[Nils Jacob Holt Hanssen]

Better get the upcoming John Williams biography. 😉

Yes, looking forward to that, of course! 🙂

Thanks for the recommendations. Are these focused on music theory?

Not really. Thomas’ books are mostly about the life and work of a selection of composers, as well as the studios and music departments they worked for. FILM SCORE has 25 chapters, 10-20 pages each, devoted to a specific composer, while MUSIC FROM THE MOVIES is a more general history of film music (from the 30s to the 70s), but still with a focus on the most important composers of each period.

I would say most of the books I have are aimed at the general film music enthusiast (and collector :)), and only ON THE TRACK has some music theory in it, being, as Thor mentioned earlier, intended for the composers themselves. It has chapters on things like harmony, rhythm and orchestration, but it’s really mostly focused on the more practical and technical issues a composer has to deal with. Since it was written in the 90s it’s probably a bit outdated, with all the digital tools available now that has changed the way many composers work.