Rank these composers!

[Josh500 1,620]

John Barry

Danny Elfman

James Horner

James Newton Howard

Jerry Goldsmith

Thomas Newman

Alan Silvestri

Howard Shore

John Williams

Hans Zimmer

I chose these composers because I'm most familiar with their works, and I admire them the most.

Rules:

(1) You can assign many composers to one spot.

For example:

1. John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith

3. John Barry

etc.

(2) If you're not familiar enough with one composer's work, you don't have to include him in the ranking. If that's the case you can (although you don't have to) replace him with another composer, with whose work you're more familiar with (like Alan Silvestri with Michael GIacchino, etc). But there should be no more than 10 composers in the ranking.

My ranking:

1. John Williams

2. Jerry Goldsmith

3. John Barry

4. James Horner, Alan Silvestri, Danny Elfman, James Newton Howard

8. Howard Shore, Thomas Newman

10. Hans Zimmer

I wonder how many times JW will top the list!

[Pieter Boelen 1,032]

1. John Williams

Indiana Jones, Star Wars, Jaws, E.T., Jurassic Park and Harry Potter contain some of the best and most iconic themes ever written for film.

Far and Away, Hook and Home Alone are very impressive all the way through, though less well-known.

Virtually every score by John Williams contains at least one track or theme that is absolutely brilliant.

In short, as good as other composers are, there's just nobody who even comes close as far as I'm concerned.

2. Jerry Goldsmith

Though I'm not such a fan of his more experimental work, there's a great wealth of goodness written by Jerry Goldsmith.

First Knight and Mulan are probably my favourites and are greatly listenable all the way through.

There's dozens of scores that contain great parts, such as Rambo: First Blood Part II, The Wind and the Lion, The 13th Warrior, Air Force One, Lionheart, Timeline and Star Trek I: The Motion Picture.

Then there's the scores that have at the very least one incredible theme, such as Star Trek VIII: First Contact, Star Trek IX: Insurrection, Supergirl, The Edge and The Great Train Robbery.

And finally there's the scores that are just plain good fun, such as King Solomon's Mines and Bad Girls.

His ability to write amazing themes and action music and provide very good and sometimes incredible scores for film ranging from not-so-good to pretty-darn-bad is also commendable.

Also the amount of amazing music and the fact that it's all in a very recognisable style of his own, puts him on my definite number 2 spot.

3. Alan Silvestri

Nowadays he just doesn't get enough to do, but in writing the very iconic Back to the Future and the all the way through amazing The Mummy Returns, he was earned my respect.

His other work contains such scores as Forrest Gump, Judge Dredd, Mouse Hunt, The Polar Express and Van Helsing, which are also very good.

Then there's the scores that contain at least one good track, being Beowulf, Night at the Museum, The Abyss and Volcano.

His recent work is not as impressive as his older work, though scores like the 30-minute The Wild certainly impressed me with the amount of creativity displayed, especially when compared to it's lackluster-at-best Dreamworks counterpart.

4. John Debney

Cutthroat Island. Need I say more?

Of course this is not the only good score by John Debney and the recent score for the computer game Lair sure comes close in enjoyability, action music and thematic content.

Then there's such scores like Hocus Pocus and White Fang 2: Myth of the White Wolf, that are very good all the way through.

His continuing ability to write scores ranging from at-least-one-impressive-track to very good all the way through for such films as Zathura, Evan Almighty, The Scorpion King and even Chicken Little is also no mean feat.

It is unfortunate that he keeps getting himself attached to random comedies, because it is clear that a large-scale action-adventure film brings out the very best from him.

5. Basil Poledouris

Conan the Barbarian, Flesh and Blood, Les Misérables and Starship Troopers are very impressive all the way through.

The good parts of Conan the Destroyer, Farewell to the King, Lonesome Dove, Quigley Down Under, Robocop, The Hunt for Red October, The Jungle Book and Under Siege 2: Dark Territory are every bit as good as those previously mentioned scores.

And then there's scores like Hot Shots! Part Deux that, for such a weird film, display an incredible amount of thematic and creative fun.

The great thing about Poledouris are his themes, but mainly also just the "sound" of his music.

Especially when themes and sound merge in some of his action tracks, the music becomes really special.

6. David Arnold

Stargate, Last of the Dogmen and Independence Day are all incredibly impressive, especially the last mentioned.

The thematic content, action music and sound of the music is all equally amazing.

Then there's scores like Godzilla and The Musketeer that are not quite as good, but still enjoyable with some amazing parts.

It's unfortunate that he didn't write more similar music and I sincerely hope that The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader does get made after all.

7. James Newton Howard

There's an incredible amount of good scores written by James Newton Howard, my favourites being Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Hidalgo, Dinosaur and Waterworld.

Then there's also Blood Diamond, Dave, I Am Legend, King Kong, Lady in the Water, The Water Horse, Vertical Limit, Treasure Planet and Wyatt Earp that are all impressive in their own way, either in whole or in parts.

His ability to consistantly write music that works thoroughly well in the films it's written for, yet stands very well on it's own, is amazing.

8. James Horner

The good is really quite good and there is a lot of it, but eventually it all gets really similar.

Scores like Braveheart, Krull, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, The Land Before Time, The Pagemaster and The Rocketeer are all very good, either in whole or in parts.

My favourite score is The Mask of Zorro, which has a pretty original and appropriate sound.

There's some great themes also in Clear and Present Danger and Willow.

However, most James Horner scores leave me pretty cold and I find that not all of them work as well as they should in their respective films.

Unfortunately it occurs very frequently that music is similar to other scores, either from Horner himself or from others.

Also certain instrument usages, most notably the sukahachi and Irish influences, were originally original, but suffer from overuse.

9. Harry Gregson-Williams and John Powell

I list these two together, mainly because of their collaborations on Antz, Chicken Run and Shrek that contain some very fun themes and incredibly creative parts.

Mainly Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas and Kingdom of Heaven are incredible scores of Harry Gregson-Williams, each in their own way.

Also his Shrek 2 and two Chronicles of Narnia scores contain some very good parts.

John Powell definitly has a voice of his own and has provided very good scores for such films as X-Men 3: The Last Stand and Ice Age 2: The Meltdown.

His scores for Evolution and Hancock also contain some incredibly enjoyable tracks.

10. Hans Zimmer (and co.) - Not to be included in the ranking...

Ah, yes. Mr. Zimmer. Or "Hansje", as I often refer to him.

He can come up with some pretty good themes, but there is not a single score of his that I find impressive all the way through.

There's a lot of tension-building, brooding, but not particularly listening music and a lot of the action music sounds overly dark and big.

The Time Machine by Klaus Badelt is probably my favourite score by an associate of Hans Zimmer.

Also I find Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl to be fairly entertaining, especially outside the film.

There's a good main theme to Backdraft, Crimson Tide, Muppet Treasure Island, Gladiator and The Rock.

However, I find not much to like outside the themes.

In Hans Zimmer's Pirates of the Caribbean scores, the good parts are pretty good (Up Is Down, Jack Sparrow, Davy Jones, Drink Up Me Hearties and Marry Me), but the bad parts are incredibly bad, most notably The Kraken, but also very much Hello Beastie.

Then there's the music that is just too weird or out-of-place such as Parlay and Multiple Jacks.

In the end, I am willing to believe that Hans Zimmer IS capable of writing good music, he's just an incredibly frustrating composer because in most instances, he simply doesn't; at least not all the way through a whole score.

It seems that he really wants to be original, but unfortunately he does in a way that is both too modern and very much inappropriate.

Not to mention that the end results usually sound very similar to other scores of his and his collaborators anyway.

His style was original when it started and works fine in such films like Crimson Tide and The Rock, but it's getting old quick now.

For me, places #3 to #7 are pretty much equal, but I distinguished between them anyway.

I also find it hard to decide the ranking between #8 to #10.

[MissPadmé 17]

John Williams

James Newton Howard

Thomas Newman

Danny Elfman

Alan Silvestri

Howard Shore

John Barry

Hans Zimmer

Jerry Goldsmith

James Horner

[Pieter Boelen 1,032]

I have updated my initial ranking with explanations on what I like/don't like about the various composers.

[Josh500 1,620]

I have updated my initial ranking with explanations on what I like/don't like about the various composers.

Thanks, Pieter, that's a nice summing up!

[FBC Director 10,764]

1. Jerry Goldsmith

2. John Williams

3. James Horner

4. John Barry

5. Danny Elfman

6. Alan Silvestri

7. Thomas Newman

8. Howard Shore

9. James Newton Howard

10. Hans Zimmer

[Desplat13 1]

James Horner above John Barry!?!

[Williamsfan301 12]

1) John Williams

2) Jerry Goldsmith

3) John Barry

4) Danny Elfman

5) Alan Silvestri

6) James Horner

7) Howard Shore

8) James Newton Howard

9) Thomas Newman

10) Hans Zimmer

**There was a time when I would have put James Horner in my top three, but lately....

[Josh500 1,620]

**There was a time when I would have put James Horner in my top three, but lately....

Yeah, what happened to him? Lately he seems to have dropped out of sight...

[Koray Savas 2,259]

So why even list 10 composers if we can just replace them with whoever we want? May as well say "Rank your top 10 composers."

1. John Williams

1. Ennio Morricone

3. James Newton Howard

4. Michael Giacchino

5. John Powell

6. Thomas Newman

7. Hans Zimmer

8. Harry Gregson-Williams

9. Alan Silvestri

10. James Horner

[Josh500 1,620]

So why even list 10 composers if we can just replace them with whoever we want? May as well say "Rank your top 10 composers."

I said, if you're not familiar with a composer's work...

[Pieter Boelen 1,032]

Thanks, Pieter, that's a nice summing up!

Cheers. I'd be very interested to see something similar from other members.

Just rankings are not particularly interesting to me.

Rankings with reasoning, however...

[Ollie 1,364]

John Williams

Jerry Goldsmith

John Barry

Howard Shore

Danny Elfman

Alan Silvestri

James Newton Howard

Thomas Newman

James Horner

Hans Zimmer

[MSM 188]

John Williams

Jerry Goldsmith

John Barry

Hans Zimmer

Howard Shore

Alan Silvestri

James Newton Howard

James Horner

Danny Elfman

Thomas Newman

[Josh500 1,620]

It's nice to see John Williams and Jerry Goldsmith always at the top!!

Except for Miss Padme who placed Hans Zimmer above Jerry Goldsmith... Hey, I'm not judging anybody, just commenting on the fact.

[MSM 188]

So why even list 10 composers if we can just replace them with whoever we want? May as well say "Rank your top 10 composers."

1. John Williams

1. Ennio Morricone

3. James Newton Howard

4. Michael Giacchino

5. John Powell

6. Thomas Newman

7. Hans Zimmer

8. Harry Gregson-Williams

9. Alan Silvestri

10. James Horner

Then mine would be:

1. John Williams

2. Antonín Dvorák

3. Sergei Prokofiev

4. Erich W. Korngold

5. Leonard Bernstein

6. William Walton

7. Gustav Holst

8. Ottorino Respighi

9. Dmitri Shostakovitch

10. Bernard Herrmann

If we speak about 10 favorite film composers:

1. John Williams

2. Erich W. Korngold

3. Jerry Goldsmith

4. Brian Tyler

5. Edward Shearmur

6. Michael Convertino

7. David Arnold

8. John Barry

9. Bernard Herrmann

10. Max Steiner

[Ollie 1,364]

Well if we are going on our own personal top 10:

John Williams

Jerry Goldsmith

Akira Ifukube

Bernard Herrmann

Miklos Rozsa

Basil Poledouris & Elmer Bernstein

Alex North

John Barry & Georges Delerue

Danny Elfman

Michael Giacchino

[aj_vader 721]

1. John Williams

2. Howard Shore

3. James Newton Howard

4. Jerry Goldsmith

5. James Horner

6. Alan Silvestri

7. Danny Elfman

8. Hans Zimmer

9. Thomas Newman

10. John Barry

[Romão 2,458]

1 - John Williams

2- Sergei Prokofiev

3 - Modest Mussorgsky

4 - Richard Wagner

5 - Bernard Herrmann

6 - Jerry Goldsmith

7 - Miklos Rozsa

8 - Alex North

9 - Elliot Goldenthal

10- Toru Takemitsu

[ChuckM 1]

1. John Williams

2-3. Danny Elfman and John Powell

4. James Newton Howard

5. Jerry Goldsmith

6-7. James Horner and Alan Silvestri

8-9. John Barry and Thomas Newman

10. Hans Zimmer

[Taikomochi 1,405]

John Williams

James Newton Howard

Hans Zimmer(Don't judge me!)

Jerry Goldsmith

Howard Shore

Danny Elfman

John Barry

Thomas Newman

Alan Silvestri

James Horner

[indy4 160]

1. John Williams

2. James Newton Howard

3. Danny Elfman

4. Hans Zimmer

5. Howard Shore

6. Jerry Goldsmith

7. James Horner

[JoeinAR 1,955]

How anyone could put anyone about John Williams or Jerry Goldsmith is beyond understanding!

[Trent B 354]

1. Jerry Goldsmith

2. David Arnold

3. Alan Silvestri

4. James Newton Howard

5. Danny Elfman

6. John Williams

7. James Horner

8. Howard Shore

Edit: if we're doing our own personal top 10 ...then I changed mine slightly.

Thomas Newman's work I'm not familiar with only with Finding Nemo. Regarding Zimmer...he's alright but wouldn't put him on a top 10 list.

[Josh500 1,620]

I gotta be honest, I am not familiar AT ALL with the works of John Ottman, John Powell, and Harry Gregson-Williams.

Those who are, which are the best works of these composers?

[tharpdevenport 4]

1. Jerry Goldsmith

2. John Barry, James Horner

3. Danny Elfman, James Newton Howard, Alan Silvestri

4. John Williams

5. Thomas Newman

(No place; not familiar enough with his work) Howard Shore

Hans Zimmer does NOT make the list.

[Josh500 1,620]

1. Jerry Goldsmith

2. John Barry, James Horner

3. Danny Elfman, James Newton Howard, Alan Silvestri

4. John Williams

5. Thomas Newman

(No place; not familiar enough with his work) Howard Shore

Hans Zimmer does NOT make the list.

Wow, are you a JW fan at all?

[Mr. Breathmask 624]

It'd be horribly boring around here if everyone put Williams at the top spot, really.

[aj_vader 721]

I gotta be honest, I am not familiar AT ALL with the works of John Ottman, John Powell, and Harry Gregson-Williams.

Those who are, which are the best works of these composers?

My fav John Ottman score is X Men II, thats quite a good listen

not a big fan of Harry Gregson-Williams, the only one i think ive heard by him is Chronicles Of Narnia, which i think isnt really good at all :s

[Hitch 60]

It'd be horribly boring around here if everyone put Williams at the top spot, really.

Exactly.

1. James Horner

2. Jerry Goldsmith

3. Bernard Herrmann

4. Gustavo Santaolalla

5. John Barry

6. Ryan Shore

7. Maurice Jarre

8. Elliot Goldenthal

9. Miklos Rosza

10. Alex North

John T. Williams failed to my Top 100.......unfortunately

[Trent B 354]

It'd be horribly boring around here if everyone put Williams at the top spot, really.

I am in agreance with this. Despite this being a John Williams fan message board, it's clear that there are some members, like myself and Justin who don't have Williams their number one favorite.

[scissorhands 16]

Best film composers in history, in no order:

-Leonard Rosenman

-Alex North

-Jerry Goldsmith

-Toru Takemitsu

-John Williams

-Elliot Goldenthal

-Miklós Rózsa

-Joe Hisaishi

-Basil Poledouris

-James Horner

The last 3 have more to do with personal taste though.

[Nick Parker 3,049]

Where is Danny Elfman?

[Koray Savas 2,259]

I gotta be honest, I am not familiar AT ALL with the works of John Ottman, John Powell, and Harry Gregson-Williams.

Those who are, which are the best works of these composers?

Ottman - The Usual Suspects.

Powell - Horton Hears A Who, Bourne, Happy Feet, Paycheck, Antz, Chicken Run, Rat Race

Harry - Spy Game, Kingdom Of Heaven, Narnia, Man On Fire, Metal Gear Solid, Veronica Guerin

You can't go wrong with either Harry or JoPo, they're all good.

[scissorhands 16]

Where is Danny Elfman?

He would be 11th in the list, but as Peter asked 10...

[Nick Parker 3,049]

I would personally rate him higher than James Horner, but it is your opinion.

[Trent B 354]

Powell - Horton Hears A Who, Bourne, Happy Feet, Paycheck, Antz, Chicken Run, Rat Race

Don't forget X-Men: The Last Stand.

[indy4 160]

And Shrek.

[scissorhands 16]

I would personally rate him higher than James Horner, but it is your opinion.

Probably. I have never compared them though... they're so different to each other. But currently my taste is more leaned towards Horner. Although 2008 has been a helluva year for all Elfman fans :-)

[Williamsfan301 12]

Well, if we're ranking personal favorites then....

1) John Williams

2) Jerry Goldsmith

3) A. Dvorak

4) John Philips Sousa (yes, he wrote more than just marches and they're MARVELOUS works)

5) W. Francis McBeth

6) David Holsinger

7) Frank Ticheli

8) Danny Elfman

9) Richard Rogers

10) Claude T. Smith

[John Crichton 4]

If it's personal favorites:

1. John Williams

2. Jerry Goldsmith

3. Nobou Uematsu

4. Michael Giacchino

5. ...A bunch of people that I don't really prefer one over the other: Arnold, 80s Horner, Silvestri, Elfman, Shore for LotR, Murray Gold, Jeremy Soule, Guy Gross, Bear McCreary, Koji Kondo...everyone except Zimmer and the Zimmerclones, pretty much.

[hornist 1,242]

1. John Williams

2. The rest of the list

except

78. Jerry Goldsmith

[Trent B 354]

78. Jerry Goldsmith

:lol:

[indy4 160]

Trent, you're right! A big thumbs down for Jerry Goldsmith!

[Trent B 354]

No a big thumb down for Hornist and that post of his. Don't put words into my mouth.

[indy4 160]

It was a joke.

[MissPadmé 17]

bravo hornist glad to see i am not alone in this maze of misguidence

[Marian Schedenig 11,336]

Personal favourites?

1. Anton Bruckner

2. John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith, Richard Strauss, Richard Wagner

3. many more

4... tons more

[Romão 2,458]

Where is Danny Elfman?

He would be 11th in the list, but as Peter asked 10...

No love for Herrmann, Peio?

[Desplat13 1]

It was a joke.

There will be no jokes on this forum!