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Your Favorite Composer(s)

Posted: 2003-10-30 10:01am
by JME2
This can apply to TV/Film/Classical and what piece of music you best remember them for.

Mine are as follows:

John Williams (Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Hook, Jurassic Park, et. al)
Danny Elfman (Batman, Batman Returns)
Shirley Walker (Batman: The Animated Series)
Kristopher Carter (Batman Beyond/Justice League)
Hans Zimmer (The Rock)
Jerry Goldsmith (Star Trek)
Beethoven (Ode to Joy)
Tchaikovsky (Sleeping Beauty)
Yoko Kanno (Escaflowne: The Movie)
James Horner (Titanic, The Mask of Zorro)
Shiro Sagisu (Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water/Neon Genesis Evangelion)

Posted: 2003-10-30 10:05am
by salm
bradly nowell from sublime

Posted: 2003-10-30 10:11am
by Zoink
I'll say:

Carl Orff

Posted: 2003-10-30 10:56am
by Bertie Wooster
salm wrote:bradly nowell from sublime
Word up - he wrote some really good stuff (some of it heroin inspired gems). Damn shame he died in '96, right before they made it big. If he didn't, we wouldn't have Dave Matthews and other crap so prevalent today...

But for me: Bach all the way!

Posted: 2003-10-30 11:01am
by Admiral Valdemar
Hmm, fave composers...

I have a load, namely: Hans Zimmer, John Williams, John Barry, Jerry Goldsmith, Nobuo Uematsu, James Horner, David Arnold, Gustav Holst, Johann Pachebel, Samuel Barber, Chris Franke, Yoko Kanno, Harry Gregson-Williams, John Powell, Trevor Rabin, Micahel Kamen, Danny Elfman, James Newton-Howard, Monty Norman, Beethoven, Ennio Morricone, Elliott Goldenthal, Howard Shore.

Maybe more, but those are all greats in my mind. :D

Posted: 2003-10-30 02:54pm
by Rye
Zoink wrote:I'll say:

Carl Orff
Hell yes.

Danny Elfman i'll agree with too.

Johann Sebatian Bach too.

Posted: 2003-10-30 03:37pm
by SyntaxVorlon
Tchaikovski(Concerto in D, Marche Slav, Much other stuff), Beethoven(Nine Symphonies and more), Holst(The Planets), Stravinski(Rite of Spring :twisted: and Firebird), Franke(Messages from Earth, ITF suite), Williams, Barber, etc. So many good composers.
And then there is the bastion of hope for the human species that is Eric Idle.

Posted: 2003-10-30 03:43pm
by zombie84
what, no ones mentioned the great, underrated Elliot Goldenthal? Amazing, powerful stuff--his scores to Alien 3 and Interview With the Vampire are some of best scores i've heard (espcially being a fan of film scores).

And then of course is the obvious ones like John Williams, James Horner and Hans Zimmer.

Posted: 2003-10-30 03:45pm
by haas mark
Orff - Carmina Burana (O Fortuna)
Bach - Six Suites for Cello
Zimmer - Black Hawk Down OST
Tchaikovsky - Marche Slav
Holst - The Planets
Schubert - The Unfinished Symphony
Barber - Adagio for Strings
Mozart - Requiem
Beethoven - Moonlight Sonata
Salieri - Contredanse

That's all I can think of off the top of my head.

~ver

Posted: 2003-10-30 03:47pm
by Admiral Valdemar
zombie84 wrote:what, no ones mentioned the great, underrated Elliot Goldenthal? Amazing, powerful stuff--his scores to Alien 3 and Interview With the Vampire are some of best scores i've heard (espcially being a fan of film scores).

And then of course is the obvious ones like John Williams, James Horner and Hans Zimmer.
Ahem.

*Points to his post*

Posted: 2003-10-30 05:54pm
by Chardok
John Williams (Even though most of his songs have the same flute part ;-) )
Pachelbel- Canon in D (preferably transposed down to CM, it just sounds so much brighter then.)

Danny Elfman- a more unique style of composing have I not come across!

Gustav Holst- The planets suite. specifically Uranus (hush) and Mars.

Posted: 2003-10-30 06:24pm
by Zaia
Chardok wrote:Danny Elfman- a more unique style of composing have I not come across!
You should check out Hector Berlioz (Symphonie Fantastique in particular). He taught himself how to compose, and he's just amazing.

Posted: 2003-10-30 06:59pm
by Chardok
Quite nice, Zaia! I could not find the symphony you mentioned, but I did find Romeo and juliet Symphonie Dramatique, and I must say....was very interesting...He sure does like the upbeat ques! I quite like it!

Posted: 2003-10-30 07:16pm
by Zaia
Char, when you do find it, get movement V first, "Dream of a Witches' Sabbath", because it kicks the most ass, and then IV "March to the Scaffold." Verrrrrrrrry awesome. :D

Posted: 2003-10-30 07:17pm
by haas mark
Zaia wrote:
Chardok wrote:Danny Elfman- a more unique style of composing have I not come across!
You should check out Hector Berlioz (Symphonie Fantastique in particular). He taught himself how to compose, and he's just amazing.
Ah.. I was trying to think of something along those lines.. Berlioz is one of my favourites. :D

As for Pachelbel's Canon, well, it just gets annoying after a while.

Vivaldi - Summer from The Four Seasons
And I forgot who wrote the piece at the moment, but the piece is Palladio
As well, the Rosamunde Overture has always been a good one to play.

~ver

Posted: 2003-10-30 08:40pm
by Chardok
Verilon wrote:As for Pachelbel's Canon, well, it just gets annoying after a while.
Ahh, I agree, HOWEVER....has ever there been a song with easily so many beautiful variations? The Chord Progression is timeless, just perfect. (and the key of D [as Canon was originally intended for] is dark and forboding, hardly fits the piece, which, IMHO should be bright and airy.) the melody should sing, and the droning bass should back off some so you can really get a feel for how great the simple, flowing melody really is. Yes, I think it is because of it's simplicity that it is simply one of the most beautiful pieces anywhere. After all, In C, it could easily be played by an only slightly trained student. I, myself, have modified the original slighty so that it may be enjoyed by my family at christmas on my grandparents baby grand! I simply take the bass and change the droning whole notes into arpeggiated quarters, and the entire song grows from the simple beginnings of the bass and one-note melody, to a varitable symphony on the keys. It almost sounds like there is more than one piano playing, especially if you are able to subtly alter the dynamics so at times, the main melody really chimes through, and at others, secondary (Or back-up) melodies take over, and guide the listener into a new measure.

Things people do to P's Canon that piss me off:

1. Take what is supposed to be the bassline, and move it two octave over middle C, coupled with the still-droning Bass whole-note travisty.

2. take the bassline and melody to the same dynamic. (THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO BE DIFFERENT!!)

3. oh screw it, I'll save the rest for the HoS!!! :wink:
Verilon wrote:Vivaldi - Summer from The Four Seasons
And I forgot who wrote the piece at the moment, but the piece is Palladio
As well, the Rosamunde Overture has always been a good one to play.

~ver
Spoken like a true enthusiast of classical music!
(Palladio...you are referring to the DeBeers diamond theme by John Jenkins?)

Posted: 2003-10-30 09:51pm
by YT300000
Modern:
  • John Williams
    Martin O'Donnell
    Don Davis
    Brad Fiedel
Olde:
  • Beethoven
    Tsaikovski
    Handel
    Bach
    Mozart
    And many, many more

Posted: 2003-10-30 10:07pm
by Dalton
Howard Shore (The Lord of the Rings)

Posted: 2003-10-30 10:24pm
by haas mark
Chardok wrote:
Verilon wrote:As for Pachelbel's Canon, well, it just gets annoying after a while.
Ahh, I agree, HOWEVER....has ever there been a song with easily so many beautiful variations?
Unfortunately, just as many crappy ones. :cry:
The Chord Progression is timeless, just perfect. (and the key of D [as Canon was originally intended for] is dark and forboding, hardly fits the piece, which, IMHO should be bright and airy.) the melody should sing, and the droning bass should back off some so you can really get a feel for how great the simple, flowing melody really is. Yes, I think it is because of it's simplicity that it is simply one of the most beautiful pieces anywhere. After all, In C, it could easily be played by an only slightly trained student. I, myself, have modified the original slighty so that it may be enjoyed by my family at christmas on my grandparents baby grand! I simply take the bass and change the droning whole notes into arpeggiated quarters, and the entire song grows from the simple beginnings of the bass and one-note melody, to a varitable symphony on the keys.
Actually, I've played several different variations, myself, some of which require the arpeggios, some of which require the drones. [shrugs] Guess it just depends on which rewrite you get.
verilon wrote:Vivaldi - Summer from The Four Seasons
And I forgot who wrote the piece at the moment, but the piece is Palladio
As well, the Rosamunde Overture has always been a good one to play.

~ver
Spoken like a true enthusiast of classical music!
(Palladio...you are referring to the DeBeers diamond theme by John Jenkins?)
The whole thing.. All three movements, if I remember the number of movements right. Need to figure out who did the Rosamunde...

As well, Handel's Fireworks are very fun to play. Haydn.. can't think of anything off the top of my head.. but yes.. a classical music enthusiast am I. ;)

Also, whoever did the OST to Gladiator did it really well; more fun pieces to play. :D

~ver

Posted: 2003-10-30 10:36pm
by Majin Gojira
I'd like to add Akira Ifukube (Various Godzilla themes), Kow Otani (Gamera trilllogy themes and GMK themes), Tan Dun and Yo Yo Ma ("Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"), Max Stiener (King Kong, Original), and Bernard Herman (Psycho, 7th Voyage of Synbad, many others)

Posted: 2003-10-30 10:44pm
by Tsyroc
On the movie scoring front I'd like to add Basil Poledouris for Conan The Barbarian, Robocop, and even Starship Troopers

Posted: 2003-10-30 10:49pm
by zombie84
I was just going to add Poledouris. His score to Conan the Barbarian is probably the most epic and operatic movie score ever composed. Just mind blowing.

Posted: 2003-10-31 02:46am
by haas mark
Yo Yo Ma is overrated.

~ver

Posted: 2003-10-31 03:01am
by Hethrir
J. S. Bach - WTC (I and II) (BWV 846 -869; BWV 870-893); BWV 538 Toccata and Fugue in d (NOT 565 which is IMO one of his most ordinary works); Jesu Bleibet Meine Freude, BWV 147; Ich Ruf' Zu Dir, Herr Jesu Christ, BWV 639; Adagio In C, BWV 564; and for commercialisms sake include Air On A 'G' String from Orchestral Suite in D, BWV 1068 :D

EDIT: What i hate is the romantic era. Damn there was some crap pumped out then.

Posted: 2003-10-31 07:12am
by Chardok
verilon wrote:Yo Yo Ma is overrated.

~ver
Where did that come from?! I think perhaps he's a bit overrated, but you cannot Deny the guy is good. did you happen to hear his album with bobby McFerrin? That was just great music, there....