Bruce Hembd’s great series on Horn-tastic TV Themes at Horn Matters got me thinking about all the amazing horn solos in movie soundtracks.  There are too many to list in this post, but I thought what might be fun is to consider only those horn solos that appear in the opening few minutes of a film, either in the opening titles or the first scene.  Here are a few that came to mind.

Braveheart “Main Title,” composed by James Horner, London Symphony Orchestra, Timothy Jones?, solo horn [Solo begins at 1:55.]

Saving Private Ryan “Revisiting Normandy,” composed by John Williams, Gus Sebring, solo horn [This is not the first track on the motion picture soundtrack, but it is the first scene in the movie.]

Wyatt Earp “Main Theme,” composed by James Newton Howard, ?, solo horn

Can you think of any more film scores with solo horn (not sections) featured in the opening titles or main theme?  Further information on the soloists for Braveheart and Wyatt Earp would be great too.

If horn playing in film scores interests you, some great resources are Cindy Liu’s dissertation from the University of Cincinnati, The Examination of the Appearance and Use of French Horn in Film Scores from 1977 to 2004, and the website Moviebrass.