[Malte Müller]

He is very versatile but avantgarde is nothing that I would link to him. I just read that in early years he was Sarde’s orchestrator!

One thing I remember all the way back from childhood days is the TV miniseries “Kidnapped/The Adventures of David Balfour”. Cosma’s title theme became very famous because the Kelly Family picked it up and made a song (“David’s Song”) out of “David’s Theme”.

Ah, yes, I have such a far memory…

I paid less than 100€ for BOTH boxes.

Those were always rather inexpensive for their size I think? I was tempted at some time but other things on the list got always in the way. I think lots of his scores are available digitally, too.

[KMCG]

I’m a big fan of Rombi and have every score available on CD by him.
I enjoy his light, frothy orchestral touch in his earlier scores and although some of his recent thriller efforts have been a tad droney and dull, I always look forward to any new films by him.
Regarding the comment above about Rombi being the French John Williams. I’ve always figured Frederic Talgorn owned that title, due to his musical style being so similar.
Rombi is certainly in my Top 5 favourite French film composers, alongside Talgorn, Georges Delerue, Maurice Jarre and Philippe Sarde, although I also very much like Alexandre Desplat, but he can be quite hit and miss for me (but then, so too can Maurice Jarre as well, so I’d put them at 4 & 5).

[Thor Joachim Haga]

I’ve opened the box and put the last CD into a CD-player. I’m considering pushing the play button any time now.

When you do, I’d love to hear your comments in the Sarde thread.

[Sigbjørn]

By the way @Sigbjørn, did you already listen to the Sarde box (sorry for the off-topic)?

I’ve opened the box and put the last CD into a CD-player. I’m considering pushing the play button any time now. 🙂

[GerateWohl]

By the way @Sigbjørn, did you already listen to the Sarde box (sorry for the off-topic)?

[Thor Joachim Haga]

Zemeckis/Silvestri hasn’t been mentioned yet. But I personally might find that partnership overrated. But probably just because I find most of Zemeckis’ movies overrated. Has little to do with the scores.

As I mentioned earlier, I consider this underrated (in fact, it was one of the 15 pairs I selected in the article). Not because of fame, but because the quality doesn’t get enough credit outside our niche. My favourite remains CAST AWAY, followed by CONTACT and FORREST GUMP. Yes, that’s right. No BACK TO THE FUTURE!

– Fellini/Rota

Super famous pair, of course. Even outside our niche, and especially in cineaste circles. Was never a big fan of either director or the Rota scores for his movies. There are other Rota collaborations and works I prefer more. But I do like LA DOLCE VITA.

– Sautet/Sarde
– Lautner/Sarde

Sarde had some good relationships. I’m not familiar with the Sautet work, really, but I love the Lautner. I have the special Sarde/Lautner CD that was released on Universal France.

– Polanski/Komeda

Another rather “hip” relationship, especially ROSEMARY’S BABY. But that’s almost an evergreen. There’s more interesting stuff going on in CUL-DE-SAC, KNIFE IN THE WATER and THE FEARLESS VAMPIRE KILLERS. My favourite Polanski collaboration, however, is easily BITTER MOON and Vangelis. Shame there was only that one collaboration.

– Truffaut/Delerue

Another iconic relationship, really, but perhaps somewhat underrated still in the cineaste community? I thought so, and decided to include that among the 15 pairs as well.

– Leone/Morricone (only 6 if you don’t count Leone produced ones)

Massively popular pair, one of the most popular in the world, and certainly not underrated. Usually mentioned in the same breath as Williams/Spielberg and Herrmann/Hitchcock. ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST will always remain one of my top, top favourite Morricone scores. But there are plenty other Morricone collaborations that are worth highlighting. Tall Guy mentioned some up there; my pick would maybe be Sergio Corbucci.

– Besson/Serra

Always been one of my favourite pairs. I love the “big” titles THE BIG BLUE, NIKITA, LEON and THE FIFTH ELEMENT, but perhaps even more some lesser talked-about titles: SUBWAY and especially ATLANTIS, my favourite Serra ever.

[Thor Joachim Haga]

Yes, whatever the correct number is (when you account for all the right parameters — dramatic instrumental score [not just songs], not merely reuse of themes [which of course also Morricone and Sarde and Horner and other prolific composers have done to lesser extents], not merely a small contribution etc. etc.), it’s incredibly impressive. Regardless of the strain on quality that this workload must have, when you basically do 2-3 film scores a month(!).

[Malte Müller]

I would understand “underrated” as not so known for the general public which we surely don’t count as 😉 Since here are quite well known ones listed I name a few more of those:

– Fellini/Rota
– Sautet/Sarde
– Lautner/Sarde
– Polanski/Komeda
– Truffaut/Delerue
– Leone/Morricone (only 6 if you don’t count Leone produced ones)
– Besson/Serra

Also rather well known:

– Angelopolous/Karaindou
– Lee/Blanchard
– Avildsen/Conti
– Singer/Ottman
– Kurosawa/Sato
– Gerry & Silvia Anderson/Barry Gray

A few German ones:

– Petersen/Doldinger (7 movies unless I missed one)
– Schlöndorff/Doldinger (3 only)
– Schlöndorff/Henze (3 only)
– Wim Wenders/Jürgen Knieper
– Joseph Vilsmaier/Enjott Schneider

And for fun a director itself underrated for a reason 😉
– Uwe Boll/Jessica de Rooji

[Thor Joachim Haga]

I would like to reiterate that even if you haven’t heard any new scores in 2025, or taken note of any archival releases, ANYTHING GOES in this thread. Classical, pop, rock, electronic, whatever. As long as it was released in 2025.

Now that some time has passed, I can just as well post my lists here, for anyone possibly interested. But I do still recommend listening to the podcast linked in the first post for music clips and reasonings.

TOP 20 FILMS (NORWEGIAN PREMIERE DATES):

1. 28 Years Later (Boyle)
2. Arcadian (Brewer)
3. The Gorge (Derrickson)
4. A House of Dynamite (Bigelow)
5. Marty Supreme (Safdie)
6. Nobody 2 (Tjahjanto)
7. Affeksjonsverdi (Trier)
8. Keeper (Perkins)
9. Ash (Flying Lotus)
10. The Exit 8 (Kawamura)
11. Presence (Soderbergh)
12. Avatar: Fire and Ash (Cameron)
13. Fremmed: Det første opgør (Hedegaard)
14. Ice Grave (Hunzinger)
15. Bugonia (Lanthimos)
16. Predator: Badlands (Trachtenberg)
17. Weapons (Cregger)
18. Black Phone 2 (Derrickson)
19. One Battle After Another (Anderson)
20. The Astronaut (Varley)

Honourable mentions: Tron: Ares (Rønning), F1: The Movie (Kosinski), Warfare (Mendoza), Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning (McQuarrie), The Naked Gun (Schaffer), Den stygge stesøsteren (Blichfeldt), Please Don’t Feed the Children (Spielberg), The Lost Bus (Greengrass)

Worst movies: Mickey 17, The Man in My Basement, Bloat, Eddington, Heim, War of the Worlds, Superman

TOP 25 FEATURE FILM SOUNDTRACKS:

1. Marty Supreme – Daniel Lopatin
2. New Wave – Greg Bernall & Chris Upton
3. Dark Sanctuary: The Story of the Church – Joe Virus
4. The Surfer – Francois Tetaz
5. Slocum et moi – Pascal le Pennec
6. Highest 2 Lowest – Howard Drossin
7. L’oro del Reno – Marco Pedrazzi
8. The Shrouds – Howard Shore
9. Point of Change – Stephen Warbeck & Lewis Morison (festival 24)
10. F1 – Hans Zimmer
11. Hollywood Grit – Nick Gomez
12. Patsers – Hannes de Maeyer
13. Moi qui t’amais – Philippe Sarde
14. The Doom Busters – Ben Pearson
15. Nachtvlinders – Merlijn Snitker
16. Three Days of Fish – Christiaan Verbeek
17. Kaamelott – Deuxième Volet (Partie 1) – Alexandre Astier
18. A Light in the Harbor – Taro Iwashiro
19. Four Letters of Love – Anne Nikitin
20. Swiped – Chanda Dancy
21. Le Routard – Ludovic Bource
22. Presence – Zack Ryan
23. A Necessary Escape aka Dakar Chronicles – M83
24. Where the Wind Blows – Jason Livesay & Nolan Livesay
25. Ash – Flying Lotus

[Thor Joachim Haga]

Yes, I noticed that too. I don’t think there’s any connection between the films. MOI QUI T’AMAIS concerns the relationship between Yves Montand and Simone Signoret, and none of those appear in HELLÉ. It’s just Sarde being more upfront about the re-use this time, I think.

[GerateWohl]

I should also point out – now that I’ve bumped this thread – that Sarde’s NEW score for MOI QUI T’AMAIS made it to my top 25 list of last year. Even though it reuses some of his earlier themes, like HELLÉ. But I’ve never had an issue with Sarde’s reuse of themes.

By the way, apart from me absolutely adoring this score of MOI QUI T’AMAIS I just recognized that the track where the theme from HELLÉ occurs for the first time on the album is actually called “Hellé”.
That implies somehow this is not just a theme reusage but some kind of connection between the films?

[Thor Joachim Haga]

New (archival) Sarde CD:

https://www.musicbox-records.com/en/cd-soundtracks/16574-hors-la-loi-la-nuit-ensoleillee.html

I should also point out – now that I’ve bumped this thread – that Sarde’s NEW score for MOI QUI T’AMAIS made it to my top 25 list of last year. Even though it reuses some of his earlier themes, like HELLÉ. But I’ve never had an issue with Sarde’s reuse of themes.

[Nicolai P. Zwar]

The re-use of a musical “theme”, motif or subject isn’t really anything unusual, and never has been. Composers have been recycling and re-using themes — their own or others — for as long as there is music history. So I don’t mind it either when it fits. Even Beethoven got a lot of mileage out of a theme he used and recycled in different compositions, such as in “The Creatures of Prometheus”, his third symphony, or his violin concerto, plus some piano work. So if Beethoven could do it, why not Sarde. 🙂

[Howard L]

Although never having seen Le Droit D’aimer, I know its score because Sarde re-used its main theme for same in Lovesick (1983) and is a huge favorite of mine. Oh is it ever. Was as smitten with it that evening at the cinema as was Dudley Moore’s character with Elizabeth McGovern’s.

[GerateWohl]

Also I like to mention that as a big John Williams fan I somehow regret that he did not write more scores where his orchestra was reduced to rather classical chamber ensemble size.
Stanley and Iris comes to mind. And some westerns with americana ensembles with banjo, harminca.

Anyway, Sarde fills for me that gap perfectly who uses smaller groups in a lot of scores.

THE TENANT

The Tenant is not bad but weird. I don’t feel the need to listen to that too often.

[Nicolai P. Zwar]

I like Philipp Sarde… though he’s probably not exactly overrepresented in my collection.
I think the first Sarde album I bought was L’OURS, way back when the movie came out. I like that score. Others that come to mind right away that I really enjoy are scores like THE TENANT, LA GUERRE DU FEU, TESS, GHOST STORY…

I also have the 6-Disc anthology of his work… but I don’t think I have listened to it all yet.

[GerateWohl]

Funnily I am sometimes struggling with Sarde scores when I hear them in context. Then they appear to me a little over the top like “too many notes”. But I dearly enjoy them on album.
Some personal favourites of mine are

TESS
L’OURS
LE PETIT GARÇON
LE GRAND MEAULNES
GARÇON
GHOST STORY
LA GUERRE DU FEU
LES DEUX AMIS
QUAI D’ORSAY
LE LIEU DU CRIME
PIRATES

But there is so much more great music in his work. I enjoy listening to his 6-disk anthology a lot.

HARLEM

Maybe you mean HAREM?

[Thor Joachim Haga]

There was a time I had only two Sarde scores on CD, PIRATES and MUSIC BOX. Didn’t care that much for either of them, so I eventually sold them.

Years went by, and then I suddenly decided that I wanted to explore his work properly. And boy, did I find many gems along the way. His re-use of themes doesn’t bother me in the slightest. Such a great melodist, oozing class and sophistication.

These are some of my favourites:

HELLÉ
DEUX HOMMES DANS LA VILLE
TESS
ALLONS Z’ENFANTS
J’AI EPOUSE UNE OMBRE
FORT SAGANNE
HARLEM
L’OURS
MANGECLOUS
LA FILLE D’ARTAGNAN
DIS-MOI OUI
LE BOSSU
SISTER MARY EXPLAINS IT ALL
MOI QUI T’AMAIS

I also have a very nice compilation, featuring his work for director Georges Lautner.

What are some of your favourites? I did notice that he featured on a couple of lists in the ‘top 10 favourite film composers’ thread. Like Slint’s and Geratewohl’s.

[Thor Joachim Haga]

After listening to (and reviewing) Sarde’s new score for MOI QUI T’AMAIS recently, and hearing his reuse of music from this 1972 film, I decided to listen to it again. It’s a beautiful affair, wistful and warm (and a little hotjazz thrown in), so I can understand why Sarde keeps using the theme(s).

[Nicolai P. Zwar]

But beyond that, prices on CDs have risen far, far more than sheer inflation accounts for. As has shipping and other things.

It’s interesting that you say that, that is not my experience at all. Perhaps it’s different in Norway. The way I see it, CDs have been remarkably resilient to price increases, thereby becoming actually cheaper.

My first ever CD order from Amazon was in 2000, two Varèse Sarabande CDs, they cost €15,33 back then. (The McNeely recordings of MARNIE and CITIZEN KANE). I ordered them from Amazon at that time because a) I could not find them at my local store and b) the price was pretty good. When FSM first released CDs like Stagecoach and The Poseidon Adventure, they cost $19,95… that was in 1998! That was a normal price back then for a new premium release. The tomorrow released MOI QUI T’AIMAIS by Philippe Sarde from Music Box Records costs €16,80! The “regular” price for a new “major” CD in Europe and the US has been around $20 for a quarter of a century. Intrada now releases sometimes CDs for $21,99 something like that, but that’s a relatively small increase. There are STILL many new CD releases for around 20 (Euros or Dollars).

If you look at actual inflation rates in Europe and the US, considered for the last 25 years (from 2000 to 2025), a CD that cost 20€/$20 in 2000 should cost now about 32€ or even $37 in 2025 (the inflation rate over the last 25 years was higher for the Dollar than for the Euro). So in fact, CD prices have decreased by a considerable margin (by staying the same.)

[slint]

Something like

Ennio Morricone
Piero Piccioni
Bruno Nicolai
Armando Trovajoli
Luis Bacalov
Stelvio Cipriani
Nino Rota
Philippe Sarde
François de Roubaix
Francis Lai

[GerateWohl]

Here I have to admit, that John Williams is my absolute top favourite. From all other composers in my top 10 I like aproximately 30% of their work. And their ranking results from how much I like their great 30%.
And of course the list is just a momentary picture.
And main criterion for me is how much I like their music. How well it works in which movie is secondary for me.

1. John Williams
2. Miklós Rózsa
3. Jerry Goldsmith
4. Elmer Bernstein
5. Philippe Rombi
6. Joe Hisaishi
7. Philippe Sarde
8. Bernhard Hermann
9. James Newton Howard
10. Dario Marianelli

Honorable mentions:
Danny Elfman
Franz Waxman
James Horner
Alan Silvestri
Howard Shore
Christopher Young
Patrick Doyle
John Barry
Ennio Morricone

[GerateWohl]

I made a photograph of just my John Williams boxsets. But I cannot upload pictures here. So just in words.

I have these John Williams boxsets
The Phillips Conductor Boxset
SONY Conductor Boxset
SONY John Williams – The Great Movie Soundtracks (4-discs)
The Legend of John Williams (20 discs)
Desaster Movie Box (4 discs)
Harry Potter – The John Williams Scores (7 discs)
Indiana Jones Concord Boxset (5 discs)
Star Wars Trilogy – The Anthology Boxset (4 discs)
John Williams in Berlin (2 CDs, 1 BluRay)
John Williams in Tokio (2 CDs, 1 BluRay)
Across The Stars (1 CD, 1 DVD)

Apart from that I have the Bernard Herrmann phase-4 boxset and the Planet of the Apes boxset. And the 12-disc Charles Gerhardt boxset.

But I think, that’s it for soundtrack related boxsets.

Edit: Oh wait, no! I almost forgot my two lovely Ennio Morricone Ecoutez Le Cinema boxsets. And my 6-disc Philippe Sarde Anthology boxset. All wonderful boxsets.

[GerateWohl]

Of course these lists are quite fluid. But currently I would go with this list.

The Empire Strikes Back- John Williams
E.T. – John Williams
Raiders of the Lost Ark – John Williams
The Force Awakens – John Williams
Unbreakable – James Newton Howard
Hana-Bi – Joe Hisaishi
The Magnificient Seven – Elmer Bernstein
Quo Vadis – Miklós Rózsa
El Cid – Miklós Rózsa
Tess – Philippe Sarde

[slint]

What do you think about all the re-use comments as pertains to Sarde, slint? I don’t mind, personally, just as I don’t mind for Horner, and with about 20 Sarde soundtracks only, I don’t think I’ve noticed very much.

Not at all, some re-use melodies, melody style, arrangement styles, instrumentation, influences and it is all the same to me. But Sarde did not re-use much melodies in the 1970s anyway, my favourite period.

[Thor Joachim Haga]

What do you think about all the re-use comments as pertains to Sarde, slint? I don’t mind, personally, just as I don’t mind for Horner, and with about 20 Sarde soundtracks only, I don’t think I’ve noticed very much.

[slint]

That’s interesting to hear, slint, because I’ve always thought – from your FSM postings – that those Frenchmen were always your favourite composers. You have so much knowledge about them.

I’ve always preferred other French composers, including Philippe Sarde, Francis Lai, Antoine Duhamel or Pierre Jansen.

Georges Delerue is obviously very talented and has some beautiful lyrical scores, so has always been very much on the radar. I guess it is simply a matter of taste: some of his scores are technically very advanced and very cinematic, but I don’t really fancy listening to them over and over. He is one of those composers that are almost too good for their art, with the music outside of the film losing a bit of its strength.

The other two are different. Maurice Jarre had the majority of his scores recorded in Hollywood and I find his French period mostly unremarkable. For Michel Legrand I think some of his Nouvelle Vague scores are great but for different reasons, I am simply not that much of a fan. Both Jarre and Legrand were also a bit monothematic like many European score composers. I can certainly appreciate they had a huge contribution in film music and were 100% into it (they conducted all their scores), so I am now a bit more appreciative after having listened their full catalogues.