Top 30: #29

#29: James Horner: Introducer of an Underrated Art

Horner is listed by a user of the website Digital Dream Door as the 11th best film composer.  He, along with John Williams and James Newton Howard, was one of the composers who I wanted to score my first incarnation of my pet project.  Ten years later, he is still my first choice.

However, it wasn't until I started the latest incarnation of this project that I began to understand what it would really mean to have him onboard.  I became with his styles—a resonant horn section, tender use of strings, and a booming female choir—and became only more convinced that he was the composer for this one.

His films in question include:

• BATTLE BEYOND THE STARS (1980)
• STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN (1982)
• STAR TREK III: THE SEARCH FOR SPOCK (1984)
• COCOON (1985)
• ALIENS (1986)
• WILLOW (1988)
• THE LAND BEFORE TIME (1988)
• GLORY (1989)
• THE ROCKETEER (1991)
• PATRIOT GAMES (1992)
• THE MAN WITHOUT A FACE (1993)
• WE'RE BACK! A DINOSAUR'S STORY (1993)
• LEGENDS OF THE FALL (1994)
• BRAVEHEART (1995)
• APOLLO 13 (1995)
• RANSOM (1996)
• TITANIC (1997)
• DEEP IMPACT (1998)
• THE MASK OF ZORRO (1998)
• A BEAUTIFUL MIND (2001)
• TROY (2004)
• THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PAJAMAS (2008)
• AVATAR (2009)
• THE KARATE KID (2010)
• THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (2012)

Note that these films vary in mood and excitement level.  The fact is, composers become very versatile from scoring all types of projects, because most filmmakers just use composers get by.  But getting back into Horner's work has deepened my interest in film music in general, and many composers who used to mean no more to me than they do to most people now ring true as geniuses of the incidental music repertory.

John Williams is the only composer whose scores have become recognizable enough to be given places in the pantheon of American popular music.  They include the Star Wars saga; the original Superman; Harry Potter's first three years; and all but one movie directed by Steven Spielberg.

Other composers of note include Jerry Goldsmith (most of the original Star Trek movies), Elmer Bernstein (many a Western), Danny Elfman (Tim Burton's partner in crime), Bernard Herrmann (frequent collaborator with Alfred Hitchcock), Patrick Doyle (Brave), Ennio Morricone (Cinema Paradiso as well as plenty of spaghetti Westerns), Miklós Rósza (Ben-Hur), Max Steiner (the greatest of the olden days), John Barry (Dr. No), Thomas Newman (Meet Joe Black), Henry Mancini (The Pink Panther), and Vangelis (Chariots of Fire).

How about sometime I alter one of my projects to not have incidental music?  It wouldn't be as exciting, but maybe people's reactions would be of note.