Greatest Composer of a Batman Film!?

[Jack O Lantern]

Danny Elfman's. It created atmostphere without overwhelming the scene. Zimmers score was like being grabbed by the throat and having someone screaming, "FEEL SAD. IN YHIS SCENE YOU FEEL SAD. CRY. ****ING CRY!!!!!!"

 

[Brother Jack]

Danny Elfman's. It created atmostphere without overwhelming the scene. Zimmers score was like being grabbed by the throat and having someone screaming, "FEEL SAD. IN YHIS SCENE YOU FEEL SAD. CRY. ****ING CRY!!!!!!"

James Newton Howard has actually handled most of the emotional music in the films.

 

[akfj]

James Newton Howard has actually handled most of the emotional music in the films.

He seems to get forgotten a lot when people mention the scores for Nolan's Batman films.

 

[Batman Beyond]

As good as Zimmer and Newton Howard may be, neither of their scores reaches the heights of Elfman's Bat-duo (though TDK does come close, but only at times).

BR might be the more accomplished, layered work of the two, but B89 is a fave for me for one simple reason: Descent to Mystery.

 

[ALP]

Danny Elfman, bar none. His score is just so iconic and memorable.

Zimmer and Newton did a good job but I do not feel their score is really iconic.

 

[Elevator Man]

As far as live action movies tho, Danny Elfman is so far ahead of the others it's unbelievable. It's not just the quality of the music either. He and Burton somehow managed to be so much on the same page that the actual score (not an edited version) coincided with what was on screen. He captures the tragedy and darkness of the Batman world perfectly.

Elliot Goldenthal had the misfortune of being associated with B/R. His score (especially the main theme) is adventurous and fun. Ideal for how Id imagine Denny O'neal's Batman theme would sound.

Zimmer and Howard, on the other hand, absolutely suck, imo. There is absolutely NO sense that they put their all into anything they've contributed so far. Every lick of it is boring, repetitive, and worst of all, simplistic. I'm a musician. And I work my ass off at what I do. I know that I would go the extra limb to at the very least, do some type of chord progression. Every so often I find myself sitting bored at the keyboard and I'll run my hand up and down hitting any random note, and end up playing a part of the BB/TDK score. That's how simple it is. Like the movie's themselves, and their Director, Zimmer and Howard's score is completely overrated.

You hit the nail on the head on that keyboard comment. That's how simple and how much thought was put into those scores by two A-list Hollywood composers. That's really sad. Batman deserved better.

 

[Hardknox]

Danny Elfman, 100%. His music for both Batman and Batman Returns was amazing. It really took you into that world and created dynamic and emotional motifs throughout. I love the build up, the soar ride it takes you on. It's absolutely great. It's one of the reasons why I love Batman, not just the Burton films, but Batman.

And I loved Shirley Walker's music in BTAS and Mask Of The Phantasm. Mask Of The Phantasm was epicly cool. The story was such a personal one, but that music just exploded it to crazy proportions.

I don't have many good things to say about the others, other than:

Although I'm not a big fan of Zimmer and Howard's score, WHEN that Heroic Batman motif comes in, the two-note thing, when it plays, it's damn impactful. They don't overdo it, so to me there's a sense of wanting to hear it blare out. When Batman takes down Falcone at the docks and afterwards he's standing on the rooftops, and you hear it blare out for the first time in all its glory, that was pretty damn good. Howard never disappoints me, so I was glad to hear he'd be apart of it.

I agree with the above poster's comments about Zimmer and Howard being a bit simplistic in their approach. These guys have always impressed me in the past but their Batman score has left something to be desired. The emotion invoked in the music seems artificial and forced. I didn't want to say negative things but there it is.

 

[A Necessary Evil]

I dunno...they're all great..

 

[Pfeiffer-Pfan]

I think that praising Danny Elfman and Shirley Walker comes hand in hand.

They are the two greatest composers to ever give Batman musical life. Danny Elfman provided the foundation and Shirley Walker simply added to it and morphed Elfman's music to great effect.

But in spite of everything... (including the villians themes etc) I think Walker has the edge for me.

 

[ALP]

The chorus in Mask of the Phantasm is incredible...

 

[Pfeiffer-Pfan]

History on the 'Chant' in the Beginning

For those who want the "Latin" lyrics used in Mask of the Phantasm, there is an amusing and fascinating anecdote. Shirley Walker tells the story.

"As you know, the music team is rushing to the finish line as a film is in its final dub phase. Even the known orchestrators are not always given the credit they so justly deserve for insuring the timely execution (so to speak) of the score. I've become tired of fighting for credits for the support team that helps pull me through the final throes of recording and mixing my scores.

The choir for Masks gave me the opportunity to rectify this terrible situation. I made a chart by number of syllables of every music persons name backwards to use in creating the language you hear. 'Oh Nahlim Mot!', the phrase the score begins with, is Tom Milano, the music editor of most of my features, whom I originally worked with doing the Flash TV series.

You get the idea. It was working so well, I realized that I would need to include some of the film producers and executives at Warner Bros. After all, they were paying for my little inside joke. People do like to be included in these sorts of things. I had to lie to the Warner Bros. legal department person who called to ask me what the language was and what was being said.
They certainly didn't want to be a party to me saying "screw Warner Bros." in Danish. I told them it was an obscure nonsensical choral language that existed only in out of print orchestration books.

I think I actually spent more time on my plot than I did on the score during the week I was preparing the choral cues. It was quite fun to see the looks on peoples faces, as they realized what they were hearing. Only two people had deciphered the puzzle by the time we recorded the choir. It was very difficult for the singers to sing the strange words. I'm sure they would
have had more fun doing it, had I been able to include them in the joke too.

While I was mixing the score, I had Bobby Fernandez (Zed-nahn-fur E-Bob) record the choir accappella onto a seperate DAT, ostensibly for my sample reel. The look on Tom's face as he began to suspect what I had done was well worth the whole deception. He finally turned to me and said "You didn't do what I think you've done, did you?".

The rest is history. Everyone on the music team has a tape of the singing of their names (we transfered to 1/4" tape and played it backwards; the old "back-masking" trick)."

- from Cinemusic.net.

t:t:t:


http://www.worldsfinestonline.com/WF/batman/btas/releases/cd/phantasm/

 

[Bat-Mite]

Walker and Elfman. I don't know who deserves more credit for the Phantasm main title theme, but it's the piece that feels more like Batman to me than any other. It gives me the chills.

 

[Brother Jack]

Walker and Elfman. I don't know who deserves more credit for the Phantasm main title theme, but it's the piece that feels more like Batman to me than any other. It gives me the chills.

Walker did all of Mask of the Phantasm.

 

[El Payaso]

Meh, to me the Walker bat-music always sounds like the Elfman bat-music with a valium.

 

[ALP]

Sometimes a little valium is just what you need. The Phantasm main theme was too perfect for words.

 

[El Payaso]

Sometimes a little valium is just what you need. The Phantasm main theme was too perfect for words.

Not for "Tom Milano" backwards. t:

 

[Matuatay]

Absolutely Elfman. Especially with the Batman Returns score.

 

[Elevator Man]

This is how I see it. When it comes to the batman scores Elfman's the King, Walker's the Queen, Goldenthal's the Prince, Zimmer's the Joker, and sadly Howard's his pawn.

 

[AnneFan]

I dunno...they're all great..

Yeah, I like all Batman music. Elfman's classic and Goldenthal offers something worthwhile as well. Zimmer's my favourite, though they all have something for what mood I may be in at a particular time.

 

[Kane52630]

Shirley Walker - Mask of the Phantasm

 

[Two-Face]

Walker is my second favourite Batman composer. She did a great job on BTAS show and the movies.

 

[Cain]

Shirley Walker - Mask of the Phantasm

0:55 and on = chills up my spine.

 

[Kane52630]

Also there's this that I wish was longer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N87YWO78BY8&feature=youtu.be&t=18s

 

[kewlmatto]

We have been lucky as Batfans - all of the composers have captured the essence of their particular style of Batman very well.

Of course Elfman's is the best - the most definitive - and the score which works for most 'versions' of Batman. This is why we're so used to hearing it.

Shirley Walker did a fantastic job of building upon Elfman's score and taking it into a softer, moodier direction that was a little less bombastic. Mask of the Phantasm has amazing music. But she couldn't have done it without Elfman.

Zimmer is a great composer, but he is starting to veer too far into his 'slamming' and electronic noises for me. TDKR came back a bit from this, but the overuse of chanting and slamming does prevent it from having a nice cohesive feel. The Nolan films have great scores particularly for the movie itself, but I don't really enjoy listening to them in isolation (with the exception of Begins - Newton Howard's influence made that the best 'Nolan' score).

Goldenthal is over-the-top, cartoony, bombastic. But it works for that style. I actually quite like the main theme. Where he comes undone is his villain themes, which just sound too Saturday-morning. Batman & Robin has quite a good score - it's a shame they never released it on CD.

 

[Elevator Man]

Just finished listening to BTAS Vol.1 again. That "On Leather Wings" score really sounds like it was written for a movie and not an animated tv show, but the same could be said for a lot of the scores on that show. As well as the majority of the episodes themselves felt like movies or short films. It's really shows Walker's talent and skill to make a 30 -40 piece orchestra sound as big as a 90-100 piece orchestra. I still haven't listened to Vol. 2 yet though I own it. Just need to find the time to listen to the whole thing in one day. Instead of on seperate days. I know it'll be a lot to take in on the first (not to mention few) listen, but still.