John Williams, composer
 

What are your favorite soundtracks composed by John Williams?

I feel that John Williams is one of the most effective, accomplished composers of all time.

I love this story about him: after John Williams watched the rough cut of Schindler's List, he was so moved and impressed that he said to the director Steven Spielberg, "You need a better composer than I am for this film."

Steven Spielberg replied, "I know, but they're all dead."

(Source: FMS FEATURE [John Williams Scoring Stage Unveiled - by Jon Burlingame] )

I thought that was funny and very complimentary...and also possibly true! John Williams is awesome.

I was surprised to learn how many soundtracks he has composed:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o..._John_Williams

Currently my favorite is the soundtrack for Close Encounters of the Third Kind because it has such power, beauty, quirkiness, and emotion, as well as that unforgettable five note hook:

Close Encounters of the Third Kind - soundtrack composed by John Williams
(Excerpts)

First one that popped into my head. But he pretty much can do no wrong IMO.

Jaws

The Adventures of Tintin stands out, actually.

I like him, but there are better composers in the cinema.

The only complaint I've heard about John Williams' film scores is that sometimes the themes from different movies sound pretty similar, which may be true, but completely understandable given how many movies he has done.

What stands out for me is how unique and memorable many of his musical themes are.

For example, with Close Encounters of the Third Kind, you just have to hear those five notes, "Doo Doo Doo DOO Doooooo," and you know what movie they are from.

I feel Williams is great at coming up with a leitmotif, "an associated melodic phrase or figure that accompanies the reappearance of an idea, person, or situation" Leitmotif | Definition of leitmotif by Merriam-Webster

A perfect example is the music associated with the shark in...

Steven Spielberg and John Williams talk about the Jaws shark theme in the following short video, explaining how and why it functions so well. I like how Spielberg says at first he thought John Williams was joking when Williams played the simple two note theme for him:



I must confess I didn't even notice the music The Adventures of Tintin because I was so weirded out by the creepy animation, but I will go listen to what I apparently missed because of the visuals.

I feel John Williams' music is great, but now I'm wondering what other composers out there I've been missing! Which movie composers do you feel are better than him, and why?

I've been really impressed, for example, by how well John Williams matches his composition to the movie action, so it is hard for me to imagine anyone else doing that better than he does.

Do you think that that's because of John Williams' composing skills or more because those five notes are used as a plot device? I'm leaning toward the latter, since it's not a particularly notable song.

Better film composers: Elmer Bernstein, Johnny Greenwood, Mica Levi, Mike Patton, Art Zoyd (if you can count them, they did soundtracks after the movies had been released), and Philip Glass.

Thank you for the list of other film composers. I'll take a listen to them.

I feel John Williams' five note theme from Close Encounters of the Third Kind is memorable for both reasons: it is used as a plot device, like you say, but I also feel it is a pretty good sequence of five notes.

Williams also creates a delightful alien musical response that is composed of variations of that five note theme, turning it into a much more complex and interesting piece. The weird, musical playfulness of the response made me not even notice or mind that the aliens, apparently, possessed tubas for making their booming sounds!

I will concede, however, that the human-alien musical scene from Close Encounters of The Third Kind might have been even more memorable if it had gone a little something like *this*:

Close Encounters of the Redneck Kind

+ Michael Nyman & Toru Takemitsu

I don't particularly think that the melody is that special, but that could just be my snobbishness.

And I also forgot my all time favourite, Teji Ito. He did a lot of work with Maya Deren. I tried finding Meshes of the Afternoon on Youtube to post here, but all of the videos have alternate soundtracks for some reason.

^Haven't listened to him in ages. Thanks for the reminder.

John Williams is a fine composer, but I prefer Danny Elfman. His Alice in Wonderland soundtrack, in particular, sets my juices flowing. If the land could sing, if the trees and rivers and mountains and meadows had a voice, in my head it would sound like this:

Danny Elfman - Alice's Theme

Big Fish is my favorite Elfman movie.

Not seen it. Good soundtrack?

I mostly agree with Frownland's picks, except he missed two of the best.

Firstly, you just have to check out Ennio Morricone, who imo is the greatest film soundtrack composer to ever live. His best work was done in the 60s and 70s, working on spaghetti westerns by directors like Leone and Corbucci:


^You might recognize this song from the Quentin Tarantino film Inglorious Basterds, but it originally appeared in 1966's The Big Gundown with Lee Van Cleef. One of the thing I love about Morricone is his ability to create a kind of tension perfectly matched to the genre. Also notice his use of quotes from Beethoven's Fur Elise, which is meant to represent one of the villains (who had played the piece earlier in the film)

Another good example is this:


Which comes from one of the most iconic scenes in movie history. Without the music, though, I'm of the mind that the scene would be much duller. After all, it is a very, very long Mexican standoff. His theme from the same film is also incredible:


You might've heard this one, because it's pretty iconic. Moving on:


I was less sold on the soundtrack when I first saw the movie (which is my favorite western) because it lacked the rattlesnake-in-a-drumkit aesthetic of works of his that I was used to. However, I've since come around and this is one of his best imo. It's so epic while being haunting at the same time. A perfect match for the disconcerting snowscapes of Sergio Corbucci's masterpiece.

Another composer that is a genius imo is Bernard Hermann. Listen to this:


I love the freneticism of the track. It also contains one of the greatest motifs in cinema and, placed against Hitchcock's best movie, manages to create a profound sense of dread.

Those are two of my favorites, but these are worth checking out too:



^The director of The Master just did a documentary on the conception of Greenwood's soundtracks for his films as well. Also, The Master is the film of the decade.

It's a great all around movie. One of my favorite films ever for that genre.

Good movie period.

... And on the subject of John Williams, I'm really surprised nobody has yet mentioned Jurassic Park.

Thank you for the link to one of the Alice in Wonderland pieces by Danny Elfman. The "Alice" song definitely has a magical feel to it.

Ennio Morricone's spaghetti western soundtracks do match the feel of those scenes well!

I especially like Bernard Herman's Psycho theme, which is eerie and at times beautiful.

Your clip of the soundtrack from "Come and See" inspired me to read more about the movie, realizing what a powerful movie it must be. I'd heard about its famous scene elsewhere on MusicBanter (when the boy sees flashbacks of images of Hitler's life, all the way to the time when Hitler was just a baby, and then the boy can't bear to kill him), but I hadn't realized that scene was from this movie. The music has a very chilling effect that fits the subject matter of dreadful carnage and cruelty.

Thanks for all the suggestions and videos!

Come and See is an absolute masterpiece in my eyes. Very chilling, indeed.

I wrote a review of it a while ago, if you want some more reasons to check it out: http://www.musicbanter.com/1532632-post24.html