Intrada Soundtrack Forum

I have noticed for a long time the disappearance of that mention on my soundtrack covers. It slowly began in the 90's with Danny Elfman, Alan Menken, Hans Zimmer, Marc Shaiman, James Newton-Howard, David Arnold, Mark Mancina, Elliot Goldenthal, John Powell... And now it seems that no composer is willing or able to conduct their orchestra anymore. Even great symphonists like Michael Giacchino, John Ottman, Christoph Beck or Andrew Lockington don't conduct. Aaron Zigman rarely conduct though he's able to do it.
The disappearance of that mention can also be noticed on albums where the composer actually conducts (David Newman on his terrific Tarzan, for instance).

For the last 10 years or so, we have sadly lost so many great composers from the "Composed and Conducted" era (Jerry Goldsmith, Elmer Bernstein, Basil Poledouris, Michael Kamen, Shirley Walker, John Barry, Maurice Jarre and now James Horner). Old timers Bruce Broughton, Lee Holdridge, Bill Conti, Don Davis, are kinda out of the game. John Williams won't conduct the majority of the next Star Wars...

Today, amongst the A-list composers still in action, I can only find Alan Silvestri, Howard Shore, Brian Tyler and John Debney that still conduct the orchestra... (Ennio Morricone, Joel McNeely and the Newmans are rarely given the chance to shine these days).

So is this the end of "Composed and Conducted by" ? and does it still mean anything ?

Personally, it is the end result that matters to me. A lot of composer/orchestrator/conductor teams jell extremely well. The combined sensibilities of Zimmer and Walker was magic, as have been the prominent collaborations with the likes of Nicholas Dodd and Pete Anthony.

But, yes, looking back it is impressive to think of the many workhorse composers who wore all hats.

While there are of course musicians who are perfectly apt at both (in the classical just like in the film musical world), conducting and composing are two very different things. Not every composer is a good conductor or vice versa. So it's not as if it would be good for every composer to conduct his own work.

There are fewer classically composed orchestral soundtracks anyway these days, and more soundscapes, so obviously fewer classically "conducted" scores.

But indeed, I wondered why Howard Shore did not conduct the second and third Hobbit movie? Time reasons, since the score was recorded in New Zealand, I guess?

I think it may simply be a matter of wanting to be in the booth to hear what the end result is going to be and be able to immediately communicate with the mixer. Also many scores have prerecorded synth and rhythm tracks and being in the booth allows the composer to hear those played back as the orchestra is added and get a sense of how things are working together rather than concentrating strictly on orchestral issues out on the stage. Let a conductor work on balances and wrong notes issues while he/she can concentrate on the overall result.