4 Film Composers You Should Know

If you are thinking of becoming a composer for television or film there are many composer to choose from when looking for inspiration and points of reference. Automatically when any one thinks of a film composer the name John Williams is the first to come to mind. John Williams has a infamous list of credits including Star Wars, E.T. Schindler’s List, my favorite Close Encounters of the Third Kind to name just a few, and the Academy Awards to go with them.

Close Encounters of The Third Kind Suite by John Williams.
Listen closely for hints of When You Wish Upon A Star from the the Disney classic Pinocchio

Now I am not suggesting that John Williams is not a virtuoso film composer. He as been regarded by some as the best of all time which is of course just one opinion over another. There are a few others film music composers that you should become familiar with though.

In no particular order of importantce.

Bernard Herrman,

Bernard Herrmann scored some of the most important movies in film history. Most notably Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, Vertigo, North By Northwest and Orson Well’s Citizen Kane. My favorite of Herrmann’s work is definitely Vertigo. Bernard Herrmann’s sound became such an integral part of Alfred Hitchcock’s work that if you watch the movie Cape Fear it almost seams like a Hitchcock movie because of the score.

Listen to Bernard Herrmann’s score of Vertigo. 
The music is has a dizzying effect and leaves the listener feeling confused and hypnotized at points. Lady Ga Ga also took the Vertigo theme and used it as a intro to her Video Born This Way.

Ennio Morricone

Ennio Morricone is most famous for scoring the Sergio Leone spaghetti westerns featuring Clint Eastwood. The theme from the Good the Bad and the Ugly is associated with western movies like the song Jingle Bells is thought of with Christmas. As I started listening to Morricone’s work more and watching the films that he scored I fell in love with the epic theme from Sergio Leone’s masterpiece Once Upon A Time In The West. The movie also gave harmonica players every where a new hero to idolize.

 

 

Hans Zimmer

Hans Zimmer has become one of the masters of film music in the last 15 years. Hans Zimmer first made noise in the world of film music with his score to Rain Man. Hans Zimmer has continued his style of synth heavy scores blending with orchestral techniques with heavy sound design. Hans Zimmer is equally comfortable working on beautiful power themes like Chevaliers de Sangreal featured in the Davinci Code and intense pallets of original in your face sound design that turn in to thematic elements. His best examples of this are the beging of the Dark Knight and 2010’s Inception.

From the Davinci Code

From The Dark Knight 
Note: for best results turn this up and put your headphones on. Simply an amazinf set of textures and development of tension.

Howard Shore

I have never been a huge fan of Howard Shore’s work but his contribution to the Lord Of the Rings Trilogy can not go with out mention. The words epic to do not begin to describe the energy and undertaking that went into scoring the Lord Of The Rings Trilogy. The complete score ranges from the playful folk like twiddles of the shire to the dark drastic textures of the final film.

The Lord Of The Rings – Fellowship Of The Rings Complete Recordings
The Lord Of The Rings –  The Two Towers Complete Recordings
The Lord Of The Rings – The Return Of The King: Complete Recordings

Of course there is an endless list of other composers to listen be this is a perfect starter set.

Listening to the music of other composers and learning their respective sound is just as important as buying sample libraries and equipment. Now with large  catalog of music on Yuutube and music services like Spotify it very easy to find recordings of a score so  there is not excuse to start developing your ear now.

Leave your questions and comments below.

Movies On The Radio hosted by David Garland

If your into movie music this is for you.
(Total reading time 1 minute)

I wanted to share with everyone one of my favorite places for listening to music on a Saturday evening, or any other time for that matter. Movies On The Radio is a weekly radio show that airs on Saturday nights. Its host David Garland takes you through an hour of film scores. Each week’s show centers around a theme or highlights a specific composer. Yes the music of John Williams and Hans Zimmer does come up from time to time but it is more focused around other composers such as Bernard Herman, Alfred Hitchcock’s right hand man for music or John Barry the guy who scored most of the early James Bond film.

The best part is that most of the previous episodes are archived online for you to listen to whenever. Enjoy the site.

Movies On The Radio – Hosted By David Garland

Thats all I have to say.

Peter Weis

Godfather Theme Stolen.

Great Composers Steal.
(Total reading time 2-3 minutes)

It has been said time and time again. Good composers borrow, great composers steal. Hans Zimmer ripped sections from Holst’s The Planets, as did John Williams and just about every other film composer (self included).  Tonight at the Metropolitan Opera watching Don Pasquale I caught another composer in the act. Act II to be exact. What would some one steal from an opera you ask? Not the theme from Star Wars or Superman. This time is was the Theme for one of the greatest movies ever made. The Godfather.

The trumpet line sounded to similar to me-you be the judge.

Don Pasquale Act II by Gaetano Donizetti

Vs.

The Godfather by Nino Rota

To make things even more interesting there was much controversy around Nino Rota’s “original” score. Many people argued that he stole Eduardo De Filippos score to Fortunella.

The plot thickens. What are your thoughts?

Thats all I have to say.

Peter Weis