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Michael Giacchino's fifth score for director Matt Reeves (following Cloverfield, Let Me In, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, and War for the Planet of the Apes), 2022's The Batman was a remarkable undertaking for several reasons. Firstly, as the inaugural film in yet another reboot, Giacchino was responsible for composing new music themes for beloved franchise characters. Secondly, Reeves approached Giacchino to do the score before lead actor Robert Pattinson was even cast; as a result, music including the main Batman motif pre-dated production on the film. The Batman is also the longest score Giacchino had ever written to this point; the film has a running time of nearly three hours, and the score recording clocks in at four minutes short of two hours. It was recorded in October 2021 with a 70-piece orchestra and six-member boys choir divided between Abbey Road Studios One and Two and tracked concurrently with two different conductors. The instrumentation is another noteworthy feature, consisting of rock instruments as well as orchestral strings, brass, and percussion but almost no woodwinds (just three clarinets). If that's any indication of the score's sound, one would likely still underestimate how dark, lurking, and often (not always) eerily sparse the final work is, which had Giacchino looking to film noir classics for inspiration in addition to his Batman predecessors, Danny Elfman, Elliot Goldenthal, and Hans Zimmer. There was so much anticipation surrounding the film and score that Giacchino's main character tracks -- "The Batman," "The Riddler," and "Catwoman" -- were issued as singles and broke WaterTower Music streaming records for pre-release score material. The ominous, marching four-note (two-pitch) Batman motif is introduced on the opening track, "Can't Fight City Halloween," later appearing alongside the more elegant, melancholy Bruce Wayne theme on tracks including "Riddles, Riddles Everywhere." The Catwoman theme embodies jazzier noir, and the Riddler's rising and falling minor-key melody utilizes the children's choir. They intertwine and react to each other according to the onscreen action throughout the score, whose recording closes on the 12-minute "Sonata in Darkness," performed by pianist Gloria Cheng. The Batman marked Giacchino's debut on the Billboard 200. Note: Wordplay aficionados will want to do a close reading of the track list.© Marcy Donelson /TiVo

As a fan of J.K. Rowling's massively popular Harry Potter books and the composer of some of the best fantasy/sci-fi film scores, John Williams was a natural choice to write the music for Chris Columbus' film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. His score captures the childhood mischief, magic, and adventure of the film and the books, mixing winding, soaring melodies with instrumentation that spans the delicately spooky to the darkly majestic. However, his work here won't necessarily dispel Williams' reputation as an occasionally light-fingered composer: one of the score's main motifs, a light-as-a-cobweb celesta melody most clearly stated in "The Arrival of Baby Harry" and "Hedwig's Theme," recalls the work of both Danny Elfman and Tchaikovsky, while some of the other melodies sound like they're just a few notes away from themes in his own Hook and Star Wars scores. Harry Potter's score also tends to repeat these main themes a little too often; fortunately they're reinterpreted fairly creatively from piece to piece. "Harry's Wondrous World" and "Visit to the Zoo and Letters from Hogwarts" are sweeping and lighthearted, while "In the Devil's Snare and the Flying Keys," "The Chess Game," and "The Face of Voldemort" close the score with a trio of menacing, climactic musical cues. In between are pretty, delicate moments like "Fluffy's Harp" and whimsical pieces like "Christmas at Hogwarts," which manages to combine the festive, carol-esque melody with the atmosphere of a school for witches and wizards. The pomp and circumstance of "The Quidditch Match" is probably the score's most typically Williams composition; a thrilling mix of his heroic style and the rest of the music's spooky, supernatural feel. Not surprisingly, considering that Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone runs nearly three hours long, Williams' score is on the long side, making it somewhat difficult to take in outside of the film's context. While it may not be one of his most inspired works, it's never less than perfectly appropriate and does include some brilliant moments.© TiVo

John Williams was the man of the moment in soundtrack music from 1977 onward, and Superman: The Movie was very much the culmination of his first wave of international renown. Casting aside his over-reliance on the works of Holst, Ravel, and Korngold, he delivered up a score that still -- 30-plus years later -- is lively, playful, mysterious, and, most of all, stylistically original and filled with unexpected touches that still surprise when heard as pure music. Williams and the London Symphony Orchestra by this time played like he was joined telepathically to the musicians, and also recognized just how closely and widely their work would be heard in the wake of the huge sales on the soundtracks from Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Thus, the playing here is impeccable, from the finely nuanced, brooding passages depicting the planet Krypton to the heroic theme associated with the title character. And they are a delight to hear, though much more so in the remastered and expanded double-CD edition from Rhino/Warner Archive, which improves the sound dramatically. There's still a lot that one will recognize from established composers, and that Williams even "steals" from himself, but he's got it all finely developed here in a more mature style that makes it worthwhile hearing more than once.© Bruce Eder /TiVo

This is the official soundtrack from the movie Round Midnight. Although tenor saxophonist Dexter Gordon (who is actually on only five of the 11 songs) was past his prime, his realistic acting gained him a nomination for an Oscar. In addition to Gordon, this historic and generally well-rounded album has performances by pianists Herbie Hancock and Cedar Walton, vocalist Bobby McFerrin, bassists Ron Carter and Pierre Michelot, drummers Tony Williams and Billy Higgins, guitarist John McLaughlin, trumpeters Freddie Hubbard and Chet Baker, Wayne Shorter on tenor and soprano, vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson, and a vocal by Lonette McKee. [The 2002 reissue adds a live version of the title cut.]© TiVo

"The tense, high-energy score that Tykwer and Klimek dreamed up is a perfect accompaniment to the film, which did a fine job of continuing the adventures of Neo and Trinity..."© TiVo

It is hard to imagine a project better suited to director Tim Burton and composer Danny Elfman than an adaptation of Roald Dahl's CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY, and both artists make good by turning in some of their finest work. As in their past collaborations, Elfman provides a dreamy, zany auditory component to Burton's surreal visual universe and--as one might expect--Elfman's score to this paragon of fantastic films is dreamier, zanier, and bursting with more ideas than nearly any score in his oeuvre. Elfman's orchestral work (epitomized in "Main Titles") is dramatic, surprising, and full of tension, evoking the spookiness, magic, and pure lyricism of the film and its themes. But the real treasures here are the five tunes Elfman composed for voice. The first song, a helium-infused, carnivalesque romp, introduces Willie Wonka. The other four are theme songs for the errant children who enter Wonka's factory. Each is done in a different style, ranging from the tribal, Oingo Boingo-like bounce of "Augustus Gloop" to the sunshiney psychedelia of "Veruca Salt," and the jittery, robotic opera of "Mike Teavee." Amazingly, these tunes equal the greatness of the songs from 1971's WILLIE WONKA AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY, and manage to remain both original and true to the spirit of Dahl's book, which is high praise indeed. © TiVo

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Pt. 2, the final installment in the decade-long wizard saga, found Alexander Desplat navigating some treacherous waters. After being handed the arduous task of helming the penultimate entry in the series, the fourth and final composer of Potterdom (John Williams laid the foundation, while Patrick Doyle and Nicholas Hooper fleshed out the midsection) had to come up with something that matched the film's the massive endgame. Many fans, including director David Yates, had hoped that Williams would return to the fold and close the lid on the tale, but conflicting schedules kept the venerable maestro from committing. Those fans will be disappointed by the lack of a prominent iteration of his iconic “Hedwig’s Theme” (though it does swoop in occasionally to remind us of what a long journey it’s been), but Desplat offers up some solace with a stoic and stirring new theme in “Statues” and “Courtyard Apocalypse” that will likely become a favorite of muggles everywhere. Creating a successful musical arc over the span of eight films is daunting, and the four composers involved should all be applauded for their work, as each has brought something special to the franchise while maintaining the “feel” of author J.K. Rowling's unique world. Bombastic, sinister, and triumphant, the appropriately dark and apocalyptic Deathly Hallows, Pt. 2 may sit near the bottom of the Potter soundtrack pile, but it can hardly be called a failure.© James Christopher Monger /TiVo