Over the years, I have come to realize that the Oscars are an enormous folly, especially regarding choices for the soundtrack categories. Two years ago, the Academy thankfully re-established the dual "original score" categories, one for dramatic scores and the other for musicals/comedy. Ironically, this move allowed "more serious" dramatic scores to compete in the absence of Disney efforts. But in reality, the Academy has not changed a tiny bit in its curious, and sometimes absurd treatment of film scores. In this tribute to the very best of 1996, Filmtracks presents information and reviews on the Oscar nominated scores, and gives alternate nominations and winners for soundtrack fans to consider.

Best Score as Heard in the Film:

• Independence Day (David Arnold)
• Star Trek: First Contact (Jerry Goldsmith)
• The Ghost and the Darkness (Jerry Goldsmith)
• The Rock (Hans Zimmer)
• Mission: Impossible (Danny Elfman)

Best CD Release of the Year:

• E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (John Williams)
• Independence Day (David Arnold)
• Star Trek: First Contact (Jerry Goldsmith)
• The Spitfire Grill (James Horner)
• The Ghost and the Darkness (Jerry Goldsmith)

The Academy's Picks:

Filmtracks reviews for 1996 scores nominated for "Best Original Dramatic Score:"

Details of the Filmtracks Picks:

In the tradition of the Academy Awards, the scores nominated this year represented the typical "successful, artsy, late-in-the-year" films. We throw aside those boundries and have chosen scores on the basis of merit, not profits.

Dramatic Score: By far the most innovative score this year was The Spitfire Grill. It was enchanting in the film, and proved James Horner's diversity of knowledge in composing the perfect score for a particular film. The financial failure of the film gave it practically no chance of nomination by the Academy. Jerry Goldsmith had an impressive year (some say it's been a "comeback year" for him), with The Ghost and the Darkness and Star Trek: First Contact. We chose to nominate The Ghost and the Darkness because it is a return to his classic composing of decades ago. Goldsmith's ingenuity is very evident, with good uses of native voices, synthesizers, and orchestra combined. Star Trek: First Contact was also strong, but the mere fact that it belongs to a Trek film practically disqualified it from any award consideration.

The other three scores we nominated were also nominated by the Academy. The English Patient is a good score by Gabriel Yared, although much of its popularity has fed off of the film's great success. Along with this, the score works much better in the film, where it is complemented well by the stunning visuals. Alone, this score is recommendable, but not the best. Michael Collins is perhaps the best score to date by Elliot Goldenthal. Its epic opening tracks alone make it a good buy. If forced to choose from the Academy nominated scores, Michael Collins would be our choice. John Williams' Sleepers was guaranteed nomination simply because of Williams' reputation. It is weaker than many of his scores, and very far from the fanfare style his fans recognize best. It is a dark and powerful score, and worthy of nomination.

Honorable mention goes to David Arnold's patriotic Grammy winner Independence Day, Goldsmith's Star Trek: First Contact, and Carter Burwell's much-overlooked Fargo. Danny Elfman fans may mistakenly consider themselves cheated by our choices; we do not believe that Elfman is inferior, but rather we believe that he has had far more productive years.

Musical/Comedy Score: The Academy rules state that the score must be "original" in order to be considered for an award. Although the songs of Evita originated in the Broadway show decades ago, the new orchestrations of the score itself should allow it to be considered. Thus, we award Andrew Lloyd Webber our award in this category. Evita is a monumental effort, and although it may have irritating songs sprinkled throughout, the proportion of these songs to the good songs is nil because of its total length. The performances by Banderas and Madonna are stellar.

Disney is always the favorite in this category, though. Alen Menken's The Hunchback of Notre Dame is a massive choral score with some dark songs (to complement the typical Disney love songs). Of the Academy's nominations, this is our choice. Rachel Portman receives her first nomination for Emma, a solid period piece that adds great charm to the film. Alone on CD, though, it does not stand up as well with the other two. The Mirror Has Two Faces (Marvin Hamlisch) and Phenomenon (Thomas Newman) are both good romantic scores, and deserve recognition.

Be sure to visit the Filmtracks Awards pages, with Academy and Filmtracks picks from the last ten years.

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