With the advent of the movie industry in the early 20th century, music found a new, unexplored genre: soundtracks. Crafting a score for a film is an entirely different art form from creating other types of music, having to be woven in expertly with visual aspects. In this field, a handful of artists and composers have made a huge mark, establishing themselves as legends in the movie world.
Maurice Jarre
We’re starting with a slightly older example, although time hasn’t reduced the power of Maurice Jarre’s work. The French composer was most active in the middle of the 20th century and was particularly associated with themes of adventures and faraway lands, famous for his scores to Doctor Zhivago, A Passage To India, and most famously Lawrence of Arabia.
The latter has shaped the soundscape of North African depictions from TV shows all the way through to casino games. If a player opens up a slot like Saraha Riches Cash Collect and takes a good listen at the sounds and music behind it, they’ll hear things that Jarre first established over 60 years earlier. His cultural mark on the world is undeniable.
John Williams
For a certain generation of movie lovers, John Williams is the be-all and end-all of music composers. If there was a need for epic music, particularly for epic fight scenes, Williams was the man called in. He is still active today, albeit in a more reduced role, and has maintained a reputation for the sheer scale and drama he can bring to a score.
He has been attached to some of the biggest movie franchises that have traversed the millennium, including multiple Steven Spielberg productions like the Indiana Jones series, Jaws and Schindler’s List. One of his most famous pieces, that being Duel of the Fates, has gone down as one of the most recognisable cultural elements of the past 50 years in the eyes of many.
Hans Zimmer
With a completely different musical style to John Williams, but just as many plaudits under his belt, Hans Zimmer is another name very familiar to movie fans. While in most cases he’s not considered as epic as Williams, it’s generally agreed that he has a far wider range in terms of his projects, including everything from light animated pieces to dark and brooding sci-fi films.
In recent years he has been most well-known for his work on Interstellar and the latest Dune adaptations, both deep and highly atmospheric projects with soundtracks crafted to match. Going back towards the turn of the century, however, and you can find everything from The Last Samurai to Black Hawk Down to the Da Vinci Code. At first glance, it appears to be a very eclectic mixture of genres, but each has received significant praise for the score, often above any praise for the movie itself.
There are dozens of new movie projects coming out each year, and we are just starting to see the next generation of composing legends. Even then, the composers above are likely to be the gold standard in the industry for many years to come.
