So, I'm a big film score geek, so I thought I'd start this thread. Please include composers!=)

Here Are Some of My Favorites:

Gosford Park (Patrick Doyle, some songs by Ivor Novello)
Sense and Sensibility (Patrick Doyle)
Snow Falling on Cedars (James Newton Howard)
Atonement (Dario Marianelli)
Pride and Prejudice (Dario Marianelli)
Pleasantville (Randy Newman)
American Beauty (Thomas Newman)
In the Bedroom (Thomas Newman)
Meet Joe Black (Thomas Newman)
Road to Perdition (Thomas Newman)
A Series of Unfortunate Events (Thomas Newman)
Shipping News (Christopher Young)

Clearly I should just start a thread called "Thomas Newman is the MAN" =)

Oh! And I can't possibly forget:

The Magnificent Seven (Elmer Bernstein)
Dragon Heart (Randy Edelman)
North by Northwest (Bernard Herrmann)

I love film scores too! These are a few of my faves. Some of these tend to pop up a lot on the soundtrack threads...

Braveheart (James Horner)
Transformers (Steve Jablonsky)
Pirates of the Carribean (Klaus Badelt, Hans Zimmer)
Lord of the Rings (Howard Shore)
Happy Feet (John Powell)
Dinosaur (James Newton Howard)

So, a little off from film scores, but I also like the Xbox Halo series scores (Martin O'Donnell). They're nice to listen to while writing sci-fi/adventure scenes.

I have to admit to a game score as well - Final Fantasy X (Nobuo Uematsu) has some really nice pieces (though not all of them are especially writing conducive=P)

My favourite soundtracks would have to be:

Batman Begins - Hans Zimmer & James Newton Howard
The Dark Knight - Hans Zimmer & James Newton Howard
King Arthur - Hans Zimmer
The Last Samurai - Hans Zimmer
The Power of One - Hans Zimmer
Pirates of the Caribbean - Hans Zimmer
Gladiator - Hans Zimmer
The Thin Red Line - Hans Zimmer
The Da Vinci Code - Hans Zimmer
The Lord of the Rings - Howard Shore
The Chronicles of Narnia - Harry Gregson-Williams
The Bourne Trilogy - John Powell
Star Wars - John Williams
Harry Potter 1, 2, 3 - John Williams
Harry Potter 4 - Patrick Doyle
Harry Potter 5 - Nicholas Hooper
Eragon - Patrick Doyle
Pan's Labyrinth - Javier Navarrete
Eagle Eye - Brian Tyler
Transformers - Steve Jablonsky
The Mummy 3 - Randy Edelman
National Treasure - Trevor Rabin
Braveheart - James Horner
The Legend of Zorro - James Horner
The Clone Wars - Kevin Kiner
Requiem for a Tower - Corner Stone Cues

As you might be able to tell...I love soundtracks. Especially Hans Zimmer. :-D

Soundtracks are the best! Some of my favorites are:

~Finding Neverland by Jan A.P. Kaczmarek
~Peter Pan by James Newton Howard
~Pride and Prejudice 2005 by Dario Marianelli
~Pirates of the Caribbean by Hans Zimmer
~Star Wars soundtracks by John Williams
~August Rush
~Prince Caspian by Harry Gregson-Williams
~Ever After by George Fenton
~Miss Potter by Nigel Westlake
~Two Brothers by Stephen Warbeck
~Beauty and the Beast by Alan Menken
~The Little Mermaid by Alan Menken

Revolutionary Road - Thomas Newman
Wall-E - Thomas Newman
Atonement - Dario Marianelli
Benjamin Button - Alexandre Desplat
American Beauty - Thomas Newman
August Rush - Mark Mancina
HP OOTP - Nicholas Hooper
Spirited Away - Joe Hisaishi
Finding Nemo - Thomas Newman
Little Children -Thomas Newman
Memoirs of a Geisha - John Williams
Munich - John Williams
The Dark Knight - James Newton Howard
Titanic - James Horner
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas - James Horner

I like Thomas Newman....just a little bit...

I'll just be listening to the three soundtracks by Yann Tiersen while I write: Amelie, Goodbye Lenin! and Tabarly

But I also love anything by Danny Elfman (Corpse Bride, Milk, Sleepy Hollow) and Dario Marianelli (Pride and Prejudice, V for Vendetta, Atonement)

You and I are definitely in that "Thomas Newman is THE MAN" fan club=)

Jurassic Park (John Williams)!!!

Seriously, thats is some of the best music ever composed, in my opinion.

M

Totally absolutely agree=) Not using it to help write this script, but it is absolutely some fantastic work. The themes from it are very inspirational^^

Ooh, another Williams I love that I *am* using is "Catch Me If You Can" - I think that's some of his best, most original work.

I've absolutely loved Thomas Newman since I heard the theme for Six Feet Under. His Angels in America score is my absolute favorite, so beautiful.

Philip Glass is another of my favorites, The Hours is wonderful.

Also, I'm getting more into television scores then film scores, but Bear McCreary's work on Battlestar Galactica is frakking incredible. I strongly urge everyone to check out "Prelude to War", "Roslin & Adama", and the cover of "All Along the Watchtower", and I promise you'll be hooked, even if you've never seen the series.

And, of course, anything by Hans Zimmer. My favorite individual track has to be "Vide Cor Meum" from Hannibal.

I'm using Bear McCreary's Terminator: SCC soundtrack as "background music".

I don't like listening to a soundtrack of a film that I've seen while writing. That always reminds me of the film, so that would distract me a lot :)

@bringingupsammy:
The BSG soundtracks own all that is ownable ;) They're actually the reason why I started watching BSG.

bringingupsammy:

If you like Glass, you should check out the scores to Koyaanisquatsi and Notes On a Scandal=)

Batman Begins (Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard)
National Treasure (Trevor Rabin)
A Batman Overture (Elliot Goldenthal)

I love a ton of film scores, like Coraline and Last Chance Harvey, but I don't own any of them, so I can't use them for a writing soundtrack. BLAST IT! I also heart the songs by Bryan Adams in Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron. Those are sexy.

My favorite person that does scores for films is Joseph LoDuca. So far he has done The Evil Dead series, Spiderman series, among other indie films directed by Sam Raimi. But my favorite thing that he has done is the Hercules and Xena television scores. Those are works of genius. Especially the Xena score ;)

And of course anything by Joe Hisashi, particularly his Princess Mononoke scores. That soundtrack is just epic!

- Punisher: War Zone - Michael Wandmacher
- Resident Evil 5 - Various
- GoldenEye 007 (N64) - Unknown
- The Bourne Series (Identity/Supremacy/Ultimatum) - John Powell
- Hitman - Geoff Zanelli
- Black Hawk Down - Hans Zimmer
- Tears of the Sun - Hans Zimmer
- Rambo - Brian Tyler
- Hitman (games) - Jesper Kyd
- 24 (Seasons 1-3/Season 5/Extended Season 3 score/Extended Season 5 score/Unnofficial Season 6 score) - Sean Callery
- Diablo II - Unknown
- Amadeus - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
- Batman (Batman/Batman Returns/Batman Begins/The Dark Knight) - Danny Elfman (Batman and Batman Returns) Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard (Batman Begins and The Dark Knight)
- Half-Life (1/2) - Kelly Bailey
- Halo (1/2/3) - Martin O'Donnell
- Leon (The Professional) - Eric Serra

And that's it.

How about
Conan The Barbarian - Basil Pouledoris (Riddle of Steel/Riders of Doom is perfect for those epic fantasy battle scenes!)

Lexx: The Dark Zone stories - Marty Simon (more like a collection of four films, but perfect for writing sci-fi)

And there's a really good piece of music by Philip Glass in 'Watchmen', but typically Itunes and Amazon won't let you have it unless you buy the whole album :(

Hey TSEdiot, I'm a big Uematsu fan too. I particularly like FFIX, but only because that's the first one I ever played. (I'm actually an even bigger Eliot fan, if that's what your name means.)

Here's a few good soundtracks:

Fargo, The Man Who Wasn't There, No Country For Old Men, etc. - Carter Burwell
The Godfather - Nino Rota
The Graduate - Simon and Garfunkel

While I'm writing, I usually put on a copy of Bach's orchestral suites.

mwagner, I am so happy that you put Half-Life and Goldeneye on your list! Those two game OSTs are amazing! My favorite game OST of all time is Perfect Dark, of course, but those two, followed by Ocarina of Time, come in close seconds :)

Well, I'm a little late, but whatever. Writing must-haves:

Memoirs of a Geisha - John Williams
Stardust - Ilan Eshkeri
Pride and Prejudice - Dario Marianelli
Howl's Moving Castle - Joe Hisaishi (Sooo adorable. My sister played the songs for me while we were cleaning one day and I love them to bits now.)
Atonement - Dario Marianelli
Big Fish - Danny Elfman
Edward Scissorhands - Danny Elfman
Spiderman 2 - Danny Elfman

Well, anything with Danny Elfman is bound to be fabulous in my book (or script, as it is). :D

And it's really going to sound geeky, but...

Final Fantasy X-2 Piano Collections - Takahito Eguchi

I don't even play the game, but the music is wonderful to write to. Very atmospheric and well-played.