[Nicolai P. Zwar]

I would say any “great film music” must be “great music”, and all great music must be able to stand on its own as pure music.

There is no “great film score” that is not also a great music score in itself. Just like there is no “great ballet score” that is not also a great music score in itself.

So in that sense, there is no great film music that cannot also be enjoyed away from the film.

However, there is a lot of serviceable film music — in fact and for obvious reasons, a far, far greater amount of film music falls into this category than in the “good to great” category. Serviceable film music may be music that gets the job done, but noting else. Film music that may push the right buttons at the right time, but that is not very interesting as music apart from its pure functionality. I would personally never call such film score “great”, merely serviceable.