*rubs hands together in anticipation*
I'm a big soundtrack geek, and for those of you who don't know much about Hans Zimmer, he's done some amazing stuff:
The Lion King, Gladiator, The Prince of Egypt, the second and third
Pirates of the Caribbean (the first was actually Klaus Badelt, one of his students),
The Ring, Black Hawk Down, working with James Newton Howard to score
Batman Begins... the list is ridiculous. Check out IMDb. Every genre, every great director, so many great actors and movies have been scored along to his music. He's the master of bassline and strong, glorious themes.
Howard Shore, on the other hand... Honestly? I didn't know any of his music until I watched PJ's movies: after which point I found out that he did such classics as
The Fly and
Silence of the Lambs. I guess his music before that point just didn't strike me as magnificent enough to look up, as Zimmer's definitely did. That's not to say that Shore's music isn't fantastically wonderful and incredibly fitting to the LotR movies. It is! No denial! His best music is a lot like John William's, not only in sound but also because he's had over ten hours of movie footage to work with, as Williams had with
Star Wars.
Williams and Shore both work best in character- and location-based themes. Zimmer, on the other hand, works in a grander perspective, motive- and emotional-based themes. I like both, myself, but ultimately for this thread I'll have to side with Hans Zimmer (half because I adore him, half to be obstinate
). He's done a lot more really deep scores that I personally appreciate.