> Howard Shore is a chameleon. Each score has a different style none sound
> the same.The style matches the movie he has been presented with.The next
> two scores for LOTR will be similar but different.

> One of my favorite scores was Big and it was in Ragtime style

Actually Howard Shore has one of the most distinctive styles in the business. His scores are indeed varied and always brilliantly matched with the film but his presence is always detectable. Listen to 'The Game', 'Lord of the Rings' and 'Panic Room' in that order and you'll hear what I mean: for example, the string harmonies of 'The Game' are based on the same principles as those in 'The Prophecy' or 'The Breaking of the Fellowship', and the rhythmic figures of 'The Prophecy' are clearly from the same imagination as the opening of 'Panic Room'. But greater than these individual comparisons there is the very fact that Howard Shore repeatedly produces incredibly powerful scores. Someone without a real personal sense of style couldn't keep delivering like that.

Chris.