Composer Howard Shore’s fantastical score to Peter Jasckson’s “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy has been voted the UK’s favorite movie music. The soundtrack garnered three Academy Awards, three Golden Globes, and four Grammys. He also took 80th place on the list for the music to “The Hobbit” trilogy
Shore’s most recent wins come via a poll taken by the popular UK radio station Classic FM, as part of their annual Movie Music Hall of Fame. More than 10,000 people cast a vote in this year’s contest for the top 100 film scores. The winners were announced on Sunday by a former presenter of the BBC’s Film program, Jonathan Ross.
John Williams’ took the second and third spots with the scores for “Schindler’s List” and “Star Wars,” respectively. He was also the UK’s most popular composer boasting 11 entries on the list, five of those being in the top 20. Including the “Jurassic Park” franchise (8), “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” (11), the “Indiana Jones” franchise (13), “Saving Private Ryan” (21), “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial” (30), “Jaws” (39), “Superman” (47), “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” (58), and “War Horse” (87).
Though Williams can also brag that his music started a synchronized most pit, which is really an award unto itself.
Hans Zimmer took the second most popular film composer, with ten entries including “Gladiator” (5), “Interstellar” (17), “The Lion King” (23), “Inception” (29), the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise (31), “The Holiday” (52), “The Dark Knight” trilogy (61), “Dunkirk” (70), “No Time to Die” (77), and “The Da Vinci Code” (85).
While the list is predominantly men, Debbie Wiseman nabbed the sixth spot for her score to “Wilde.” Making her the highest-placing female composer on the list. Others include Angela Morley’s “Watership Down” (55), Germaine Franco’s “Encanto” (59), Hildur Guðnadóttir’s “Joker” (83), and Rachel Portman’s “Chocolat” (92) scores.
Top 20 for The Classic FM Movie Music Hall of Fame 2023:
- “The Lord of the Rings” – Howard Shore
- “Schindler’s List” – John Williams
- “Star Wars” – John Williams
- “Out of Africa” – John Barry
- “Gladiator” – Hans Zimmer
- “Wilde” – Debbie Wiseman
- “Dances with Wolves” – John Barry
- “Jurassic Park” – John Williams
- “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” – Ennio Morricone
- “The Mission” – Ennio Morricone
- “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” – John Williams
- “Chariots of Fire” – Vangelis
- “Indiana Jones” – John Williams
- “Ladies in Lavender” – Nigel Hess
- “Doctor Zhivago” – Maurice Jarre
- “The Magnificent Seven” – Elmer Bernstein
- “Interstellar” – Hans Zimmer
- “The Godfather” – Nino Rota
- “Titanic” – James Horner
- “Pirates of the Caribbean” – Klaus Badelt
You can see all 100 scores listed here.
