Florian Fricke (Popol Vuh)

Florian Fricke (1944-2001) was the genius behind the mythical German band Popul Vuh, providing music for Werner Hertzog's films, including “Aguirre, Wrath of God”, “Nosferatu The Vampyre”, “Cobra Verde” and “Fitzcarraldo”. Composer, Fricke was a master of dark, dreamy, visionary music; using analogue synthesizers in a textured, humanized style along with traditional wind and percussive instruments.
Popul Vuh presented a totally unique approach to soundtrack music, which ultimately created an often eerie and vivid soundscape to Hertzog's equally original cinematic masterpieces. A Looking-Glass Cult Digital favourite.

Soundtracks by Florian Fricke (Popol Vuh)
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Jocelyn Pook

Although she has not been specifically categorized, as a soundtrack composer in the past, Jocelyn Pook's simple, beautiful and haunting music has featured in many major movies over the last decade such as Kubrick's "Eyes Wide Shut".
Her soundtrack for the 2004 movie "The Merchant of Venice" won her huge acclaim and has firmly established her as a leading movie composer for the 21st Century.
Jocelyn Pook's contemporary / classical style is achieved through an intelligent use of sampling, intuitive, flowing song structures and often accompanied by a liquid-sounding voice; a tonal montage that produces a perfect balance of drama and melancholy, both light and shade. There is genuine musical emotion derived through her works and highly recommended by Cult Digital. (Double 5 Star)

General Albums by Jocelyn Pook
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"Merchant of Venice" Soundtrack by Jocelyn Pook
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The king of martini-lounge and cold-war cinema themes. From "James Bond" to"Harry Palmer", "Midnight Cowboy" to "Dances With Wolves" and many hugely memorable film and TV tunes in-between, John Barry is the archetype composer who has popularized film music. His style is instantly recognizable - catchy, sometimes melancholic tones that not only syncopates to the film's mood but also leaves you feeling the emotion of his melodies for years to come. Barry is one of just a handful of film composers (along with the excellent Maurice Jarre) who have managed to fashion a music genre from film composition - creating tailor-made movie themes cabable of sitting just as memorably alongside everyday popular / easy listening classics.

Soundtracks by John Barry
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Yann Tiersen
Rue Des Cascades
+ Amelie

Rue Des Cascades isn't specifically a film soundtrack album but a wonderful collection of compositions by the composer of "Amelie" and "Goodbye Lenin". The title track 'Rue Des Cascades' was the end music to the Cannes Film Festival award winning "Dream Life of Angels".
(Double 5 Star)

Rue Des Cascades
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2001 A Space Odyssey ... soundtrack

Director Stanley Kubrick's landmark film has been around since 1968, but its soundtrack still remains one of the most unique and groundbreaking music scores since the birth of cinema. Apart from the Strauss's now famous "Also Sprach Zarathustra" etc, popularized by this movie, the rest of the film's incidental music by György Ligeti is truly mind-blowing. Whether hearing it as part of the movie or on its own, the dream-to-nightmare drones and choral passages will transport you to worlds and universes beyond your wildest imagination ... and remember, this music was created live ... no synths and years before the invention of samplers.

2001 Soundtrack
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Cast Away ... soundtrack plus others

In fact, the movie "Cast Away" contains only around 15 minutes of music ... and that's during the last part of the film. But when it starts it's beautiful, and represents a classic example of a high pedigree film score by Alan Sivestri. The CD link here leads to a release of a complitation of Sylvestri's music of which "Cast Away" is the title track. The CD also includes his music from around six other great films.

Cast Away soundtrack plus others
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Double Five Star Recommendations
(Region 1 + 2)

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Alan Silvestri

One of the finest mainstream movie composers of recent times Alan Silvestri creates highly memorable musical passages with tactile precision. Whether incidental dynamics or flowing, thematic sequences Silvestri understands and embraces those engenious music scoring formulas pioneered by the great Bernard Herrmann. They are the ingredients that turn a great movie into an outstanding and memorable milestone in cinema. "Cast Away", "Van Helsing", "The Polar Express" and "Back to The Future" are just taster of Silvestri scores.

Soundtracks by Alan Silvestri
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Stewart Copeland

The whizz drummer of 70's 80's pop trio The Police, harbours another talent as a highly original film composer. Stewart Copeland's unique and familiar sound of major-minor, randomized melody is his main speciality. Acclamation of Copeland's fine work includes "The Equaliser", "Rumble Fish", a slight change in musical direction with "Four Days in September", and more recently the brilliant "Dead Like Me".

Soundtracks by Stewart Copeland
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Jerry Goldsmith

The late, great composer of 318 productions since around 1945. Jerry Goldsmith's musical mark is stamped on many of the most famous American movie and TV shows of all time. An Oscar for "The Omen" and 17 nominations for other movies such as "Planet of The Apes" "Star Trek" and"Chinatown" gives an idea of the output from this prolific and influentual composer.

Soundtracks by Jerry Goldsmith
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Cliff Martinez

As with Stewart Copeland, another drummer who re-directed his music career towards film composition is Cliff Martinez, former skin basher with the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Martinez has created some stunning scores for movies such as "Sex, Lies and Videotape" and "Traffic". His musical forte is atmosphere and ambience type works has can be heard on the soundtrack to Solaris.

Soundtracks by Cliff Martinez
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Mychael Danna

Canadian composer Mychael Danna has been scoring films since 1987 and is often commissioned by acclaimed director Atom Egoyan ("Exotica", "The Sweet Hereafter").
Mychael's music for film settles naturally and unobtrusively into its respective productions - perfectly balanced arrangements that give a strong and often melancholic atmosphere, but with a forward-thinking and modern twist. Recent works include "Vanity Fair", "Aura Borealis" and "Where The Truth Lies".

Soundtracks by Mychael Danna
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Lalo Schifrin

Along with Quincy Jones, Argentinian born jazz pianist Lalo Schifrin is one of the godfathers of ultra-cool film scores and themes. "Mission Impossible", "Bullitt" and "Starsky and Hutch" are just three of the 200 films Schifrin has scored.

Soundtracks by Lalo Schifrin
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