Broughton is one of those composers who has been around forever and has
composed some spectucular work, but is somewhat unfamiliar to the typical
soundtrack collector. He is best known for his western scores.
I don't know why, but it seems that Davis isn't very well-known in the
soundtrack community. Maybe it's because all of his excellent scores
are for horrible movies. His profile rose early in 1999 with his
excellent score to The Matrix.
One of the latest victims of corporate Hollywood, this talented young composer
began with the grandiose, awe-inspiring choral score for Cutthroat Island,
but has since been reduced to kiddie comedies and slasher flicks.
Dudley is one of the pre-eminent female composers in Hollywood, and also
one of the most popular. She won an Academy Award for her work on
The Full Monty, and some of her latest work was on American History X.
A relative newcomer, Eidelman showed great promise with Star Trek VI and
Christopher Columbus: The Discovery. Unfortunately he has been getting
boring dramas to score lately and has not had a chance to show his true
colors.
Probably the wackiest composer out there, lately he has been experimenting
with atonal compositional techniques. His earlier scores include
Batman and Edward Scissorhands. Lately, he has done Men in Black
and A Simple Plan.
As far as I'm concerned, Giacchino is the KING when it comes to video game
scores. He consistently comes out with game scores better than most
film music today. His biggest assignments have been The Lost World
and Medal of Honor. IMHO, a director REALLY needs to hire him on
a movie - just listen to Medal of Honor!
A true innovator, former classical composer Goldenthal has been melding
dissonant 20th Century writing with traditional film scoring tones.
Although his work is not always listenable, it IS always creative.
Goldsmith has been working in the film
music industry since 1950 and is one of Hollywood's most prolific composers.
He began with modernistic, atonal scores, but lately has become more traditional.
Probably best known for his work with Alfred Hitchcock, Herrmann is one
of the greatest composers of the 20th century (both film and classical.)
Although his music is not always easy listening, especially some of the
Hitchcock scores like Psycho and Torn Curtain, it's always intelligent
and perfectly suited for the picture.
Horner takes a more traditional approach to scoring. Unfortunately,
he has always been one to copy music from both himself and others.
Lately, he has been scoring heavy dramas.
Previously known as the newest composer for huge action blockbusters, Howard
has since mutated his style for intelligent dramas always heavy on minimalism.
Mainly known for his epic scores to David Lean films. Lately he has
been obsessed with synthesizers, turning out a lot of entirely synthetic
ambient scores.
Mann has been around for a while, orchestrating for people like Marc Shaiman.
In the '90s he has started composing his own scores, including Dracula:
Dead and Loving It.
McKenzie, while still a relative unknown to most film score collectors,
has been stepping up the popularity ladder with scores for direct-to-video
sequels and Hallmark miniseries.
Another newcomer, he has been stuck with low-budget action flicks and has
not had a chance to truly show off his talent. Still, Shadows of
the Empire is an awesome concert work, refreshingly departing from Williams'
established norms.
Morricone is undoubtedly the most prolific film composer of all time (so
far) with something like 1000 scores under his belt. He first made
a name for himself by introducing the definitive sound of spaghetti westerns
with The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.
Even though he's been on the film scoring scene for over 15 years, Poledouris
has been ignored by many film score fans. He has written some of
the best score literature ever, including Conan and The Hunt for Red October.
Mostly known for his classical works, Prokofiev also made a short foray
into film music, composing such Russian films as Alexander Nevsky, Lt.
Kije, and Ivan the Terrible
One of the older generation of composers, Rosenman is known for his atonality
and 20th Century classical style of scoring. Unfortunately, most
of his work sounds the same.
Probably the most talented TV composer working today, Mark Snow has been
nominated for 9 major awards (2 for The X-Files) and has composed scores
for numerous high-profile TV series, miniseries, and films.
Probably the most popular composer at the moment, Williams has done many complex
scores that hearken back to the days of Korngold and Steiner. Lately
he has developed a mature style completely unlike the rest of his work
(i.e. Schindler's List)
Veteran composer of over 50 films, Young has proven he can write in just
about every genre of movie, although he's most adept to horror. Despite
his enormous talents, he's somewhat underappreciated in the film score
world, but he gains popularity daily.
Zimmer basically writes in two styles: the bombastic action style heard
in The Rock, etc., and the moving, epic style from The Lion King and The
Thin Red Line.
