"The score is genius. It just comes from a totally different place. It's like... I can't even... Just promise me you'll rent it and listen to it. "*

I am a huge movie watcher/fan/buff, and one of the things I absolutely love about film is the score. Scores have the ability to enhance the story in some of the most basic and powerful ways. They make intimate moments between characters more romantic or passionate. They turn suspenseful moments into "I'm covering my eyes; tell me when it's over" moments. They can turn a choreographed fight scene into a battle of life and death. They can turn a camera's pan over a landscape into a broad sweeping vista of hope and possibilities.

There are movies that I find it hard to think of without thinking of the music that is featured in them: Star Wars, Titanic, The English Patient, Out of Africa, The Godfather, The Last of the Mohicans, Amelie, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Glory, and ET. The music is such an integral part of the storytelling in each of these films. I think to try to tell these stories without the score would lesson each of them significantly.

I think that greatest portion of my music collection would fall into the category of film score/soundtrack. It really is what most of my new purchases seems to be. I also have a bunch of film score play lists for my iPod: "Romantic Film Scores", "A Truth Universally Acknowledged" (music from Jane Austen adaptations), "Dario's Scores", "John Hughes Movies", "Wizarding World of Harry Potter", "Pirates!!", "LOTR Selected", "Queen Elizabeth", and "John Barry Scores".

John Barry is definitely one of my favorite film composers. He has a significant body of work, having written the music for the James Bond movies, Out of Africa, Dances With Wolves, Born Free, Midnight Cowboy, Somewhere in Time, Enigma, and The Lion in Winter. He died today at the age of 77. There is a great tribute video up on YouTube highlighting the best of his work. Chances are, even if you don't know the man's name, you are going to recognize his work. (I always associate flowing strings with brass and piano as John Barry's MO.)



*from The Holiday