Is Hans Zimmer the greatest modern composer?

[I strongly encourage you to listen all of these or some of these before commenting, these pieces are phenomenal]

Crimson Tide theme

"I'm not a hero"- The Dark knight

"Now we are free" - Gladiator

"Time" - Inception

"Drink Up me hearties" - Pirates of the Carribean

"Chevaliers de Sangreal" - The DaVinci code

"The End?" - Sherlock Holmes - a Game of Shadows

I certainly think he is, what say you?

Time is my favorite out of those.

Hmm I would say John Williams is just as good as Hans Zimmer.

John Williams.

I think we are done here.

There is a lot of composing going on out there outside of Film Scores. Film Scores are great, but there is much more provocative, interesting, and boundary pushing stuff going on. There are literally thousands of genres out there with new stuff being stuff every day. And that is just within the "Classical" Umbrella.

Philip Sparke is a great composer and one most of you have probably not heard of. He is mainly known for Wind Band, and Brass Band works.

Year of the Dragon Tocatta Cool

Interlude Gorgeous movement. In my opinion one of the most beautiful melodies ever composed starts at 2:25 and goes through the rest of the movement. 2:25 is the intro actual melody starts at 3:10

Finale Simply amazing. These guys are playing their ASSES off. This is probably technically the hardest thing a Brass Band could ever play.

Jubilee Overture Performed by the greatest Wind Band on the planet Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra. The intro is cool, but brilliance begins at 2:12.

One of my Favorite movements in Classical the last 50 years or so is minimalism. Spearheaded by guys like Phillip Glass ( who does Film Scores) and John Adams, it emphasizies drones, repeated rythms, and simple chords. Cool stuff

Phrygian Gates John Adams

The Canyon Phillip Glass

Itaipu Phillip Glass

Mad Rush Phillip Glass

One of the greatest. No such thing as one composer being the greatest.

I wonder who composed Batman Arkham City's score, I may just be infected with gamer's bias but I think the music in that game is amazing

Not a fan of his minimal themes, recycled themes and studio minions doing much of his work while he slaps his name on it.

I wish Basil Poledouris was still alive.

Persoanlly give that to John Williams.

there is something with Hans Zimmer's music, that i can almot immediately identify it's his work. I'm not a music major, nor do i know any of the terms. But there is some sort of arrangmenet and beat to his music, the way it flows. That i can almost immediately tell it's Zimmer.

John Williams, not so.

At least in my experience.

My vote goes to Howard Shore.

I wager so.

Love how he treats his animated movie scores with seriousness

and his first(currently only) oscar was for an animated film score (Lion King)

My vote goes to Howard Shore.

Teenaged

Helmut and Franz Vonlichten should be up there.

If you listen to the music playing in quite a few movie trailers and such, you'll hear them. Their music is rather good. Perhaps not better than Hans Zimmer, but it is up there. Sample

Also, RIP Franz Vonlichten...

I love Hans Zimmer and John Williams but i think their both equal, for me there are 3 composers that i think are the greatest for composing soundtracks for not only movies but just the scores in themselves.

Hans Zimmer is one,

John Williams is one,

But the last one that lots of people havnt heard of or know of is Michael Kamen,

He has composed soundtracks for movies such as The Three Musketeers, X-men, Die Hard series, Lethal Weapon series and Robin Hood: Prince of theives - i personally love this soundtrack alot.

But also he composed the beautiful and great soundtrack for Band of Brothers, the opening score is beautiful but my personal favourite in which i think has the best buildup of any film score is the track that plays at the end of the first episode as the planes are flying off.

May he Rest in Peace

Also an Honourable mention goes to Jack Wall for the mass effect soundtracks and Michael Giacchino for his great movie tracks and his beautiful Medal of Honor game series scores.

NOOOO....most overrated probably. My vote is for Zbigniew Preisner or Yann Tiersen. Alexandre Desplat deserves a mention as well.

Clint Mansell, end of. Moon and Requiem For A Dream are examples.shadowkiller11

Ding ding ding, we have a winner! But I would also say that John Murphy is pretty impressive as well, his work includes Sunshine and 28 Weeks Later.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QahzbgUVwk&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KW0RX02SeQw

He's definitely one of my favorites.

I love his use of the brass instruments.

NOOOO....most overrated probably. My vote is for Zbigniew Preisner or Yann Tiersen. Alexandre Desplat deserves a mention as well.

iloverikku11

I wouldn't say he's overrated, did you listen to some of his piece I posted?

Are we strictly saying orchestral/thematic composers? I would honestly say my favorite in terms of songwriting/composers ingeneral would be Eric Whitakr, Brandon Flowers, and the guy who did the Skyrim soundtrack.

I'd say John Williams is and probably will be for a long time.

Hans Zimmer has always been (or at least since I realized who he was) very meh to me.

Easily: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tSczoDAM0w

10 seconds listen

[I strongly encourage you to listen all of these or some of these before commenting, these pieces are phenomenal]

Crimson Tide theme

"I'm not a hero"- The Dark knight

"Now we are free" - Gladiator

"Time" - Inception

"Drink Up me hearties" - Pirates of the Carribean

"Chevaliers de Sangreal" - The DaVinci code

I certainly think he is, what say you?

Ironbash

I think you should credit Lisa gerrard with the gladiator soundtrack, its very much her work.

My vote goes to Howard Shore.

Teenaged

I think you should credit Lisa gerrard with the gladiator soundtrack, its very much her work.

tenaka2

I agree, although his collaboration piece did add some depth

Clint Mansell, end of. Moon and Requiem For A Dream are examples.shadowkiller11

I'm a big fan of Nick Cave. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is one of my favorite soundtacks.

Yeah,he is.

nope you got nobuo uematsu and joe hisaishi who are the best composers out there

I don't know a whole lot about grand orchestra/composers but Hans Zimmer is one I do, from various works and he is spectacular. I only know videogame/film ones so I would go for Hans Zimmer, Nobuo (Final Fantasy) and Harry Gregson Williams (Metal Gear)

Updated the OP with the sherlock holmes theme, one of his most original works.

nope you got nobuo uematsu and joe hisaishi who are the best composers out there

Chris_Williams

Mind giving me links to their works?

Hans is Brilliant, probably the most prolific

but shout out to

John Powel

Harry Gregson williams

Clint Mansell

JOhn Williams

and Daft punk for Tron Legacy (mind blowing stuff)

He really is great.

But the best score from Inception isDream is Collapsing IMO.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imamcajBEJs&feature=related

And you're forgetting the main theme from Crysis 2, very good.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ph1Sn3li54I

John Williams was the best but he hasn't done anything of note recently. Still he is the author of some of the most recognizable movie soundtracks of all time: Jaws, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and others.

Updated the OP with the sherlock holmes theme, one of his most original works.

[QUOTE="Chris_Williams"]

nope you got nobuo uematsu and joe hisaishi who are the best composers out there

Ironbash

Mind giving me links to their works?

He really is great.

But the best score from Inception isDream is Collapsing IMO.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imamcajBEJs&feature=related

And you're forgetting the main theme from Crysis 2, very good.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ph1Sn3li54I

nunovlopes

Crysis 2's theme wasn't really as good as the ones from film scores, but fantastic nonetheless.

John williams probably was the greatest before some of his scores slipped in quality such as the recent Tintin one.