In some ways James Horner may be compared to Jerry Goldsmith, sharing his ability to turn his hand to many different types of film with relative ease, and of course they share an association with the Star Trek franchise having both penned more than one Trek movie. Whereas Goldsmith studied in the US, Horner studied at the Royal College of Music in London before moving to Hollywood, which has kept him in steady emplyment ever since.
Horner's scores seem to belong a number of different categories. There are the science fiction movies like these Star Trek ones for which "Battle beyond the Stars" was a warm-up. There are a number of children's or family films where Horner's sweet and sentimental mode is to the fore such as the dinosaur cartoons "Land before Time". Some of these family movies also tread into sci-fi or fantasy territory for example with "Casper", "Batteries not Included" or "Cocoon". These latter two movies display a talent for Glen Miller style themes to represent the older generation. One mustn't forget his comic book venture in the form of "The Rocketeer" with its soaring theme. Then there are the action movies, and a few which display a leaning towards a Celtic tradition including "Legends of the Fall", "Braveheart" and "The Titanic". In "Legends of the Fall" the theme is similar to that used by Alex North in Cheyenne Autumn. In Horner's hands the extended Celtic themes bring a sense of home and family, despite the events which break them apart. In this film the characters' ancestral origins are not Ireland but Celtic Cornwall.
It has to be said that Horner is not averse to borrowing ideas from other composers such as the music from Kachaturian's ballet Gayaneh, first used to represent the loneliness of deep space in Kubrick's 2001. Horner has used this music on several films and on his recent score to Troy, the Achilles heroic theme is taken from Shostakovich's 5th Symphony. Nevertheless, Horner is clearly a capable tunesmith who can deliver scores for any occasion, and his popularity is assured with the success of the Titanic. Many of his main themes have a kind of homely feel to them, whether it's the gentle family tunes or those with a Celtic flavour. His real skill is in building excitement and tension into enormous climaxes.
Although he is still frequently scoring action movies, with "Apocalypto" being the latest example, Horner seems very much at home in recent years also with character driven movies. Stories like "A Beautiful Mind" and "Iris" have allowed his lyrical talents to display great freedom of expression, and it is easy to imagine film makers coming back for more of this caliber.
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- The Lady in Red
- Battle Beyond the Stars - warming up for Star Trek
- Wolfen
- 48 hours 1, 2 ("another") - there's a lot of tracks with a jazz, blues or beat influence but it's not clear how many of these are Horner's
- Star Trek 2, 3 - nice Klingon theme
- Something Wicked this Way Comes
- The Dresser
- Gorky Park
- Krull
- Commando
- Cocoon 1, 2 - an enjoyable score, and using some music by Lionel Newman
- Aliens - note the Khachaturian bit
- Clear and Present Danger - Khachaturian again
- An American Tail 1,2 - Horner co-wrote the song for No.1
- Red Heat
- The Name of the Rose
- * Batteries Not Included - another fun score
- The Land before Time - and many sequels
- Willow - there's a lot of music in this movie, an heroic theme tune (heard in a Kinder surprise advert on UK TV), a quieter homely theme, and much variety to match the settings and events in this fantasy tale
- Legends of the Fall - some homely Celtic themes
- Field of Dreams
- Glory
- Honey, I shrunk the Kids - he's good at these fun movies
- The Rocketeer - an exciting soaring theme tune
- The Man without a Face
- Patriot Games - the Khachaturian style music mixed with a shade of Shostakovich is very effective in the desert infrared sequence. This film also featured the theme from "Harry's Game" by Celtic group Clannad
- Clear and Present Danger
- The Pelican Brief - low-key compared with some James Horner, but a very effective use of sound and music in a suspense score
- Jumanji
- Pagemaster
- Casper - during a "fencing" scene (with plunger and umbrellas) Horner does a nice little pastiche of
Korngold's Swashbuckler style of music
- Class Action
- Ransom
- Courage under Fire
- Braveheart - with its Celtic passions
- Apollo 13 - with a "last post" bugle-type tune
- The Titanic - some similarities to the work of Enya, but an effective track as the ship sets out to see depicting its slow acceleration and the hustle and bustle of the crew
- Deep Impact
- Sneakers
- The Mask of Zorro - bits similar to Aliens and much Spanish music (including a malagueña and much clapping and stamping) following in the Zorro footsteps of Alfred Newman
- A Perfect Storm - yet more trouble at sea!
- Bicentennial Man - suitably sentimental music for this adaptation of the Isaac Asimov story
- A Beautiful Mind - nominated for many oscars included best Original Score for Horner, main song sung beautifully by Charlotte Church
- Iris - a moving story which flits backwards and forwards between past and present, the CD tracks simply named Part1 to Part8 and featuring Joshua Bell on violin
- Windtalkers - war movie where the Navaho language is used as a code
- House of Sand and Fog
- How the Grinch stole Christmas
- Troy - on which Horner replaced Gabriel Yared who had worked on the score for a year!
- Radio - though nicely done, Horner's music takes a back seat to the source tracks on Radio's radio
- All the King's Men - the film is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Robert Penn Warren
- Apocalypto - sees Horner reunited with Mel Gibson, the music is earthy and ethnic
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Piano sheet music exists covering "The Titanic" including the popular title song. See also "The definitive James Horner collection" which has a good selection from Horner's popular scores.
Many soundtracks are available on CD including Braveheart, Apollo 13, and Titanic and there are many inclusions on compilation albums including some dedicated to the Start Trek music. Here are some specific soundtrack recommendations which we think you'll enjoy:
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