I found "the last of the mohicans" which is great. But it's the only that rivals gladiator for me. I have tried "king arthur" "kingdom of heaven" , and gladiator is still the best.

Anyway, do you have something to suggest?

thanks in advance

Then when you get used to him, check out "Titus," "Alien 3" and "Interview with the Vampire."

Took me a while to get an ear for him, "Final Fantasy" and "Michael Collins" helped me do it, he does great work. Wish he'd write more.

--Brian

[Message edited by Crono/Kyp on 10-12-2006]

These are the soundtracks I would recommend for beginning enthusiasts (sp?) and maybe later on check out some Elfman, Goldenthal, Goldsmith, etc.

Edt: also check out composer websites most of them have samples of their work.
Filmscoremonthly.com has an extensive list of websites both official and fan made.

Edit 2: I just noticed Moviemusic.com also has such an extensive list look under WWWdirectories on the main page (sorry about that Peter!)

[Message edited by dante on 10-12-2006]

I'm not sure I would go with Goldenthal just right away. He's quite an acquired taste and takes getting used to (lots of challenging dissonance). But he IS one my favourite composers and you'll bump into him eventually.

I'd also recommend that all newer people take Brian Tyler for a test spin. His style is easy to access and will open your opinion to greater film music along the way. Again - and especially with your Gladiator support - Children of Dune would be a good place to start (and surprisingly, I was listening to it as I can across this thread). Happy listening. Welcome to the boards and we hope you'll interact as much as possible!

NP> Tyler's Children of Dune (***/*****)

1. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Ennio Morricone)
2. For A Few Dollars More (Ennio Morricone)
3. Henry V (Patrick Doyle)
4. Conan the Barbarian (Basil Poledouris)
Almost anything by Danny Elfman but especially his Batman score!
5. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (Cliff Eidelmann)
6. The Bourne Supremacy
7. Vertigo (Bernard Herrmann)
8. Marnie (Bernard Herrmann)
9. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King. All three come highly recommended by me! (Howard Shore)

But for start it’s good to go with some collections
Silvan Screen has some good ones performed by the Prague Philharmonic (and in good price!)
I recommend:
Epics
Fantasy Album

quote:

---

Originally posted by nvictor:

Hi all,
I'm a complete newbie to scores. By the way why are they called alike? It all started with gladiator soundtracks. I have immediately loved Hans Zimmer compositions and have done my homeworks.

I found "the last of the mohicans" which is great. But it's the only that rivals gladiator for me. I have tried "king arthur" "kingdom of heaven" , and gladiator is still the best.

Anyway, do you have something to suggest?

thanks in advance

---

try this good sampling.

quote:

---

I recommend:
Epics
Fantasy Album

---

I second these:
http://www.moviemusic.com/soundtrack/fantasyalbum
http://www.silvascreen.co.uk/master.cfm?SilvaCode=SILCD1170&id=4379

Epics doesn't seem to be avialable at the MM store, but i'm sure Peter can get it.[/b]<HR size=1></BLOCKQUOTE>

and perhaps some Jerry Goldsmith scores...

13th Warrior

Ghost And The Darkness

The Edge << short, but the title track has a huge expansive sound... ala, Mohicans

and more (lots of Goldsmith to discover)

John Scott also has many excellent, thematic strong scores, but they are tougher to find.

If you think you might get into a western, try another Poledouris treat = Lonesome Dove.

and an often overlooked Poledouris score = For Love Of The Game

checkout samples at web stores and see what you think.

Star Trek The Motion Picture
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
Star Trek First Contact
Star Trek Insurrection
Star Trek Nemesis
Air Force One
The Mummy
Sum Of All Fears

If you can get the complete or expanded scores for these they help the listening experience tremndously. I will note there is sadly no expanded score for Star Trek V yet. Same for Sum Of All Fears, no expanded score for that one.

Goldsmith:
First Knight
13th Warrior
The Shadow
The Ghost And The Darkness
Air Force One
The Mummy
And he has many more great classics.

Williams:
The Raiders of The Lost Ark
The Last Crusade
Hook
Jurassic Park
ET
He has much more as well.

If you want Zimmer some of his best is:
The Prince Of Egypt
Broken Arrow
Backdraft
Crimson Tide

Eventually I'd Look Into:
James Newton Howard (Waterworld)
Michael Kamen (Very Acquired Taste... I'd Work Up To Him)Robin Hood Prince of Theives
Danny Elfman's BATMAN (what got me into scores)

and some James Horner (Braveheart especially)
most of his other stuff is very much the same.

quote:

---

Originally posted by nvictor:
I already started with Children of Dune. Now I think, Hans Zimmer has taken inspiration frm it to make Gladiation... it's the same instruments...

---

LOL! Zimmer ripping Tyler? Hilarious. You still have some to learn little one.

My advice to you would be don't be afraid of new scores. Many collectors will tell you that there's nothing to be found in current film music; they're very wrong. I, too, started with Zimmer (Mission: Impossible 2 and Gladiator) but my tastes have changed so much that I'm no longer a fan of his work. There are occasional scores of his that I will really enjoy (King Arthur and The DaVinci Code) - mainly because they remind me of classic Zimmer or are completely original and inspired - but most of his stuff can reach levels of dreck. Tyler is another great stepping stone. His style isn't too out there for new listeners to grasp ahold of, which I think is great. Many of the newer generation of composers are this way (i.e. Tyler, Michael Giacchino, John Powell, Christopher Lennertz, Steve Jablonsky, Klaus Badelt) and draw a lot of inspiration from the classics. Other newer composers that you might try out after acquiring a taste are Dario Marianelli, Marco Beltrami, and Bear McCreary. Beltrami and McCreary are trained by Silver Age maestros (Jerry Goldsmith and Elmer Bernstein, respectively) and I consider them all to be at the forefront of their current generation. In any case, you can never go wrong with these following composers: Jerry Goldsmith, Bruce Broughton, Anne Dudley, James Horner (be very careful though, get his earlier stuff), Danny Elfman, John Williams, Elmer Bernstein, Dimitri Tiomkin, Bernard Herrmann, James Newton Howard, Michael Kamen, Harry Gregson-Williams, Elliot Goldenthal, Howard Shore, John Debney, Miklos Rozsa, Ennio Morricone, Alexandre Desplat, and Basil Poledouris.

I shared my views earlier in the post about Goldenthal; tread lightly while you're starting. Final Fantasy will always be my first suggestion. Any recently composed Goldsmith score you can get your hands onto you should not pass up; especially The Edge, The Mummy, and The 13th Warrior. Sadly, the Maestro is no longer with us, so his output has died; but there is a VERY LARGE catalog of his work readily available.

NP> Mark Isham's The Black Dahlia (*****/*****)

Ah! You have chosen well grasshopper!

I think you've got some great advice by all the posters here on the thread. Just another tip:

One of the easiest ways to start collecting is to simply collect scores from movies that you really liked a lot from your childhood and progress from there. That's how I started. That way it isn't as overwhelming!

Songs from "The good, the bad and the ugly" also have this effect on me.

if you're interested in classical composers who've inspired Golden, Silver, and Modern film composers I'd recommend Igor Stravinsky, Richard Wagner, George Crumb, Carl Orff, Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Bela Bartok, Sergei Prokofiev, and, of course, Lugwig van Beethoven (just some of my personal favorites).