Composing : Best Scores of the last 5 years or so? by Chad Stroman

You are right. Bad scores abound. I remember thinking Darkest Hour had a classic Hollywood feel to it. I can't think of too many more from recent times.

I think it’s full of great scores! Too many to name but a couple on top of my heads are Phantom Thread by Jonny Greenwood, “it” by Benjamin Walfisch and IMHO one of the most underestimated scores in recent years: Everest by Dario Marianelli. The film is ok-ish but the score is fantastic, starting from the beautiful Dorian main theme. Other than than, anything by Reznor, Desplat etc. etc.

When writing for young directors I also get the soundtrack for Moonlight as a reference/temptrack very often and I love it.

Another vote for Moonlight here! Moonlight is probably my most favourite score of recent years. Mica Levi's work is also very interesting (Jackie, Under The Skin). I wasn't a big fan of Gone Girl, but the music is quite good.

Absolutely, Mica Levi is one of the most interesting voices in film scoring right now.

And Trent Reznor is one of my biggest influences (for his NIN work but also for his film scores).

As people here know, I like to get technical. So I have watched the responses here and people say who they like or what film score they like. I would like to read more detail about what exactly is liked. Do you like the motif's created and how they were used? Do you like the orchestration, arrangement, or instruments used and if so what exactly do you like? Do you like the way the cue stays out of the way or perhaps the opposite how it comes to the forefront to support the scene.

Interesting point Joel. I could write essays about Moonlight but Alessandro mentioned it first so I'll leave it in case he wants to talk about that, and instead comment on Under The Skin.

In terms of motif, Under The Skin has a very simple motif (G#-portamento A- D#), but the high detuned strings and the thin texture make it feel unsettled. Obviously there's a tritone in there too, which also adds to the uneasy feel. The repetition of the motif works well, creating an almost circular feel to the music, as the groups of strings spiral around (the D# of the motif is the springboard for other groups of strings to echo the motif, but using the D# as a starting note instead of the G#). The simple repeating beat (just hitting on 1 and 3) is a motif too, and it keeps pushing the music forward with this unrelenting, unceasing feel.

The orchestration is quite unusual; churning, sul pont/harmonic rainbow/tremolo string sounds combined with glitch electronics creates such a sense of unease and at times frantic motion, and the slightly detuned high violins used throughout are unsettling. She's also sampled the strings in some places so when there are repetition points, things don't quite flow together, creating a kind of disjuncture. When the motif is repeated by a string section, the detuning and echo combined with the electronics creates almost a dysmorphic classic Hollywood string section, really messing with that preconception of how the Hollywood strings should sound. It's also sparse; there's a great deal of space for most of the score, which emphasises the elements she does choose to use.

There's often no fixed sense of tonality in the more atmospheric moments, though a pedal point is infrequently used, adding to the disorientation of the listener. Then these moments of triad based chords break through and the contrast means your ear really grabs onto them as a focal point- until Levi begins to detune these too, or use portamento again, confusing the ear.

As a general note, I really like the way Mica Levi uses portamento (a la Jonny Greenwood to be fair, but she puts her own spin on it). It's a real feature of her work and it adds so much to the unease of her scores.

...There we are! Why I think Under The Skin is a pretty great score. The end.

Loving Vincent has a score that, though simplistic, I think works with the mood of the film.

I loved Loving Vincent! Sorry for not elaborating on my answer, I'm so packed with work right now. Let's just say that I loved the simplicity of the score and how it blends chamber instruments with electronic, urban beats. What I was mostly saying though, is that I get it a lot as a reference/temp track these days, meaning that it definitively left a mark on younger directors..

melody writing is a dying art, I'm not convinced that current music supervisors appreciate it as much as they did. It's very sad.