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For me it's the late, great Englishman John Barry.
Wrote songs for the soundtrack to films like -
Goldfinger
A View To A Kill
Out of Africa
Born Free
Chaplin
Dances With Wolves
Amongst many others.
Here are 2 or 3 of my favourite compositions of his for film.
This from 'Frances', the adaptation of the life of infamous Hollywood actress Frances Farmer. Barry wrote the films soundtrack.
This from 'Somewhere In Time'. A 1980 film which Barry again wrote the soundtrack for.
The most beautiful strings track from his many Bond themes.
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Morricone for me. The Danish orchestra’s rendition of his stuff is tremendous.
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Tek wrote:
For me it's the late, great Englishman John Barry.
Wrote songs for the soundtrack to films like -
Goldfinger
A View To A Kill
Out of Africa
Born Free
Chaplin
Dances With Wolves
Amongst many others.
Here are 2 or 3 of my favourite compositions of his for film.
This from 'Frances', the adaptation of the life of infamous Hollywood actress Frances Farmer. Barry wrote the films soundtrack.
This from 'Somewhere In Time'. A 1980 film which Barry again wrote the soundtrack for.
The most beautiful strings track from his many Bond themes.
Add in Schlinders list to his many classics
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That is a great question.
I really think it is a bit of a generational question, a bit like talking about the greatest United players. Anyone under 45 just can't recall a top 3 (maybe top 5) United player. By the same token, I think the greatest composers where in the 1950s, where the big film houses were churning out classics virtually every second month and Rogers and Hammerstein were doing the same with musicals
To answer the question, while my own favourite composer is Hans Zimmer (Gladiator, Black Hawk Down, Interstellar), I would have to go back to Elmer Bernstein (Magnificent Seven, The Great Escape, To Kill a Mockingbird, True Grit, Return of the Magnificent Seven)
I think Barry and Morriconi are great calls.
Despite being long past the heyday of cinema, I do feel we have still a great depth of musical talent: Howard Shore, Philip Glass, Terrance Blanchard, to name a few
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One name who i think deserves a mention, many will have not heard of.
Patrick Doyle. From our very own Uddingston in Scotland.
Has composed music for films such as 'Carlito's Way', 'Sense and Sensibility', Rise of the Planet of the Apes', Thor' and many others.
I watched the film 'Murder on the Orient Express' last year, not long after my Mother suddenly passed away.
I was very moved indeed by the soundtrack he composed for the film and have to confess i shed a few tears by the end when the final credits came up and the below song played out. Written by Patrick Doyle and sang rather beautifully by the films lead actress Michelle Pfeiffer.
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Good shout with Hans Zimmer.
Love some Vangelis too.
Not sure if he counts as a film composer but the soundtrack for Gallipolli by Jean Michel Jarre is cracking.
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Stillliving wrote:
Add in Schlinders list to his many classics
That was John Williams, Still. Another great though (Jaws, E.T., Jurassic Park etc).
This is truly beautiful.