James Horner

James Horner was a bit of a puzzle, and a controversial figure in the weird world of film music. On the one hand, he was responsible for writing the best-selling soundtrack album of all time, for James Cameron's Titanic. On the other hand, he was notorious for repeating himself and taking material from other composers. To be sure, all composers swipe material from each other to some extent. However, Horner did little to hide his "borrowings," especially compared to other composers. Especially noteworthy was his infamous four-note "danger motif," which he used in scores from Willow and Enemy at the Gates to Troy and Avatar. Anyway, that's a whole different topic. As for my own views on Horner, I find his earlier work to be his best, full of busy orchestral figures, joyous themes, and the sound of a budding composer's excitement at exploring the musical ideas bursting from his cranium. As his career went on, however, Horner became more complacent, content to recycle material and write music that tried to be subtle, but ends up conveying little to nothing at all. The exuberant, creative music of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Krull, The Rocketeer, and Willow was nowhere to be heard in most of his later scores. Unlike the evolving sounds of John Williams and Danny Elfman, Horner's change of style was not, in my opinion, for the better. My personal feelings aside, I can't deny that Horner scored a plethora of high-profile and successful films, from Braveheart and Apollo 13 to Glory and A Beautiful Mind. But it was his collaborations for James Cameron that gave him the biggest success and most exposure. Horner first worked with Cameron on the relentless Aliens. Although the two had creative differences, they later reconciled to produce the massive blockbusters Titanic and Avatar. Though Horner's most prevalent styles were for lilting fantasy and straightforward drama (sometimes with incongruous Celtic stylings), two of his best scores were for The Mask of Zorro and The Legend of Zorro. Here, Horner used Spanish-flavored rhythms and instrumentation to create vibrant scores that proved that he could indeed still write fresh music. There were hints in early 2015 that Horner was making a comeback, but he tragically died in a plane crash in June of that year.

Aliens
The Amazing Spider-Man

Apollo 13**

Avatar

A Beautiful Mind

Braveheart
Cocoon*

Glory*

Krull**

The Land Before Time*

The Mask of Zorro

The Legend of Zorro

Legends of the Fall
The Perfect Storm

The Rocketeer*

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan**

Titanic/Back to Titanic

Willow