Is your favourite film score from the past ten years in our top 30?

John Williams’ score for the 2011 film War Horse has been crowned favourite in a survey commissioned by Scala Radio to find out which is the most popular film score from the past ten years. Williams’ pastoral-infused score was voted winner by a tenth of survey respondents.

Hans Zimmer's epic soundscapes dominate the top five with his score for Inception in close second place, and The Dark Knight Rises and Interstellar in fourth and fifth places respectively.

Scroll down to discover which of your favourite film scores are in our Top 30.

Alexandre Desplat's music for 2010 film The King's Speech nestles in third place, and his evocative score for Wes Anderson's The Grand Budapest Hotel from 2014 in sixth place - the highest placed Oscar-winning film score.

THE TOP 30 MOVIE SCORES FROM THE LAST 10 YEARS

1. John Williams - War Horse (2011)

2. Hans Zimmer - Inception (2010)

3. Alexandre Desplat - The King's Speech (2010)

4. Hans Zimmer - The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

5. Hans Zimmer - Interstellar (2014)

6. Alexandre Desplat - The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

7. Alan Silvestri - Avengers Endgame (2019)

8. Marc Shaiman - Mary Poppins Returns (2018)

9. Justin Hurwitz - La La Land (2017)

10. Hildur Gudnaddotir - Joker (2019)

11. Danny Elfman - Alice In Wonderland (2010)

12. Michael Giacchino - Up (2009)

13. Michael Giacchino - Spiderman Homecoming (2017)

14. Nicholas Britell - If Beale Street Could Talk (2019)

15. Johann Johannsson - The Theory of Everything (2015)

16. Alexandre Desplat - The Shape of Water (2018)

17. John Powell - How to Train Your Dragon (2010)

18. John Williams - The Book Thief (2013)

19. Pinar Toprak - Captain Marvel (2019)

20. Rupert Gregson-Williams - Wonder Woman (2017)

21. Michael Giacchino - Coco (2017)

22. Max Richter - Mary Queen of Scots (2019)

23. Rachel Portman - Never Let Me Go (2011)

24. Alexandre Desplat - The Imitation Game (2014)

25. Clint Mansell - Moon (2009)

26. Johann Johannsson - Arrival (2016)

27. Daniel Pemberton - Steve Jobs (2015)

28. Amelia Warner - Mary Shelley (2018)

29. Jonny Greenwood - Phantom Thread (2018)

30. Jo Yeong-Wook - The Handmaiden (2017)

We commissioned the survey because we wanted to learn what new music film-goers had been enjoying over the past ten years. What that meant in practice was concentrating on original music.

Reaching audiences beyond film?

The range of music in the top ten alone raises some interesting insights about how film composers are working today: creating musical characters which support the on-screen storytelling, at the same time as creating music that is enjoyed beyond the viewing experience. By meeting this dual purpose, is film music reaching an audience beyond the film the music was originally written for?

Musically speaking, that broader appeal is achieved in a variety of ways. Alexandre Desplat's score for The King's Speech for example evokes an air of nostalgia from the 1930s without being overly sentimental at the same time as conveying a modern sense of solitude, especially in the track of the same name.

In a similar way, John Williams music for War Horse emulates the sound world of Ralph Vaughan Williams - arguably the epitome of English music before, during and after the First World War. By emulating familiar sounding music are composers increasing the appeal of both their work and the film they're writing for?

And in excerpts from Alan Silvestri's Avengers Endgame (using Silvestri’s musical material that first appeared in the first Avengers film in 2012) we hear grand epic musical statements that transport the listener from the present-day into a world where good (eventually) triumphs over evil. These films entertain us visually, but listened to in isolation, is Silvestri's music fulfilling an emotional need independently of the story it serves?

Women composers in our top 30

That four women feature in our top 30 is significant and shows progress in terms of greater representation of women, albeit slow progress. In comparison, only two women have won the best original score Oscar in the entire history of the awards: Anne Dudley in 1997 for The Full Monty and Rachel Portman (1996) for Emma. Portman did receive two other nominations for The Cider House Rules in 1999 and Chocolat in 2000, and Mica Levi is the most recent woman nominee for Jackie 2016.

Hildur Gudnadottir is a great example of women beginning to take centre stage, with the universal praise she’s received for Joker. We’ve got a good hunch on her getting an Oscar nod for_Joker_at the 2020 awards.

Zimmer and Nolan

Hans Zimmer’s dominance in the top five throws light on one of the most fruitful directorial-compositional partnerships in film history, that with the sixth highest grossing director Christopher Nolan. Zimmer’s canon stretches a considerable span from the score for My Beautiful Launderette to now featuring over 150 creations including The Dark Knight Rises.

Much of that success must surely be down to the onus the director places on the power of music in film and in particular originality, arguably down to how Nolan never provides the composer with a ‘temp score’ (for those not in the know - a source of ideas for a composer given by the director), to ensure the score will be wholly original and won’t be an unwitting imitation. That Zimmer has three of his scores in our top 10 is significant.

Big Band sound

Two films in this top ten especially caught our eye. Marc Shaiman's original score for Mary Poppins Returns combines original melodic material whilst incorporating some Disney traits that echo the original film with Julie Andrews in the lead role. 'Can You Imagine That?' is a big band orchestral sound rouses the heart with a combination of big sweeping melodies and march like rhythms - builds on the elements that made a 'Spoonful of Sugar' from the Sherman brother's score such a runaway success - a nifty way of creating something original that harks back to the music that started the story.

In a similar way, Justin Hurwitz's high octane big band-infused score for the motion picture music La La Land combines melodies that are easy to discern and recall, driven by dance rhythm that make the toe tap and make any of us search for the spotlight.

The style through Hurwitz's score has a sophisticated edge, sits neatly in subject matter of the film - jazz - whilst making sure the original material in its grandest scoring is inclusive. And the charming simplicity of 'City of Stars' - the Gosling/Stone duet that starts at the piano keyboard - has a sweet kind of memorability. Its distinctive sound makes recalling La La Land a certainty.

More poll insights

The poll of 2,000 adults found one in five have bought a film score, and a third of the population have watched a film specifically because someone told them the music was so enjoyable. One in five have even enjoyed a film’s soundtrack so much they’ve made the effort to go see it performed live. And more than a third – 38 per cent - have been encouraged to listen to a genre of music they’d normally avoid, due to hearing it in a film. The majority of respondents believe classical tracks make for the best film scores - 50 per cent - followed by pop – a third - and rock - 27 per cent

Listen to Simon Mayo, Sam Hughes and Mark Forrest's shows on Wednesday 27 November 2019 to hear tracks from the Top 30 most-loved film scores.

Mark Kermode's Film Music Show is on Scala Radio from 1-3pm on Saturdays, and 7-9pm on Mondays.

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