Top 10 film composers of all time

For this list celebrating the 10 greatest musical scorers in film history, I have tried to be ‘objective’ so as to make my judgments based on the impact that the following composers have had on film music, and cinema in general. Whenever I do have a personal preference for something, I do take note of it. And so, without further ado:

If the ranking included television as part of the criteria, Elfman would have gotten a higher ranking, even solely on account of the ‘Simpsons’ theme. As it is, he has provided the aural atmosphere to the eccentric Tim Burton’s greatest works such as ‘Edward Scissorhands’ and ‘Batman.’ The latter’s opening credits sequence, where the camera glides through a three-dimensional concrete bat logo, is an especially notable one, in which the tone of the rest of the epic film is set.

But Christopher Nolan’s ‘The dark knight’ matches, and possibly surpasses Tim Burton’s masterpiece, due on no small account to the film score by Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard. It is a score like this, and the other Nolan-Zimmer collaboration ‘Inception,’ that makes it clear that the future of film music is in safe hands.

Since the 1980s, Howard Shore has delivered some of the most memorable soundtracks, in films such as ‘The fly,’ ‘The silence of the lambs,’ ‘Philadelphia,’ and most notably, in my opinion, the ‘Lord of the rings’ trilogy.

Frederick Hollander, along with three more composers in this top 10 list, was an ubiquitous presence in the golden age of Hollywood. He composed hundreds of scores used in the biggest comedies of the 1930s and 1940s. I was just listening to a theme of his from the 1942 screwball ‘The talk of the town,’ directed by George Stevens and starring Cary Grant and Jean Arthur. The melody sounds so out of place in its modernity. For those of you who have a copy of the movie, listen to the music after Ronald Colman’s speech, towards the end.

Billy Wilder. Preston Sturges. Alfred Hitchcock. Just some of the biggest names associated with Franz Waxman, one of the most sought out composers who left his mark in 1930s MGM and 1940s Warner flicks. Even in the 1950s, he made some of his biggest scores, such as ‘A place in the sun,’ ‘Rear window’ and ‘Sunset Boulevard’ (For Norma Desmond’s great descent, he apparently took his cue, style-wise, from Miklos Rozsa, who had worked with Wilder on ‘Five graves to Cairo’ and ‘Double indemnity’).

My personal favorite. Ennio Morricone has composed over 500 film scores, many of them for Italian films. He is well known for his work on Sergio Leone’s spaghetti westerns, and ‘Ecstasy of gold’ is one of the most known pieces in film music history. When Morricone is involved in a movie, you just know that it will be one-half his vision. His ideas are so strong that he can’t help being a presence onscreen. I am constantly amazed at the manner in which he comes up with simple but great themes done not with obvious bombast, but with power all the same.

He has experimented a great deal in terms of instrumentation to make some of the most interesting soundtracks ever, such as with the glass harmonica in the 1997 version of ‘Lolita.’ When Giuseppe Tornatore (whose ‘Cinema paradiso’ is a favorite of mine) needed to conjure up the genius of a fictitious pianist named ‘1900,’ the task was given to Morricone, who delivered the goods.

My all-time favorite soundtrack is the one in ‘Once upon a time in the west.’ The main theme itself is unbelievably gorgeous, but ‘Man with a harmonica’ is up there as well in terms of sheer awesomeness.

Before Mad Magazine came into existence to forever associate the name ‘Alfred (E.) Newman’ with some perpetually grinning freckled kid, there was the reliable and prolific film composer. Alfred Newman made some painfully beautiful melodies, such as found in ‘Stella Dallas’ and the Cathy death scene in ‘Wuthering heights.’

It’s almost a shame that Max Steiner only places third. He very well deserves to be called the greatest film composer of all time, so you could just imagine how huge Nos. 1 and 2 must be to usurp him.

Two titles. ‘Casablanca’ and ‘Gone with the wind.’ Either one would have been enough to cement his place in cinematic music forever. Yet there’s so much more to his career. He scored for ‘King Kong.’ At one point in Warner Brothers’ history, his name was in each film. You could not think of Bette Davis without recalling one of his movies. He’s just a great presence of the golden age.

Not only did this guy collaborate with the biggest names over a span of generations, but he worked with them on their best films. Orson Welles’ ‘Citizen Kane.’ Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘Psycho.’ Martin Scorsese’s ‘Taxi driver.’ It is no wonder that in the latter’s end credits, special mention was made of Herrmann, who had passed away the previous December (1975).

Just yesterday, I was listening to part of his score for ‘Jane Eyre,’ and I was amazed at how ahead-of-its-time it sounded. Hitchcock depended on Herrmann during the former’s creative peak, and the latter always managed to bring something new to the table. Whether it’s the high strings of ‘Psycho,’ or the disorienting whole tones of ‘Vertigo’... or the lack of music in ‘The birds,’ Herrmann was always creatively in tune with the ‘Master of Suspense.’

Speaking of suspense... And now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for. Of course, by his absence in the preceding nine spots, I guess it’s rather obvious who’s at number 1.

Steven Spielberg and George Lucas relied on John Williams to give a sound to their grand visions. And film-going would never be the same. ‘Jaws,’ ‘Superman,’ ‘Star wars,’ ‘E.T.,’ ‘Indiana Jones’… they’re almost impossible to visualize without sound. Apart from special-effects blockbusters, Williams has shown his versatility in Oliver Stone films such as ‘Born on the fourth of July’ and (my favorite) ‘JFK,’ and when Spielberg needed a more intimate score, Williams provided the ‘Schindler’s list’ theme, as performed on violin by Itzhak Perlman.

In the 21^st century, apart from writing for the first three ‘Harry Potter’ films, he has remained a collaborator with both Spielberg and Lucas. The summer blockbuster would not have been what it is were it not for John Williams. And it’s also quite remarkable that Williams scored Hitchcock’s last film ‘Family plot.’

I must admit to have a blind spot in film, and film music, from the mid-1960s to the 1980s. So if I miss a notable someone from these years, do call me on it. I also have little awareness of the European film scene, apart from maybe ‘La dolce vita’ or ‘Bicycle thieves.’

Furthermore, could I be accused of judging the composers by virtue of the greatness of the movies in which they had the fortune to participate? If I were to defend myself against such an allegation, I’d say that part of the greatness of these films has to do precisely with these composers’ contributions. Touché!

I am aware that I am leaving out some legends who had worked with Frank Capra, Victor Fleming, etc. Oh well. At least, the list as I have made it takes into accounts some of the greats in the past, as well as those who are paving the way for the future of film music.

Nonetheless, I’d like to mention a couple of folks.

I’m mentioning Nino Rota on account of ‘The godfather’ and the 1968 version of ‘Romeo and Juliet.’ But then, IMDb informs me that he played a big role in Italian films during the 1960s or so. That’s something of which I can’t really pretend to make an educated opinion.

Erich Wolfgang Korngold is most associated with Errol Flynn’s early adventure films, as well as other Warner Brothers classics of the 1930s.

Richard Wagner died in 1883, way before motion pictures were used in a dramatic capacity. Yet he, more than any other musician in history, can be credited for advancing the technique of using melodic ideas and words to achieve such theatrical effect. Sure Mozart managed to evoke strong emotional responses with his ‘Don Giovanni,’ and Beethoven’s first movements and overtures were pure power, but Wagner, with his Schopenhauerian bent, made an art of giving deep symbolic meaning to the various elements in his music. He virtually created the leitmotif, by which certain melodies are associated with certain people or ideas. And leaving aside such a sophisticated manner of composition, Wagner brought an aggression and a kind of perversity to music that no other composer has matched.

If there were no Wagner, there would be no John Williams. Listen to the beginning of ‘The flying Dutchman.’ Could ‘Star wars’ or ‘Superman’ have ever been composed without Wagner’s inspiration?

And it’s not like Wagner’s music has been absent from the screen. How many times has that melody from ‘The valkyrie’ been used in movies, to the point of becoming a cliché?

And Wagner was a huge influence of Richard Strauss, who composed ‘Also sprach Zarathustra,’ whose first movement was used in Stanley Kubrick’s ‘2001: A space odyssey,’ and in countless other films, also to the point of becoming a cliché.

Just listen to the overtures of ‘Siegfreid,’ ‘The Rhinegold,’ ‘Tristan and Isolde,’ and of Wagner’s other operas to recognize his permanent legacy in film music, and music in general.