Are todays composers our era's version of Mozart, Beethoven and Bach?

[hellified]

Will their music be heard and listened to some 3-400 years from now with as much interest as those early composers??

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John Williams


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Hans Zimmer

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Jerry Goldsmith


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James Horner

You could make a case that todays composers are paid to make music thats attached to movies but early composers were commissioned for the entertainment industry of their day as well..

Do you think composers today will have the same or similar lasting legacy as the early guys??

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

John Williams is no where as sophisticated as Mozart or Beethoven but his music's connection to iconic movies make it just as effective for the movie nerd.

 

[Airwings]

In terms of talent, guys like James Newton Howard, Ennio Morricone, Jerry Goldsmith, John Williams, James Horner, Hans Zimmer, John Barry, Howard Shore and Danny Elfman could be the closest we get to classical music.
However, some of their work is more forgotten than the actual masterpieces.

 

[Tacit Ronin]

Morricone.

 

[Greens]

I don't know, but I'd much rather listen to the likes of John Williams and Ennio Morricone than Beethoven and Mozart.

 

[hellified]

John Williams is no where as sophisticated as Mozart or Beethoven but his music's connection to iconic movies make it just as effective for the movie nerd.

you don't think their music connects with more than that??

 

[Brother Jack]

Hans Zimmer shouldn't be up there. He's a fine composer and has defined the sound of the modern film score but he's not the kind of talent Williams or Goldsmith are. Comparing the current greats with the likes of Mozart and Beethoven is futile because the music is so different, written for different purposes with different inferences behind it. That being said, I have no problem calling John Williams the greatest living composer. There is, of course, hyperbole in a statement like that but you'd be hard pressed to find another who has the longevity, the range, and the iconography of Williams.

 

[redhawk23]

I don't know, but I'd much rather listen to the likes of John Williams and Ennio Morricone than Beethoven and Mozart.

When you listen to Williams you're just listening to Gustav Holst anyways.

 

[redhawk23]

I think this question is actually part of a lager conversation about how film will be remembered and experienced in the future.

There are plays and operas that have been presented for hundreds of years. Certain painting and statues have been protected and appreciated for centuries.

Will film play the same role?

 

[Elevator Man]

Hans Zimmer shouldn't be up there. He's a fine composer and has defined the sound of the modern film score but he's not the kind of talent Williams or Goldsmith are. Comparing the current greats with the likes of Mozart and Beethoven is futile because the music is so different, written for different purposes with different inferences behind it. That being said, I have no problem calling John Williams the greatest living composer. There is, of course, hyperbole in a statement like that but you'd be hard pressed to find another who has the longevity, the range, and the iconography of Williams.

Yep it's apples and oranges, imo.

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

you don't think their music connects with more than that??

It depends on the audience.

Some people get more emotional over a Star Wars score and Queen music than a classical opera and that's a valid difference in response.

 

[childeroland]

Maybe Morricone and maybe Williams's highlights (Star Wars themes, etc.). Horner and Zimmer do the same thing too much. I don't know if they do non-soundtrack music, but judging by their film work, no. They're fine and all that, but don't have anything close to the range of a Mozart, Bach, or Beethoven.

 

[Silvermoth]

I think they are. I would definitely say David Bowie and John Williams will be listened to hundreds of years from now and be considered classical

 

[Airwings]

Classical music isn't just those three, there are many others too: Chopin, Strauss, Sibelius, Grieg, Vivaldi, Tchaikovsky, Brahms, Lizt, Schubert, Wagner etc. Did people back in those days really believe that the music would live on like it does?
Composers of film music of today and during the previous century are the ones that are the closest, because it's also symphonic themes.

 

[jmc]

I don't think there is a definitive answer to this question. If you're talking in terms of popular music then the answer is no. The music of Mozart and Beethoven's day was the mainstream music of its time. I could easily make the argument the likes of Lennon and Dylan are far more comparable in that respect. If you're talking about music as a form of story telling, which is also what those classic compositions were, then you've probably got a case that the likes of Williams, Silvestri, Zimmer, etc, are the modern equivalent.

 

[Guts]

Not a huge fan of Williams but I think Close Encounters is his best score.

 

[Black Narcissus]

I gotta back up my boy Quentin on this.

Morricone is God to me.

 

[Greens]

I gotta back up my boy Quentin on this.

Morricone is God to me.

I'm seeing him live next month!

Gonna be wearing my Sunday clothes.

 

[hellified]

 

[Mandon Knight]

There are a few number I would say, who emotionally, critically and who have had global impact equal to the classical composers yes. Certainly to me, for example, Williams has defined moments in my own life at key points with pieces of music that I will take to my grave as being 'special' and defining who I was (or am) at certain years & memories.

 

[Aximili86]

They probably were, if you're taking like mid-century through to 20 years ago. Williams and Morricone are probably the only real Big Dogs left though, now that Goldsmith etc are gone.

Nobody that's come up in the last couple decades hold a candle to anyone else mentioned though, so hell no they're not Mozart/Beethoven/Bach. You could argue Williams, but he's of-time-past too, closest we've gotten though.