James Horner was a prolific film composer with more than 150 scores to his name. Sadly, he passed away at 61 on Monday, when a small plane he was piloting crashed near Santa Barbara. He leaves us with his tremendous body of work, which includes worldwide hits like Titanic, Braveheart, and Avatar.
To honor the man, and his work, let’s take a listen to 10 of James Horner’s best soundtracks.
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)
This is the score that turned James Horner from a little-known composer to a Hollywood heavyweight. Many of the recurring themes in Horner’s career can be heard in this soundtrack, most notably the battle themes, which appear again in the James Cameron movie Aliens.
Braveheart (1995)
Horner’s scores have always featured Celtic influences, and this soundtrack distills those down into perhaps the most beautiful collection of music ever written. One of the melodies ended up being repurposed as a key theme for the Titanic soundtrack.
Aliens (1986)
This was the first and almost last time Horner worked with James Cameron. He was unhappy with Horner’s work and made him re-score several pieces multiple times. In the end, he replaced some of Horner’s pieces with those from Jerry Goldsmith’s Alien score. Horner said working with Cameron was “a nightmare” and vowed to never work with him again. Fortunately, that didn’t end up being the case.
Commando (1985)
Give James Horner a synthesizer and demand a “tropical action” score and the result is 1985’s Commando, which starred Arnold Schwarzenegger. You don’t know how intense steel drums can be until you’ve seen Arnie hunt mercenaries down to this unique Horner soundtrack.
Titanic (1997)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdoMajMVFQk
Horner’s score for Titanic has the distinction of being the best-selling orchestral film soundtrack of all-time. He was also largely responsible for the Celine Dion hit “My Heart Will Go On.” James Cameron refused to include any music with lyrics, so Horner secretly recorded the song and waited until the notoriously finicky director was in a good mood before playing it for him. The plan worked, and now easy listening radio stations have a hit for the ages.
Avatar (2009)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVssxumkHI4
Horner worked hand-in-hand with Cameron to create a unique soundtrack that included a choir singing in Na’vi and numerous “invented” instruments based around the alien culture. The result was another major blockbuster hit and one of Horner’s most unique scores.
Willow (1988)
For this seminal fantasy soundtrack, Horner borrowed heavily from classical composers like Mozart, Bartok, and Schumann for several of the themes, giving this score a more traditional sound than many of his other pieces.
Apollo 13 (1995)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LA2R6NPgcGo&list=PLNQokGm1k9iFb-fjjKh-DAwDm4A4zZaub
With credits like Clear and Present Danger under his belt, Horner is no stranger to patriotic scores. But there’s no score more red, white, and blue than the work he did for the astronaut disaster film Apollo 13. Mixed into the soundtrack, as well, are a bunch of great hits from the ’70s, so how can you go wrong?
The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)
Horner was famously reluctant to work on sequels and franchises, and even turned down the opportunities to score the Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings films. But he did end up making the soundtrack to The Amazing Spider-Man due to his relationship with director Marc Webb. He famously refused to score the sequel, calling it “dreadful” and blaming Sony for ignoring Webb’s input.
A Beautiful Mind (2001)
The best of the collaborations between Horner and director Ron Howard, this soundtrack features Horner’s take on the sound of mathematics. To create this, he implemented musical patterns that constantly changed and added the unique vocals of Welsh singer Charlotte Church over top of it all. Church called the score “one of the most haunting and beautiful things I have ever performed.”
