Your Top 3 Favorite Composers

[Ermz]

1. Mark Morgan - Fallout 1 & 2, Planescape Torment etc. There is something amazingly rich and sinister about his ambient work that I absolutely love. He has a great way of evoking images and ideas and supporting the visual theme on the screen. Inspired by lustmord and the dark ambient scene which I hold so dear, Mark is a composer after my own heart and I connect with his work very deeply.

2. Nobuo Uematsu - Large amounts of the Final Fantasy series etc. This man shouldn't even need an introduction. Just a legendary contemporary composer. He has more artistic ingenuity than the entire metal scene combined, past and present, IMO.

3. Jeremy Soule - Morrowind, Oblivion, Total Annihilation etc. Does great orchestral scores. From the soothing ambiances of the Elder Scrolls games through to the war fanfare of Total Annihilation, Supreme Commander etc. I usually put his music on when I want something to make me feel right at ease.

Yours?

 

[P-E]

If we're not considering classical music, then I'll have only one : Nobuo Uematsu, exactly what you said. He has been able to create amazing music on no matter which system for years, whether it's for an orchestra or the SNES.

edit: Ennio Morricone is amazing too

 

[vikk]

since i'm not into games, Clint Mansell, Phillip Glass, Hans Zimmer

 

[Line666]

Jim Steinman, Danny Elfman, Philippe Vachey.

 

[GarethSE]

Ennio Morricone
Angelo Badalamenti
Nobuo Uematsu

\o/

 

[arv_foh]

John Williams. No contest.

 

[MarcusGHedwig]

Film: John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith, Alan Silvestri (honorable mention to James Horner, even if he repeats himself more than Hans Zimmer )

Video Game: Nobuo, Alexander Brandon (Deus Ex), the dude(s) who did the Metal Gear Solid music (contrary to popular belief, pretty much all Harry Gregson Williams did was the main themes for all but the first game)

 

[muckypup1]

I only have one, Jesper Kyd, that dude's work on all the Hitman albums soundtracks is just incredible, the soundtrack on Hitman Contracts is trippy

 

[Russtopher]

Nobuo Uematsu
John Williams
Aaron Copland

Nicholas Hooper gets a runner-up

 

[Ermz]

I only have one, Jesper Kyd, that dude's work on all the Hitman albums soundtracks is just incredible, the soundtrack on Hitman Contracts is trippy

Actually yes!

Check out his recent ambient work on Borderlands, it's absolutely excellent. He'd be hitting up spot #4 for me. Also if you want some underground hard trance, check out his work on Scorcher back in the mid 90s. Tis good stuff!

 

[Terminus]

Actually yes!

Check out his recent ambient work on Borderlands.

I love that game and the music.

I'm a fan of Kurt Weill, and I guess you could say Mr. Doctor.

 

[JMarz]

1. Mark Morgan - Fallout 1 & 2, Planescape Torment etc. There is something amazingly rich and sinister about his ambient work that I absolutely love. He has a great way of evoking images and ideas and supporting the visual theme on the screen. Inspired by lustmord and the dark ambient scene which I hold so dear, Mark is a composer after my own heart and I connect with his work very deeply.

2. Nobuo Uematsu - Large amounts of the Final Fantasy series etc. This man shouldn't even need an introduction. Just a legendary contemporary composer. He has more artistic ingenuity than the entire metal scene combined, past and present, IMO.

3. Jeremy Soule - Morrowind, Oblivion, Total Annihilation etc. Does great orchestral scores. From the soothing ambiances of the Elder Scrolls games through to the war fanfare of Total Annihilation, Supreme Commander etc. I usually put his music on when I want something to make me feel right at ease.

Yours?

a big heaping pile of +9999 to nobuo

 

[Harry Hughes]

Hmm I'm not really a gamer dude either

1. Chopin

2. Liszt

3. Frank Zappa

 

[Jevil]

1. Me
2. Mozart
3. Hans Zimmer

 

[ParsonsMatt]

Shostakovich, Tchaikovsky, Uematsu

 

[Morgan C]

Can't believe its gone this long with noone mentioning Matt Uelmen.

 

[Ermz]

Ah yes his score for Torchlight recently was great. Way better than the game itself.

Whenever I think of Diablo II my mind immediately starts playing the music in Act 1. Really cool vibe.

 

[abigor731]

Anton Bruckner
Keith Emmerson (pretty much only the orchestral stuff he did, which isn't much unfortunately)
Gyorgy Ligeti (creates ambient soundscapes with an orchestra)

i'm really digging some of the video game music too, but i rarely look who is the composer

 

[RemoWilliams]

Just three?!?! I might have to make some adjustments.

But as far as film goes:

1. Jerry Goldsmith
2. Elliot Goldenthal
3. Michael Kamen

As far as orchestral goes:

1. George Rochberg
2. Ralph Vaughan Williams/Gustav Mahler
3. Krzysztof Penderecki/Wojciech Kilar
4. Alfred Schnittke
5. Richard Strauss (for all the cool operas about angry women and shit)
6. Igor Stravinsky (if you get past The Firebird, Rite of Spring and Petrushka, you see he wrote a metric ton of other stuff that was even more epic.)
7. William Schuman

And a +5 to Anton Bruckner. He could extrapolate endlessly on such simple ideas and make them dense as all get out.

 

[John_C]

Schnittke, Shostakovitch, Stravinsky

All Russian, all with names starting in S