David Arnold, music for Independence Day & Stargate

Hello.

In the film music world, names like John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith, Ennio Morricone and the like pop up usually first in many people's heads.

My question is, what do you people think of David Arnold?

This guy has been composing every single James Bond movie since Goldeneye, bringing the classy suave jazzy genre into a modern techno age, though never sacrificing the importance of flashiness.

Then there's his score for Stargate, perhaps the most lush, most dramatic scores for a movie about the desert that I have ever heard. Perhaps more than Lawrence of Arabia. It's that good. Unbelievably romantic.

Now, I don't care what anybody else says, but if you want to listen to an orchestral that FOR SURE will just rally your spirits unlike any other score, more than Star Wars, or Indiana Jones, than the soundtrack for "Independence Day" is for you.

Perhaps the best orchestration in any score of the 1990s. Every single instrument is utilized, and its all natural, with no synthesizers at all. It's unbelievable.

Must take a British composer to write the best patriotic music, eh lol...

explain how it sucks

yeah, independence day is a great soundtrack. however, many people have noticed that it's written in a williamsque style. people judge this score for the originality in style. well i say screw them. it's a great score.

the only thing similar to that and Williams is the huge orchestra. That's like saying any film score that uses leitmotifs or a full orchestra is Williamsesque. It's rediculous.

I can give an opinion of David Arnold.

I prefer him to many other film composers.

however, I find his music gets tiresome very quickly.

I personally find his thematic material too "obvious" and his harmonic progressions too simple.

He doesn't develop his thematic ideas as fully as could be, at least from my perspective. Certainly not as fully as Goldsmith or Williams do (well, "did" in the case of Goldsmith).

On the up side, I particularly love his opening credits to Stargate (not the dreadful arrangement used in the TV show).

His sound tracks usually carry the right feeling for the film, so he's certainly successful there.

With one resounding exception - Godzilla. I'm probably the only person on Earth who actually enjoyed that film, however, the soundtrack was so ill-assorted to the film. It works for the first 45 minutes or so, then gets hopelessly lost in over-blown romanticism. Thank god there are tonnes of sound effects to drown out the score.

Really? I like the television show arrangement a lot.

I have to agree with what QC said about the development of thematic material. The music is quite predictable at times and it's uncreatively orchestrated.

Other than that though, I love his music and I think it's good you brought him to attention around here. Since I'm not sure of this, did he also do the music for the new Stargate: Atlantis? That's a good show, I just bought the first season DVD the other day.

no. That was mostly Joel Goldsmith.