As far as individual elements of filmmaking go, music has always been near the top of my personal list. Music has the power to enhance every element of cinema. A good score evokes a sense of atmosphere visuals alone cannot; themes, when properly utilized, help establish character better than a performer can on their own, and embellishes the viewer’s sense of place, time, and culture; ambient scoring often affects us powerfully in ways we can scarcely understand. Above all else, music has the capacity to translate, augment, and enrich our emotional connection to film, and that, more than any other quality, is why I believe film composition is a vibrant and important art worth celebrating.
With that in mind, I have put together a list of what I believe to be the Top 10 Film Scores of 2012. Judged independently from the quality of the films they are attached to – though, in a testament to how important music is in building a good movie, many of these titles can be found on my Top 10 Films of 2012 list as well – these scores each stand as memorable and impressive feats of composition, not only in how they work with the imagery, characters, and story, but in how well they play on their own. I have listened to, enjoyed, and been enriched by each of these scores several times, and recommend all of them as powerful musical experiences.
As always, clicking on the title of the film will take you to my original review, though the focus here is, of course, on the music itself.
Begin reading on the next page…
