For the sixth time, the soundtrack to "The Lord of the Rings" was chosen as the best of all time by the listeners of Classic FM.
It's one of the most recognizable movie scores in history so this win is hardly surprising. However, Howard Shore had some very real competition in John Williams, whose work on "Schindler's List" landed him the second spot, and Hans Zimmer, the man behind the "Gladiator" soundtrack, who came at third.
Over the course of his career, Shore has composed scores for more than 50 films, including "Seven," "After Hours," "Philadelphia" and "The Silence of the Lambs." His work on "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy, however, was one of his most expansive. For the first film alone, he spent a year working on the score, drawing inspiration from music sources from the eighth and ninth centuries as well as text from J.R.R. Tolkien.
"The music is a huge part of the identity of those films," said Elijah Wood, who played Frodo Baggins in "The Lord of the Rings," adding that film scores have a lot to do with the emotional connection and atmosphere audiences experience.
Wood may be mostly affiliated with Shore but the actor also only had praise for Williams' scores, particularly that of "Star Wars."
"The pieces from 'Star Wars' are so iconic. We hear the music, we know the films," he said.
Joining Shore, Williams and Zimmer in the top 10 are John Barry, Ennio Morricone and Klaus Badelt for their work on "Dances with Wolves" and "Out of Africa," "The Mission" and "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl," respectively.
It's worth nothing too that while Williams didn't take the top spot, he has the most number of scores in the top 10. Aside from "Schindler's List," his work on "Jurassic Park," "Harry Potter" and "Star Wars" were also recognized.
Zimmer also had another entry in the top 100 scores ranked according to votes from Classic FM listeners. His work on "Interstellar" ranked 43rd but it has the distinction of being the highest new entry in the poll.
Other notable works that rose in ranking are the soundtracks for "Titanic," "Braveheart," "Apollo 13" and "Avatar," all composed by the late James Horner.
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