the most beautiful soundtracks in filmhistory! - Page 2

Field of Dreams- James Horner
The Natural- Randy Newman
Hook- John Williams

and has anyone mentioned Alan Silvestri's score for Back to the Future?

as for soundtracks (not scores) I say:

-The Crow
-Royal Tenenbaums
-O Brother Where Art Thou?
-The Big Chill

Well, here's a few...

Princess Mononoke...
A very well done score, why it doesn't inspire other soundtracks is beyone me. Enough with the broadway style disney soundtracks in animated film... PLEASE!

Titanic...
I'm a sucker for Horner. Titanic's soundtrack is epic... and tragic.

Anything done by John Williams...
Hey, that guy is a master of the epic film soundtrack. I'm glad his work is in the new Star Wars Galaxies MMORPG. It just KICKS!

Legend...
Wow. Christopher Franke + Fantasy = Guaranteed Geekgasm. Every inch of the soundtrack was gold.

Well... There's some on my list.

The Goblin Collection
LOTR: FOTR
LOTR: TTT
The Crow (score)
One Hour Photo
Mulholland Drive
Edward Scissorhands

Ah hell, late an' all but I'll bite:

Message In A Bottle: zenith of Yared's US-based score work, all the passion of The English Patient, The Talented Mr Ripley and City Of Angels wrapped up in some gorgeous orchestration.

The Double Life Of Veronique: Preisner is normally a bit dense and arcane - as you'd expect from a beardy East Euopean weirdo - but this is fucking haunting beyond words.

Powder: much unjustly maligned picture with perhaps Goldsmith's most beautiful theme (at least as beautiful as Rudy, Carol Anne's Theme or Papillon)

Triumph Of The Spirit: hard to find Varese pressing of Cliff Eidelman's first major work for Robert M Young's holocaust drama. Pre-dates Schindler's List by about 7 years, and it's just as good.

Murder In The First: Christopher Young's finest non horror score, beautiful, Barber-esque elegaic album.

Glory: rightly a Poxy favourite, wicked lyrical stuff, if a bit heavy on the snares.

A Place In The Sun: an oldie, but Franz Waxman's score is as achingly beautiful as anything post-Adagio-For-Strings-rediscovery.

I don't have it yet, but just listening to it in the movie helped me appreciate it. It's a typical Bruckheimer score, but that's what I like about it.

Its good to hear Ghost in the Shell mentioned but as far as anime or any movie goes..

A stand out movie soundtrack is AKIRA. If you have the AKIRA tin dvd it has a great documentary on the making of the music.. and if you have heard the music then you KNOW its one of the best soundtracks. Ever.

I'm glad someone mentioned Thomas Newman. He has to be one of the greatest composers of all time. Haunting stuff.

• Meet Joe Black (although a crappy movie) has one of the best scores ever - Thomas Newman
  Band Of Brothers - Michael Kamen
  Lolita - Ennio Morricone
  Thin Red Line - Hans Zimmer

I see I am not the only one who likes a lot of older movie scores. I haven't been swept away by any new ones lately, so these are a few that I've had for a long time. You may not enjoy them unless you have seen the movies, which I think is true for any movie score.

"Lawrence of Arabia" by Maurice Jarre, very stirring, full of mystique and grandeur. It was one of the first scores to use synthesizers, back in 1962.

"Jaws", John Williams, very expressive and rousing, full of adventure and story telling, like the movie, and haunting at times.

"Popeye", Harry Nillson, a strange movie, with a strange little score consisting of a bunch of songs. Some people think it's really bad.

"Batman" and "Batman Returns", Danny Elfman. I find it fascinating that he said he hates rock n' roll. He was the lead singer for Oingo Boingo in the 80's, and as far as I know, just writes movie scores for a long time now.

Try out the PREDATOR 2 soundtrack.
It's a little unusual, but it has some of the music from the original PREDATOR in with the Latin drums...

On the classic movie scores note, I have to throw in my two cents for anything by Nino Rota, especially the wonderful score for 8 1/2, which is joyful and delirious.

Out of Africa...

Mike Arsenault, completely agree with you on the Mission. One of the most beautiful scores ever.

Also Carter Burwells music to Miller's Crossing, I didn't see that mentioned. Fucking great music on its own, and it completely ruins me when I see the film.

Others:

The Sting
Robocop
Forrest Gump
Contact

Its not necessarily "beautiful" but I think the Fight Club soundtrack is one of the best. Its one of only ones I own.
Blade Runner is great because those 80s synth tones are so way out there, dude.
Stunt Rock has, well, Sorcery. It rocks. Although I don't know if it rocks more than This Is Spinal Tap.
The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly for obvious reasons.
As far as mainstream orchestral stuff, I think Lord of the Rings is suitably stirring and epic.
Kill Bill, The Last Temptation of Christ, I could go on...

And Forrest Gump's soundtrack sucks, just like the movie! (had to be said man...)

Come on, no mention of the Oldboy soundtrack?

I would say the soundtracks of

A Beautiful Mind
and
Finding Neverland

are also very very beautiful. Sky Captain and the World of Tomorow also had a great score.

There's Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban which was great fun. And quite recently, I would say the Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe had an awesome soundtrack.

The Spy Same soundtrack is one of the few that I often listen to off of its own merits. It's a great mix, too. Some great orchestral music, and some great tecnho/orchestral beats.

the best scores in my book

almost anything that Danny Elfman creates is beautiful. He did the original Batman, The Nightmare before Christmas, Edward Scissor hands, Beatle juice, and he used to be in the band Oingo Boingo. He even has a solo record out that was released just for fans of his movie scores. It has a little hint of all of his scores, and a lot of new score ideas. I forget what it's called. Also I have to say the scores for LOTR, Starwars, and Crouching tiger hideen dragon where awesome.

Yeah, that's damn good, but I like hearing the music while watching the movie, myself. Probably just because the movie's so damn good, though.

My suggestion (especially if you're a SW fan) would be to pick up the Episode III soundtrack because while the score is good, the DVD A Musical Journey is fantastic! Songs from all 6 movies played over scenes from all the films and it lasts a little over an hour. It's great bonus material, and should've come with the DVD set (which I have yet to buy, probably wait for HD-DVD).

Shame that a lot of people have missed it just because it's bonus material on a soundtrack....

It's kind of a cheat, but Malick's use of Saint-Saens throughout Days of Heaven is intoxicating and hypnotic. The same feeling goes for Cliff Martinez's Solaris. Gorgeous.

The Village had a beautiful soundtrack

so did King Arthur - it was very LOTRish.

Otomo's Spriggan also has a great, eclectic soundtrack.

My favorite anime score however remains Space Battleship Yamato (Star Blazers).

Wow, some interesting picks here.

Just a few of what I'd consider beautiful, trying not to repeat:

ANYTHING by Georges Delerue. Seriously. Just get Varese's "Great Composers" set.

Morricone

- The Yo-Yo Ma album.
- A TIME OF DESTINY, though it's hard to find now.

Williams

- SEVEN YEARS IN TIBET
- ANGELA'S ASHES

Newman

- ANGELS IN AMERICA
- LITTLE WOMEN
- THE HORSE WHISPERER (if for no other track than "Pergeron Stallion")

Young

- FLOWERS IN THE ATTIC

Horner

- SEARCHING FOR BOBBY FISCHER

Bernstein

- TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

OLDBOY. Import that sucker.
Robocop's good too.

I don't have many to add to this comprehensive list but I would say that I found a site called Streaming Soundtracks ( http://www.streamingsoundtracks.com ) which has a huge list of tracks that you can request (once a member) on a radio playlist...

Check it out... its what I do before going off and buying a OST nowadays...

Empire of the Sun, The Village, Lawrence of Arabia, Dr. Zhivago (sp?), Searching for Bobby Fischer, Star wars, etc. etc.

While it might not have been the best movie, King Kong (2005) has an excellent soundtrack. For the amount of time that James Newton Howard had to create the music for this film, he did an awesome job.

The tracks "Tooth and Claw" and "Central Park" are worth the price alone.

Going by your tastes (Titanic, Platoon, Mohicans, Requiem, etc.) I would also recommend Black Hawk Down.

If you have this on YouSendIt and would share with a brother, I'd be forever in your debt.

Also, for 'beautiful' film scores, I can't say enough about Rachel Portman's CIDER HOUSE RULES score. Great stuff.

No mention of the Brokeback Mountain soundtrack?

If you're going for beautiful, that film had some of the best music I've heard in awhile...

Le Fate Ignoranti, directed by Ferzan Ozpetek, music by Andrea Guerra

(perhaps not the best soundtrack ever, but it is very beautiful and has a remarkable orchestration)

I'm hugging you over the internet because I was just going to put in a vote for this.  Too bad it's impossible to find through (ahem) conventional means.  Granted there's a lot of nostalgia at work here but that opening theme is so gorgeous.

 

On a similar underrated soundtrack note, try "Rescuers Down Under", "Free Willy", and "Toys".  I'd be surprised if nobody mentioned "The Lion King", "Inception", "The Fountain", and "How to Train Your Dragon" yet.

 

Rather than continue to bump this five-years-dormant thread, may I direct you all to The Composers, Scores, and the Chewers Who Love Them.

 

Oh and meanwhile, Superman.

I always had a soft spot for the Dragonheart soundtrack.

Queen's Flash Gordon Soundtrack

 

Everybody knows the theme song & the Attack Of The Hawk Men music ("Dive!") but in between are a handful of gorgeous, ambient orchestral pieces like "In The Space Capsule", "Execution Of Flash", & "Aboria Planet Of The Tree Men". It's an album that I rank along side Eno's soundtracks, Bowie's Berlin trilogy, & Peter Gabriel's Melt/Security albums. A bloody beautiful & dynamic work.

Oh all right. If we're talking most beautiful, it's Bernard Herrmann's The Ghost and Mrs. Muir and I'll hear no foolishness to the contrary.

Carter Burwell - Barton Fink

 

My heart breaks every time I hear it.

Well people here seem to be suggesting FILM SCORES and not so much soundtracks, but seeing as I very much enjoy the particular soundtrack I am about to list, and this was the only general SOUNDTRACK thread I could find, I'm posting anyway! 

 

 

 

Danny Boyles' THE BEACH is a movie that gets alot of mixed reactions. I quite enjoy it but I know other Chewers consider it to be a misfire (I am one of those who likes SUNSHINE too, to give my BEACH appreciation some context)

 

What I think is beyond dispute though is that it's soundtrack is by far one of the best SOUNDTRACKS of the modern age (top 100, easily - IMHO)

 

Favorite tracks of mine include such hits as....

 

I'll see your Barton Fink and raise you a Millers Crossing.

I just acquired the new complete recording of Jerry Goldsmith's Explorers. Maybe it's just that the film holds some powerful associations for me, but the music on its own damn near brought me to tears.

 

The trick to film-score appreciation is that sometimes the music is better than the film. Green Mansions is a weird misfire of a movie but Bronislaw Kaper's score, building on unfinished work by Heitor Villa-Lobos, is haunting and atmospheric.

The best compliment that I can give the Flash Gordon soundtrack is that listening to it literally takes me back through the story. I can relive the adventure through the music alone to where I sometimes prefer to not be distracted by the visuals of the film itself.

Ok, here is some input from russian perspective, there are a lot of russian beautiful soundtracks that you guys might want to look at as well.

Like these things of the great russian composer Aleksey Ribnikov, for example his  "Rain" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYty7DLBAZA,

 

or this main theme from one russian movie (see details in the comments if you like)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9WpeKCDKNs

 

another very beautiful thing of him from the movie "Great space adventure":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJXpXiHazM8

 

the above is just pure music, but here is another beautiful thing which is a song "Secret" form a russian movie:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TiKarRIps8

 

there are many other great things of this composer available, just search by the name.

 

 

 

Greetings Chewers.

 

New to this posting stuff..

 

However. As soundtracks go.

 

Absolutely adore The Rocketeer.

                         Last of the Mohicans.

                         The Abyss

 

Just for starters.  There are so many good soundtracks out there. I am humming the Imperial march as I type this.

 

oh well .....

Time Chasers. My god, it's like a symphony of DX7 and drum machine. It's everything that's perfectly ridiculous about early-'90s cheapie soundtracks in one perfect package.

...and I bought it. I swear, I normally make better use of my tax return (even just part of it,) but...how could I not?