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***Nina*** · 01-12-20, 09:04 AM

No idea how I can embed videos, so I'll do it with linking. Sorry!

Film

What is your favourite score?

I don't really have one. Which is a bit of a sad start of this post.

I love film scores, but there isn't one I love more than all the others. I'm a sucker for bombastic music like in LotR, super hero movies or Star Wars, but I also adore the piano scores by Einaudi or Marianelli. And despite the overkill, I still love the music in Am?lie. And of course the whimsical stuff in Harry Potter and Edward Scissorhands.

So I'm doing what I did when I had to pick my favourite film; I'm going with the last one that really impressed me.

How to train Your Dragon 3

It's by John Powell and the whole score is stunning.

Which theme or leitmotiv is your favourite?

I can't choose between Hedwig's theme from Harry Potter and the Batman theme by Elfman. Yes, I'm that predictable.

Argh...

Batman it is.

Who is your favourite film composer?

John Williams. The man scored Star Wars, Harry Potter 1, 2 & 3, Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park, Jaws, Memoires of a Geisha, E.T., Schindler's list, The Donner Superman films and many more. It's hard to imagine these films without his music. And while I know that not every film is suited for his style of music, his scores are memorable and wonderful to listen to, even without watching the film. And that's how I like my film scores.

Television

Which intro/theme song is your favourite?

The last few years there have been so many amazing intro's. It's hard to pick one. So I'll go with one I adore and which might be less well known than the ones in Mad Men, Star Trek, The Crown or GoT:

Anne with an E

The paintings are by Brad Kunkle, here is a small Behind the Scenes about it.

Which series/show has the best music in general?

Star Trek. The original theme and all the variations are fantasic, especially those from the nineties: Deep Space Nine & Voyager. But the Discovery one is also fabulous.

But it's not just the famous ST theme, there is so much great music in the many Star Trek seasons. It's hard to pick a few since there is so much to pick from. But to give some examples:

One from The next Generation

Some Deep Space 9

a bit of Discovery

And let's end with the good old orginal.

Shout out to The Umbrella Academy btw. Their fun and eclectic music choice is one of the reasons why that show works so well.

Other

Is there music from other media you want us to hear?

Maybe I'll come back later, but at this moment I can't really think of something.

Which musical (film or theater) has the best score/music in your opinion?

10+ years ago I've seen Les Miserables in theater. And the overture blew me away, I've never experienced something like that again. All the music in Les Mis is great, but that overture and the Bring Him Home prayer are why I love it more than the other musicals.

What is your favourite christmas song/carol?

It's certainly a carol, the most non-religious christmas songs are terrible. That said, I'm not raised with carols. I fear the religious music in The Netherlands is a disaster. But in the recent years it's getting better. So let's go for a new one:

Rutter's All Bells in Paradise

***Stoney*** · 13-12-20, 10:37 PM

Okay, I've tried to answer but it was both strangely easy and also really difficult. I often don't notice background music, although I do notice the absence of it. Consequently, the times when music really stands out to me it is quite significant. But, on the other hand, conscious awareness of aspects like leitmotivs will often pass me by.

Film

What is your favourite score?
I'm discounting musicals, as that's it's own thing entirely and just thinking about soundtracks and theme music. But even paring it down a bit in my mind and having a reduced conscious awareness of scores, this is still a very tough question. For music composed for a film, the Star Wars movies, Harry Potter and Jurassic Park are the ones that instantly spring to mind. So of course my favourite film composer is not going to shock anyone and I already mentioned him in response to Nina 's pick.

For use of non-original music, obviously there is still a lot of difference in film soundtracks for how well the music/songs are selected to enhance the scenes too (I don't know if including thought about these breaks what you were looking for). As I said in the unpopular opinions thread, the soundtrack to the first Twilight film, I really like. That scene with the baseball game and Supermassive Black Hole by Muse... ach, I just love it. I have quite a lot of the soundtracks to Quentin Tarantino films too, I generally really like his use of music and it stands out to me. Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs are favourites.

Which theme or leitmotiv is your favourite?
I don't know. I'm sorry.

Who is your favourite film composer?
It has to be John Williams.

Television

Which intro/theme song is your favourite?
I genuinely love the intro music to BtVS and AtS. I gain a very genuine fondness for most theme music that belongs to shows that I love and which you can strongly associate with the tone and feel of the shows. So, others that stand out in my mind are Farscape, Xena, Blackadder, Red Dwarf, Friends and Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. Star Trek was such a heavy feature of my childhood too and Dr Who that hearing both of those always makes me smile. It's that feeling of anticipation they all give. But yeah, BtVS and AtS definitely feature at the top.

Which series/show has the best music in general?
That's hard. As I said before, it is a personal failing to often not notice the music in the backgrounds. Not even in BtVS. But I am getting better at thinking about the lyrics of the songs in the scenes they are in and how they often enhance the narrative they accompany. Discussing the show more analytically in the rewatch has heightened my appreciation for this. But I'm not sure if other shows are as good for using music as another layer of meaning like BtVS does, so I have to put the credit to the use on there for my increasing awareness of it in that way. The performances are not necessarily music that I'd choose to listen to though, that's a bit of a different 'best'. Most recently I did get the soundtrack to Big Little Lies after the first season of that. The music in that often stood out.

Other

Is there music from other media you want us to hear? (By example themes or overtures from a game, radio drama or podcast)
Okay, in terms of that sense of anticipation, I always get a smile when I hear the Crash Bandicoot theme and the various music for all the different levels/bonus levels (here's another example). It's my favourite game and I absolutely adore it and really like the music used throughout and how they work for the various tones and looks of the levels.

Which musical (film or theater) has the best score/music in your opinion?
Oh geez, that's so incredibly tough. American Aurora , could you ever pick just one?

I haven't watched nearly as many as I would like to in order to feel I'm offering a well informed choice. I was very impressed by The Greatest Showman in recent years. But there are so many fabulous musicals with very different tones it's hard to pick just one. Throughout my childhood Blood Brothers, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, West Side Story, Starlight Express and Joseph were my favourites. I'd now add Guys and Dolls, Lion King, Chicago, and, I'm not ashamed to admit as it's seasonal, The Muppet's Christmas Carol.

Basically, there are loads. I think my top three would be Blood Brothers, Chicago and The Greatest Showman. In that order. But I don't like picking (as you can tell by the top three).

And since it's nearly christmas...

What is your favourite christmas song/carol?
I have a real fondness for a very eclectic mix of music and put together a 'top Christmas mix' several years ago that has a handful of favourites that span several decades. All together it really gives me the Christmas feels.

Band Aid is always going to get a mention in a question about favourite Christmas tracks and Walking in the Air. There are just so many though and as we've already established, I'm really not good at picking. The Christmas Song with Nat King Cole is a classic, as is Judy Garland's Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, but I really like Good King Wenceslas, Silent Night and Gaudete. And then there is the fabulous strangeness of Fairytale of New York as a Christmassy ditty. Yep, I'm really not very good at picking. I have to admit though, I can't help but love a bit of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer all year round, so maybe that.

***Stoney*** · 14-12-20, 12:26 AM

That behind the scenes about Anne with an E was fantastic. I really love the way that the natural world theme he felt was tied into the sequence and worked with the natural tone of the art. In a really strange side step because of the fantastical elements of Labyrinth, it actually reminded me of the visuals in that. Not just becuase of the owl(!), but the sense of the world around infiltrating the characters and surroundings simultaneously.

EDIT: Huh, that's another favourite musical as a child, Labyrinth. I adore the tone of Bowie's voice and is why Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy duetted with Bing Crosby was one of the Christmas options that made it to my self compiled Christmas album.

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What is your favourite incidental music?

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