Basil Poledouris

Basil Poledouris has composed the music for many films, revealing in his lush arrangements and heavily dramatic scores a wonderful ability to propel the action onscreen. Nowhere is that more apparent than in Conan the Barbarian, a sumptuous aural feast that contains elements of post-Romanticism (think Saint-Saens' "Bacchanale"), early Eastern European Chants, and Middle Eastern music. True, there is something more than slightly inflated about the sound, but that's the beauty of it: Poledouris unabashedly creates a larger-than-life, sweeping score that is a perfect sonic mirror of the sword-and-sorcery fantasy playing out on the screen. For fans of large symphonic tone poems, it makes for delightful listening outside of the theater. The composer also created the award-winning music for the critically acclaimed television series Lonesome Dove, revealing a distinct Aaron Copland influence.