A film score is the background music of a film. The term soundtrack may be confused with film score , a soundtrack however, also includes everything audible in the film including sound effects and dialogue. A score is written specifically to accompany a film, by the original film’s composer(s). Some well-known orchestral soundtracks or better say film scores include:
10. A Gift of Thistle – James Horner
BraveHeart
James Roy Horner an American composer, orchestrator and conductor of orchestral and film music is noted for the integration of choral and electronic elements in many of his film scores, and for frequent use of Celtic musical elements for his body of work in the notable score called “A gift of Thistle” for Brave Heart.
9. Main March – John Williams
Superman
John Towner Williams also an American composer, conductor, and pianist, in a career that spans six decades, Williams has composed many of the most famous film scores in Hollywood history, including the theme for superman. Williams worked with director Richard Donner to score the 1978 film Superman.
8. Circle of Life – Hans Zimmer
The Lion King
Hans Florian Zimmer, a German film composer and executive score producer. He has composed music for over 100 films. Zimmer traveled to Africa in order to use African choirs and drums in the recording of his scores. On the strength of this work, Disney Animation Studios approached Zimmer to compose the score for the 1994 film The Lion King. This was to be his first score for an animated film. Disney studio bosses expressed fears that Zimmer would be killed if he went to South Africa, so the recording of the choirs was organized during a visit by Lebo M. Zimmer won numerous awards for his work on The Lion King, including an Academy Award for Best Music (Original Score), a Golden Globe, and two Grammys. In 1997, the score was adapted into a Broadway musical version which won the Tony Award for Best Musical in 1998.
7. Waltz – Nino Rota
The GodFather
Nino Rota was a world-renowned Italian composer and academic who is best known for the themes he composed for the first two films of Francis Ford Coppola’s Godfather trilogy, receiving for the latter the Academy Award for Best original Score in 1974.
6. Hymn to the Sea – James Horner
Titanic
James Horner’s career spans over three decades and he has composed several of Hollywood’s most famous film scores. His score to the 1997 film Titanic remains the best selling orchestral film soundtrack of all time. At the 70th Academy Awards, Horner won Oscars for Best Original Dramatic Score and Best Original Song for “My Heart Will Go On” (which he co-wrote with Will Jennings). In addition, Horner and Jennings won three Grammy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards for the soundtrack .
5. The Raider’s March – John Williams
Indiana Jones Franchise
The soundtrack to the Indiana Jones: Raider’s of the Last Ark was released by Columbia Records in 1981. The music was composed and conducted by John Williams , and performed by the London Symphony Orchestra. Orchestrations were done by Herbert W. Spencer and Al Woodbury. For the 1981 film Raiders of the Lost Ark, Williams wrote a rousing main theme known as “The Raiders March ” to accompany the film’s hero, Indiana Jones. He also composed separate themes to represent the Ark of the Covenant, the character Marion and the Nazi villains of the story. Additional themes were featured in his scores to the sequel films.
4. The Pink Panther Theme – Henry Mancini
The Pink Panther
The Pink Panther Theme is an instrumental composition by Henry Mancini written as the theme for the 1963 film The Pink Panther and subsequently nominated for the 1964 Academy Award for Original Music Score. The cartoon character created for the opening credits of the movie by David DePatie and Friz Freleng was animated in time to the tune. RCA Records released the tune as a single in 1964; it reached the Top 10 on the Billboard adult contemporary chart and won three Grammy Awards. It was featured in the opening credits of all The Pink Panther films, with the exception of A Shot in the Dark, and Inspector Clouseau.
3. Escape – Lalo Schifrin
Mission Impossible
It is a distinctive tune written in the uncommon 5/4 time signature by Lalo Schifrin, an Argentine composer, pianist and conductor, best known for his film and TV scores. He has received four Grammy Awards and six Oscar nominations for this one. It is one of Schifrin’s most recognizable and enduring compositions is the theme music for the long-running TV series and movies Mission: Impossible.
2. 007 Theme – John Barry
James Bond 007
The song uses a surf rock style. At the time of the first film’s release, surf rock was a recent craze. Composed by John Barry , an English film score composer. He is best known for composing 11 James Bond soundtracks and was hugely influential on the 007 series’ distinctive style. His earlier achievements had caught the attention of the producers of a new film called Dr. No who were dissatisfied with a theme for James Bond given to them by Monty Norman. Barry was hired and the result would be one of the most famous signature tunes in film history, the “James Bond Theme”. When the producers of the Bond series engaged Lionel Bart to score the next James Bond film From Russia with Love, they discovered that Bart could not read or write music. Though Bart wrote a title song for the film, the producers remembered Barry’s arrangement of the James Bond Theme and his composing and arranging chores for several films.
1. Luke’s Theme – John Williams
Star Wars
Steven Spielberg recommended John Williams to his friend and fellow director George Lucas, who needed a composer to score his ambitious space epic, Star Wars. Williams produced a grand symphonic score in the fashion of Richard Strauss and Golden Age Hollywood composers. Its main theme—”Luke’s Theme”—is among the most widely recognized in motion picture history, and the “Force Theme” and “Princess Leia’s Theme” are well-known examples of leitmotif. The film and its soundtrack were both immensely successful, and Williams won another Academy Award for Best Original Score.
BONUS:
The Ring Goes South – Howard Shore
The Lord of the Rings Triology
The scores for The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, made him win three Academy Awards. Howard Leslie Shore, a Canadian composer, Since 2004, he has toured the world conducting local orchestras in the performance of his new symphonic arrangement of his highly acclaimed Lord of the Rings scores. The new work is entitled The Lord of the Rings: Symphony in Six Movements. Shore will return to the themes of Middle-earth when he scores The Hobbit film duology, to be released in 2011 and 2012.
Worth Mentioning are Scores for Planet of the Apes (Jerry Goldsmith), Jaws (John Williams), E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (John Williams), Jurassic Park (John Williams), The Aviator (Howard Shore), Back to the Future Trilogy (Alan Silvestri) and Gladiator (Hans Zimmer,Lisa Gerrard).