Fantastic Scores and Where to Find Them
Film and television soundtrack gems from 2024
One annual tradition I have is compiling a list of my favorite musical scores from the year. Most of the scores I listen to are from films and shows I haven’t seen, and 2024 was no exception. Of the list below, I’ve only actually watched one selection thus far (entry #1).
What follows are my favorite film and television scores of 2024, in reverse order. Because I had trouble coming up with ten scores that really stood out to me, this is a Top Five list. For your listening pleasure, I have linked to each album so you can enjoy them as well.
5. IF (Michael Giacchino)
Some consider music like this to be saccharine—i.e., excessively sweet and sentimental. I find the sentimentality of this score delightful, not excessive (or anything else pejorative). When done well, film scores that wear their emotions on their sleeves are a balm to the soul, and Giacchino delivers such a balm with his wonderful composition for this movie.
4. Ronja the Robber’s Daughter (Johan Söderqvist)
This Swedish TV series has an engaging score with wonderful themes and instrumentations. I need to research this show more to see if it would be worth watching. Hat tip to my friend Jon Broxton for making me aware of this musical gem.
3. Here (Alan Silvestri)
Alan Silvestri has composed some excellent scores for director Robert Zemeckis, and we can now add Here to that list. This film has been compared to Forrest Gump (in that it reunites the main creative team behind that earlier movie), and the music warrants comparison as well. While not quite matching the melodic brilliance of Forrest Gump’s score, Silvestri’s music for Here is close enough to make it a wonderful listen. Sure, detractors will call it hopelessly sentimental and emotionally manipulative, but, like the IF score above, I find such music a delight.
2. Young Woman and the Sea (Amelia Warner)
As much as I enjoy the music from the previous three entries, there are really only two film/TV scores that knocked my socks off in 2024, and this is one of them. Young Woman and the Sea takes the word “inspiration” and distills it into musical form with such robust enthusiasm that I am tempted to compare it to Jerry Goldsmith’s score to Rudy. Like Goldsmith before her, Warner uses just two main themes to pad out the score’s running time, and those themes—including a simple-yet-effective power anthem—provide a wonderful listening experience. At one time, this score was a real contender for the number 1 slot. But even “only” at number 2, it is an album I return to again and again for the sheer amount and scale of listening pleasure it provides.
1. The Rings of Power: Season 2 (Bear McCreary)
Whatever criticisms can be made (and some of them are legit) about the Rings of Power TV series, the musical score is above reproach. Composer McCreary admirably meets the bar set by Howard Shore for the Peter Jackson films.
The first two seasons of this show include no fewer than 24 distinct themes for various characters, races, and locations, each of which carries a distinct musical style. My friend Jon Broxton goes so far as to say McCreary has composed “one of the greatest scores in the history of television”—and I am inclined to agree.1
Just one example of the musical genius of McCreary’s work on this series is the thematic palette from which he crafted Sauron’s musical signature. If you don’t care about spoilers, you can watch this short video essay explaining just what McCreary did with the character of Sauron.
At one point, I was tempted to make this post a Top Eight list, and give one spot to each of the eight episodes of Season 2 from The Rings of Power. Yes, it is a multilayered masterpiece that warrants all the praise I can heap on it. And if you want do delve into this music like a good dwarf (“too greedily and too deep”), here are the links to each episode’s album:
Episode 1: “Elven Kings Under the Sky”
Episode 2: “Where the Stars are Strange”
Episode 3: “The Eagle and the Sceptre”
Episode 4: “Eldest”
Episode 5: “Halls of Stone”
Episode 6: “Where Is He?”
Episode 7: “Doomed to Die”
Episode 8: “Shadow and Flame”
Broxton also notes that McCreary’s music for Season 1 of the show “was named Score of the Year by the International Film Music Critics Association – the first time it had ever been won by a TV score.”