Some of my favourites: 

Schindler's List
The Piano
Parade's End
Peter's Friends (for nostalgic reasons)
Last Exit to Brooklyn (by Mark Knopfler, incredibly beautiful music)

Sherlock soundtrack
Sweeney Todd "Women" (duet Alan Rickman and Johnny Depp)
Love Actually, some of them
Alice in Wonderland
.
.
.
(to be continued)

Yes, with Johnny Depp as Mad Hatter. Love that!

Russell wrote:

Neat! I have some particular movies with which I loved the soundtrack compiled for them as a whole (City of Angels, Wild Target, O Brother Where Art Thou)… but those are pretty much 'compiled' tracks, and looks like you're talking about music made for it's movie. In which case, yes and -yes-, both Sherlocks, Hobbit, Inception, were wonderful 'instrumental illustrations' of their movies, weren't they?

And heh, yes, 'Alice'…. can't go wrong with pretty much anything by Danny Elfman or John Williams really! Or Hans Zimmer… they're so good. Zimmer's 'This Land' in The Lion King gets me every time. Or the main title to The Last Of The Mohicans, and the themes in Gladiator ('Now We Are Free' or 'Elysium' particularly).

If looking for a range of just beautiful background instrumentals/themes, have a soft spot for these:
-'Passion' by Peter Gabriel (the soundtrack to The Last Temptation Of Christ) especially the one "Of These, Hope"
-Waking Ned Devine … more sweetly lively celtic-type
-Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon
-any of the Doctor Who instrumental soundtracks for each series
-anything Joe Hisaishi did for Hayao Miyazaki's films (Nausicaa, Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, My Neighbor Totoro, Castle In The Sky)

Ahem… rambling. Sorry… love really well done instrumental soundtracks too!

You should listen to Clint Mansell, he composed the soundtrack for Requiem for a Dream and Moon and lots of movies I don't know. It's amazing.

Lovely, Dav!
That reminds me that I never saw that movie. Recommendable? Hubby said once it's "crap". 

Going back to edit the last post as some of the links won't work! Edward Scissorhands is, in my humble opinion, a beautiful film. It is really a modern fairy tale with a strong  moral message. It always makes me have a weep. It is not the cup of tea of many men/boys. My son would say the same. It is a love story. 

Last edited by Davina (May 30, 2013 5:21 pm)

Myraya - Cool.... thanks...   and since I can't help curiosity with sharing good tastes, let me know if you get to try any of those!
Davina - Ha.... you pretty much listed several similar top-notch tracks/composers others had the same idea with!  Elfman and Zimmer....  seriously....     Sherlock, Inception, Gladiator... gorgeous instrumentals... although on the more playful side, Elfman's stuff he did for the newer Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was also fun.  Especially the main title song:



Everyone else has already mentioned songs from the big favorites (and Davina's previous vids), so hopefully you won't mind me plugging just one I mentioned earlier that's beautiful in... quite a different way....  the stuff on Gabriel's 'Passion' soundtrack has such a strangely different cultural quality to it (if that's the right word)... almost ethereal sometimes?  Here's the best one:




Cheers!

Ah yeah, Edward Scissorhands theme is beautiful...

Here are a few of mine:

Bruno Coulais (sung by Nick Cave) - To be by your side (LE PEUPLE MIGRATEUR)





Joe Hisaishi (sung by Yumi Kiruma) - Itsumo nando demo (SPIRITED AWAY) (though I love every Miyazaki movies' soundtracks)





Yann Tiersen - La valse d'Amélie [version orchestre] (LE FABULEUX DESTIN D'AMELIE POULAIN): My husband and I exchanged rings on that music on October.29 2005... And now, all's left of him is his wedding ring... and the memories...  





Jon Brion - Strings that tie to you (ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND)





Shigeru Umebayashi – Yumeji’s theme (IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE)





Devotchka - Till the end of time (LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE)





Ennio Morricone - MY NAME IS NOBODY Theme





Monty Python - Always look on the bright side of life (LIFE OF BRIAN)





Vladimir Cosma - LE GRAND BLOND AVEC UNE CHAUSSURE NOIRE Theme





Vangelis - 1983 ANTARTICA Theme





Jerry Goldsmith - MEDICINE MAN Theme





Cat Stevens - If you want to sing out, sing out (HAROLD AND MAUD)

Amelie! I completely forgot! Bought me the cd. 

Found the song from Sweeney Todd:
Take your time, imo it's becoming better and better.....



Soundtrack from Snowcake. E.g. The same deep water as me

Punch me in the face wrote:

Well, The cat returns is a movie by Morita and I believe the music's by Yuji Nomi, but I love this song nonetheless. Brings back good memories. First cinema with my husband in August 2003 just after he came and lived with me.

And The path of the wind, the slower version of it at least, is probably my favourite Hisaishi's melody, just like Totoro's my favourite Miyazaki's movie. Not his most philosophical one (though it's still has a powerful meaning) nor his most complex one, but it's full of poetry. There's definitely something special about it... 

 
Ahhhh...  goodness, yes.  'Path' hits me every single time.     And ah, okay.... I already knew it wasn't by Miyazaki (but still a Studio Ghibli film), and incorrectly assumed Hisaishi had worked on that, too.  Actually, I'm a little frustrated, since many years ago when I first picked up numerous of the soundtracks, thanks to a friend making me a copy of theirs (hey, I'm not advocating for that or anything, just explaining! ;D), but due to getting it that way simply on my computer, a chunk of track titles were saved, and some, for some reason weren't (I'm guessing info was lost in transfer, or something to do with unreadable japanese characters).  Never bothered to sit down and crunch out some research into getting them matched up, until now, when sharing favorites made me realize I have no way to look -up- some of those songs to share, and apparently there are several 'versions' of each soundtrack too!  Gah... I don't suppose you're well familiar enough to some extent with all of them, and could message you for ideas (without spamming everyone else)?