Intrada Soundtrack Forum

I'm interested in seeing what people view as edited or unedited album tracks that they highly favor and feel do a great service in highlighting the unique voice and abilities of particular composers. Basically, quintessential pieces that demonstrate your favorite styles that are strongly associated with certain composers. The uniqueness can refer to particular instrumentation, rhythmic figures, style of dissonance, a particular style of coda, or whatever.

Perhaps a silly topic, but I'll get the ball rolling with select composers. There are many more composers I could list, but these are the ones that I quickly chose.


Michael Kamen - "An American Symphony" from Mr. Holland's Opus
Thomas Newman - "The Player" from The Player
John Barry - "Main Title/The Lion in Winter" from The Lion in Winter
Leonard Rosenman - "Get the Phantom" from The Phantom of Hollywood
Jerry Goldsmith - "Nicaragua" from Under Fire
Basil Poledouris - "The Gates of Hell/Penn's Wish" from Under Siege 2
David Shire - "Suspect Montage" from The Hindenburg
Charles Bernstein - "Main Title" from Mr. Majestyk
James Horner - "Diego's Goodbye" from The Mask of Zorro
Bill Conti - "The Final Blow" from The Karate Kid, Part III
Frédéric Talgorn - "Tyler's Rage" from Heavy Metal 2000
Jerry Fielding - "Assault on the Train and Escape (all parts)" from The Wild Bunch
Don Ellis - "Subway" from The French Connection
Quincy Jones - "Eleven O'Clock Time/Q.J. March/Frantic Fans/Let's Go" from The Split
John Scott - "Overture" from Antony and Cleopatra
Lalo Schifrin - "Jennings/El Ataque/La Cruz" from The Wrath of God
Christopher Young - "Concerto to Hell" from Drag Me to Hell
Craig Safan - "On to the Chinese" from Fade to Black
Alan Silvestri - "Little Tom Dies" from Young Guns II
Hans Zimmer - "Walkin' Talkin' Man" from Regarding Henry
Brad Fiedel - "It's Over (Good-Bye)" from Terminator 2
John Powell - "The Final Race" from Endurance
Mark Mancina - "The Rescue" from Speed
Harry Gregson-Williams - "Operation Dinner Out" from Spy Game
Tangerine Dream - "Shy People (vocal version)" from Shy People

I shall add one for the "bloody obvious" column: John Williams "Adventure on Earth" from E.T.

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Randy Wilson
Dallas, TX

Like your list and agree with ET. For me i would have to add the ludlows from legends of the fall. Maybe also driving from driving miss daisy.

Neat topic! I'll be redundant with Horner no doubt but here's five:

1. James Horner - "Alfred, Tristan, The Colonel, The Legend" from Legends Of The Fall. (Defines Horner's ability to write through an entire scene and wrap up a score in sublime manner. It don't get no better for me.)

And in random order:

2. Jerry Goldsmith - "The Finals" from Hoosiers
3. Franz Waxman - "The Battle Of Dubno & Finale" from Taras Bulba
4. Henry Mancini - "The Sounds Of Hatari" from Hatari!
5. Ennio Morricone - "The Ecstasy Of Gold" from The Good, The Bad And The Ugly

--Doug

Absolutely agree with "Alfred, tristan, the colonel" from legends. Good call Mr Fake

Jerry Goldsmith - "Twisted Abduction" & "Let's Get Her/Rebirth" from Poltergeist
John Williams - "Escape/Chase/Saying Goodbye" from E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (it's not an exaggeration for me to suggest that this piece alone caused me to at least listen to every complete John Williams score I could at least once but very few can hold a candle to E.T. Sorry, but I don't count Star Wars. Never been a fan, can't stand the pop culture references of the movies and music and I certainly am BURNED OUT on that opening fanfare)
James Newton Howard - "Choppers to Crater" from Dreamcatcher (only available in bootleg trader's circle, track has never been officially released; very percussion-driven cue that perfectly underscores the scene it accompanies and showcases Howard's unique ability to compose thrilling percussion pieces for large epic scenarios that don't turn into noise ala Hans Zimmer. It's pure ear candy. Unfortunately, it sticks out like a sore thumb against the officially released material hence why I assume it was left off. Had the official album been just a few minutes longer then this cue could've worked.)
Christopher Young - "Resurrection" from Hellraiser
Danny Elfman - "Introduction/Main Titles" from Mars Attacks
Hans Zimmer - "It's a Trap" from Inception (complete version only available in bootleg trader's circle but version available as an edited but still complementable bonus track to those who purchase the official album that goes by the title "Don't Think About Elephants." This is the cue Zimmer was born to score.)
Misha Segal - "Hellbound" from Phantom of the Opera (this cue showcases more of the material I expected from this straight-horror adaptation of Gaston Leroux's original novel; the album as a whole will give you a wealth of ranges that Segal can cover but it's the horror material that sticks with me mostly)
Christopher Young - "Tactile Shifts" & "Mantle Passage" (these pieces are an endless rush of adrenaline-pumped action that shows off VERY talented composer Young's classic action style in a whole new way. This score as a whole was transgressive for Young but these two cues stood out to me the most).

More will come later but these come to mind off the bat.

Not sure if all my choices are powerful? They do make me think of the composer's style.

"The Hunt" - Planet of the Apes - Jerry Goldsmith
"Prelude" - Hud - Elmer Bernstein
"End Title" - Flowers in the Attic" - Christopher Young
"Parade of the Charioteers" - Ben-Hur - Miklos Rozsa
"Battle Montage" - Farewell to the King - Basil Poledouris
"Main Title" - The Final Countdown - John Scott

One that comes to mind for me all the time is the great RAM'S HEAD (track 19) from Intrada's own MASADA by Morton Stevens - this track really shows what Mort could do in his own classic style that I would say, is "very powerful"...truly wonderful stuff which is one of my favorite tracks on the MASADA set...

"Wheel of Pain" // Basil Poledouris // Conan the Barbarian - a tough, brooding tempo that then develops an epic melody.

"Scytheoplicity" // Elliot Goldenthal // In Dreams - modern elements combined with a frenetic tension and a huge sound.

"The Minefield part 1" // Leonard Rosenman // Hell is for Heroes - music that never rests, even when it's sparse like this, constantly coming at you from around corners.

"Math Trick" // Jerry Fielding // Straw Dogs - distinct, playful, and lyrical personality for the characters.

"Snowmobiles" // Michael Kamen // Die Hard 2 - action music that adds layers until it rocks like heavy metal.

"Gluttony" // Howard Shore // Seven - slowly gets hold of you, without becoming any less cold and alien.

Goldsmith - "The Dogs Attack" from THE OMEN. At the end of the day there is simply nothing else out there quite like this astounding 7 minutes of music
Williams - "Battle in the Snow" from EMPIRE or "Attack on the Water Skier" from JAWS 2. Both of these pieces are absolutely textbook examples of pushing an orchestra to the extremes of what it can accomplish.
Shore - "Crash" from CRASH. He decided to score the film for a dozen or so electric guitars in addition to the orchestra, and the result is the best example I know of Shore's innovative genius.
Elfman - "Eclipse" from DOOORES CLAIBORNE. This cue has it all, from his knack for tense drama, burly action and completely otherworldly eeriness. It's Elfman in micro.
Doyle - "The Creation" from MARY SHELLEY'S FRANKENSTEIN. As over-the-top as it gets. Doyle seems to set out to wring every conceivable drop out of the frantic rhythmic pattern he sets up at the beginning.
Morricone - "Fly Away" from BUGSY. No cue that I know of gives you a better feel for Ennio's loving embrace with dissonance as a source of beauty.
Barry - "To Rome" from THE LION IN WINTER. All of John Barry's gifts are in glorious display in this one cue. The perfect sense of unhurried but urgent pacing, those harmonies from some other space and time, and the climactic brass flourishes that sound medieval and futuristic all at the same time.
Goldenthal - "Madeline's Lament" from INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE. Want to know what the fuss about Elliot Goldenthal is all about? Listen to this cue. It's the perfect statement of his genius for the darkest reaches of tonal harmony. Intervals of the second all over this piece, to glorious, tragic effect.

There's more but I'll stop here for now.

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Randy Wilson
Dallas, TX

Oh! Lest we forget:

James Newton Howard: "Tooth and Claw" from KING KONG. It's the best action scoring written since 2000 in my opinion and again, a microcosm of all the things that make Newton Howard so great. Amazing action, an utterly epic statement of Kong's tragic theme, and an ending so dulcet and sublime that you just want to live forever in the world he has created. All tied together with a thematic rigor that gives you a little bit more insight into its structure every time you hear it.

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Randy Wilson
Dallas, TX

John Williams - Desert Chase (from Raiders of the Lost Ark) (full version)
Jerry Goldsmith - The Landing (from ALIEN)
John Barry - Six Robots (from The Black Hole)
David Shire - Whatever Was Arranged (from The Conversation)
Howard Shore - Finale (from Silence of the Lambs)
Hans Zimmer - Alabama (from Crimson Tide)
James Newton Howard - Visions (from Unbreakable)
Thomas Newman - The Farm (from Road to Perdition)
John Carpenter - Opening Titles (from Prince of Darkness)
James Horner - The Alley (from 48 Hrs)
Alan Silvestri - It's Been Educational/Clocktower (from Back to the Future)
Danny Elfman - Selina Transforms (from Batman Returns)
Vangelis - Love Theme (from Blade Runner)
Arthur B. Rubinstein - Closing the Mountain (from War Games)
Jack Nitzsche - Opening Titles (Cutter's Way)

"March of the Helamites" - Sodom and Gomorrah - Miklos Rozsa
"The Dance of the Witches" - The Witches of Eastwick - John Williams
"Fighting the Soldiers" - Red Sonja - Ennio Morricone
"Egyptian Bacchanal" - Antony and Cleopatra - John Scott
"The Brides" - B.S. Dracula - Wojciech Kilar

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Randy Wilson
Dallas, TX