> I listen to a lot of modern music as well. I see filmmusic as a sort of
> extension and side-development of 20th-century music. But there's also a
> lot of cross-inspiration going on.

> You definately have to take the context of the film into account as well.
> Some movies don't need a complex type of score - which doesn't mean that
> the composer wouldn't be able to supply it. Hans Zimmer for instance has
> shown, that he can write good and interesting music. It just seems that
> lately he isn't really in the mood for it.
> A lot of Goldsmith's themes for instance are relatively simple, but the
> way he uses them are interesting, intelligent and complex. Or Bernard
> Herrmann for example. He uses simple musical motivs which he develops and
> changes. Zimmer also uses themes, but the orchestration and application
> never really varies, as if he thinks that people won't be able to remember
> a theme if it is played differently.

> As I said, a lot of crossover going on. Filmmusic doesn't necessarily have
> to be orchestral music. It has no real musical tradition (back in the 20s
> they would play whatever came to mind when a movie would play). In this
> regard a song can work as well as a piece of music tailored for the scene.
> It has to do with how you apply it. Sadly nowadays music is way too
> overused. Getting back to TORA TORA TORA, that movie, being 2 hours
> something in lenght only has a score of about 30 minutes. Even more sparse
> is how Tarkovsky handled the music in his pictures. STALKER for instance
> has only 10 to 15 minutes of music in a 3 hour long picture. And the
> composer who did this was classically trained and had a long background in
> composition for film and concert hall. And what he wrote was very simple
> and haunting.
> On the other hand there are a lot of composers without classical training
> who are able to make great scores.

> You're welcome! I always enjoy a good discussion about music! BTW, which
> contemporary composers do you enjoy?

> cheers
> Flo

Thank you for sharing your knowledge on film music!
The composers interest me most are actually the composers that try to take their heritage into the compositions: Takemitsu, Bela Bartok, Vuaghan Williams, even Yoon Isang.