John Williams is my number one composer of all time. IMO Nothing beats this:
To me this march has a soaring feeling of adventure and heroism, really perfect for Superman.
I remember these credits from 40 years ago, and they still give me chills. Seeing Superman the movie as a litle kid, with its soaring theme music....I remember coming out of the cinema feeling like I could fly.
The other great musical opening of my childhood was this:
Wow ! What a cinematic experience, seeing this as a 7 year old, to say that it was mind-blowing is an understatement.
There are many terrific musical moments from the original Star Wars trilogy that I still remember after 30 years.
This one, where the Emperor is killing Luke, but Vader intervenes...that was heavy, probably the most intense use of the "The Force" theme in the trilogy. And of course Vader's death...
a wonderful variation on the Imperial March, which is also such a great piece of music.
It's like someone said to John Williams, "Okay, we want an impressive and intimidating march which embodies tyrrany and overwhelming might"
I find the music from the prequels and new films very "generic star wars" if there is such a thing, but nowhere near as memorable as the original trilogy. I can hear a little of the original movies' score and visualize the scene from the film. Such was the genius of John Williams.
And of course there's this little gem.....
And this.....
Williams really was the great musical genius of my childhood.
When I was a little older I discovered another genius, Hans Zimmer.
This was my introduction to him.....
Like Williams he has too many amazing movie scores to mention but there are a couple of faves of mine:
And of course
( we've all heard it before, so here's an interesting live version).
What I liked about Zimmer's take on the Superman theme was that it was different, unlike Williams it starts out softly and builds to a big finale. If Snyder had taken his cues from the music that Zimmer wrote, the tone of the film would be much more uplifting.
I'm not a big fan of Vangelis, but there are a couple of his works that really struck me:
From Chariots of Fire.
From 1492: The Conquest of Paradise
And Blade Runner.
IMO since original Star Wars, no epic film saga has had such a memorable score as Lord of the Rings.
Like
@Schlosser85 I absolutely loved this piece of music:
Atlhough to get the full effect you need to hear Theoden's speech, as they prepare to charge to certain death.
Another really soaring piece from ROTK, that I really enjoyed was " The Lighting of the Beacons"
At 1:57 I still get chills. It's incredibly dramatic, but even moreso in the film against the majesty of Mount Gunn and the mountains of the South Island.
This one was also very emotional as the Fellowship are running for their lives from a horde of goblins and then have to confront the Balrog, which ends in Gandalf's fall into darkness. I remember after he fell, hearing people start to sob in the cinema around me - the music is so powerful, at 4:56 it's hard not to get a little teary.
While this film struggled, I thought Michael Giacchino nailed the soundtrack, and the ending is quite emotional - in part due to his wonderful scoring.
If you like the music, watch the actual clip from the film, it's intense (and a bit trippy).
One that always gets me is......
Great movie, "About a Boy"
