[Thor Joachim Haga]

So you are saying music is not music?

The point was to highlight the different types of music out there – and yes, that includes the differences in how it functions. A functional distinction is a distinction.

I have never encountered score that works “wonderfully” in the film, but not as pure listening, which is why I say it doesn’t exist.

Just because you haven’t experienced it, doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist. It clearly exists for me, as the previous examples suggest. And I’m sure I’m not alone in having experienced a score that works great in the film, but not on album.

There is no such thing as great film music that is not great music first.

I disagree with that. As the earlier examples alluded to, a lot of it I don’t consider particularly great music, just great film music. That’s because it fulfills certain FUNCTIONAL purposes in the film greatly, but these do not automatically translate to great music outside.

we are disagreeing about whether a music that is merely serviceable in a movie can be considered “great”.

No, not really. I’m not really interested in serviceable film music. I’m interested in music that lifts things beyond that, into great and often original film art, but that simply doesn’t have that value as soon as it “loses” the film.