us when we cry to thee
for those in peril on the sea.

3. Most Holy Spirit, who didst brood
upon the chaos dark and rude,
and bid its angry tumult cease,
and give, for wild confusion, peace:
O hear us when we cry to thee
for those in peril on the sea.

4. O Trinity of love and power,
our brethren shield in danger's hour;
from rock and tempest, fire and foe,
protect them wheresoe'er they go;
thus evermore shall rise to thee
glad hymns of praise from land and sea.

[Fritz The Cat]

What about this one? http://www.audioheritage.org/vbullet...l=1#post398301

[SEAWOLF97]

and then, one of my favorites .....

Koyaanisqatsi

Philip Glass compositions from film start to end.

https://www.google.com/search?client...Koyannisquatsi

[Fritz The Cat]

and then, one of my favorites .....

Koyaanisqatsi

Philip Glass compositions from film start to end.

https://www.google.com/search?client...Koyannisquatsi

German 1987 25-years-Island Records reissue. "If we dig precious things from the land, we will invite disaster."

[Fritz The Cat]

In southern Germany and Switzerland the Zither was very ordinary in the first half of the 20th century. There stood a Zither nearly in every home. The popularity of this instrument is explainable with the simplicity of the playing, especially for the beginners. The player doesn't have to know or learn sheet music. There is a special sheet for every song. You have to put it under the strings of the Zither. It shows the sequence and the string you have to pluck and which finger is needed. Today this instrument is not popular anymore. Today thousands of dusty old Zithers stand in the second hand shops...
In Switzerland we play the Zither not by plucking. We hit the strings with tiny sticks. It is called "Hackbrett". This popular instrument is not only used in Alpine folk music, but very often also in Pop, Rock or Jazz. Look an listen here, if you are interested:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxcEpUelAPU

[Bozo73]

Easy Rider
The Third Man
The Exorcist
The Big Country
The Magic Christian

[Ed Kreamer]

Colleagues;

I just watched the film Ad Astra, and found myself disappointed in the music. The opening music was by Max Richter (I think) and I thought was appropiate to the film. but much of the music was shall we say not noteworthy no pun intended.
I wondered what a great composer like the late Jerry Goldsmith (may he rest) could have done with it.

I very much enjoy listening to great film music, and here I'll list a few;

A Streetcar Named Desire( North)
Ben-Hur (Rozsa)
Lawrence of Arabia(Jarre)
The Sea Hawk (Korngold)
Star Wars (Williams)
The Ghost and The Darkness (Goldsmith)

Film Music is an odd beast, and even a great composer, who is a hired hand no matter how great, can find himself in epic battles with the Director and or Producer like Bernard Herrmann vs. Alfred Hitchcock or Jerry Goldsmith vs. Ridley Scott.
Ultimatly the producer calls the shots. In an interview shortly before his passing, Jerry Goldsmith said he still was unsure of what Scott wanted for Alien, even after 35 years..

Good film music can rise above the film and give a transcendant experience to the listener.

[SEAWOLF97]

So I bought this LP as I liked the show and needed something in my hands when I came home after riding all day.
(to show I wasn't ''catting around" - I wasn't)

Put it on ...surprising , in a 70's kinda of way . It's nearly as good as the soundtrack of Mission Impossible (TV version)

[baldrick]

My favorite moviesong, from DaVinci Code:



The whole Hans Zimmer Live In Prague concert is quite fantastic and absolutely worth buying!

[hjames]

Blade Runner - The Esper Edition.
Nice compilation of all the tracks in the original film on a 2 CD presentation



And I agree that Lawrence is also a superb soundtrack!