Ever since I joined MCML, there has been an underlying issue of whether film music composers should be accorded classical music composer status, either through the style of their music or its quality. It's a delicate issue, but one which can be discussed politely. The one element that to me greatly differentiates my perception of classical music from film music is that film music is closely tied in to a movie. It has no need to stand on its own, and is therefore in a different category. I see the merit of comparing one film score to another, not comparing a film score to classical composition which was composed to stand by itself. I very much enjoyed the score to "Out of Africa." However, even now, I can't listen to it without immediately thinking of the movie. So, the movie score has this built-in advantage. Objectively, I consider movie music a separate category not to be compared with classical music. Subjectively, I think that movie music is generally of a lower quality/nature. I doubt that folks like Williams roam the land promoting themselves as great classical music composers. Unfortunately, some listeners do including some members of this list. Without these written promotions, it's unlikely that we would be hearing negative comments in response. Getting back to Williams for a moment, I'll gladly concede that the music for Star Wars is "perfect" for the movie. That doesn't make it worthy to stand alongside the masterful works of Stravinsky, Shostakovich, Britten, et al. Don Satz [log in to unmask]