James Newton Howard

Artist ∙ Soundtrack

Howard attended the University of Southern California as a piano performance major, but he dropped out of the program after only six weeks.

∙ Beginning in 1975, he spent several years touring and recording with Elton John.
∙ Howard has collaborated with such artists as Diana Ross, Barbra Streisand, Ringo Starr, and Eric Clapton.
∙ During the ’80s, Howard began moving into TV and film scoring, achieving his breakthrough with the blockbuster movie Pretty Woman.
∙ He wrote the opening theme for TV medical drama ER and also scored the series’ iconic two-hour pilot.
∙ He has been nominated for eight Academy Awards, in addition to a Grammy Award for his work on The Dark Knight, which he scored with Hans Zimmer.
∙ A winner of ASCAP’s Henry Mancini Award for lifetime achievement, Howard has more than 100 film scores to his name.

July 14, 2008 at PDT
The Dark Knight (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
There’s little breathing room on Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard’s brilliantly conceived soundtrack for The Dark Knight. Just like Heath Ledger’s totally psycho portrayal of The Joker, almost every track is heavy, dense, and claustrophobic. Zimmer is a sucker for industrial music and dark electronics, both of which creep their way into “Agent of Chaos” and the violently rhythmic “Why So Serious?” Even the reflective orchestral offerings are smeared in grim textures and dystopian murk. Definitely file under “uneasy listening.”
14 Tracks
February 25, 2021 at PST
Raya and the Last Dragon (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
A grand, enchanting score worthy of the mythical Disney epic.
24 Tracks
June 13, 2005 at PDT
Batman Begins (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Batman Begins, the first film in the most recent series that features the caped superhero—Batman’s origins date back to the 1930s—was directed by Christopher Nolan, and released in 2005. The film’s score was written by Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard, two of Hollywood’s most well-known composers. The soundtrack opens with the moody “Vespertilio,” where chugging strings, ominous brass, and electronics effectively set the stage for the action to come. (The track titles are based on the Latin names for various types of bats.) The insistent pulse of minimalism drives one section of “Eptesicus,” a cut that is also nicely colored by touches of oboe and acoustic piano. The second half of “Tadarida” is one of the wildest things here: the edgy sound effects, chattering voices, and pounding drums reek of danger. “Molossus,” with its driving rhythm and counterbalanced horns and strings, is super urgent, while “Corynorhinus” spotlights melancholy strings and gentle piano. The reflective closer, “Lasiurus,” surges with emotion towards its conclusion.
12 Tracks
January 4, 2015 at PST
The Hanging Tree (Rebel Remix) [From "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Pt. 1"] [feat. Jennifer Lawrence] - Single
1 Trackfalse
December 31, 2011 at PST
The Hunger Games (Original Motion Picture Score)
18 Tracks
November 17, 2016 at PST
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) [Deluxe Edition]
26 Tracks
December 31, 2003 at PST
The Village (Score from the Motion Picture)
13 Tracks
December 31, 2001 at PST
Treasure Planet (Music from the Motion Picture)
17 Tracks
October 24, 2003 at PDT
Peter Pan (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
18 Tracks
December 18, 2006 at PST
Blood Diamond (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
24 Tracks
November 22, 2015 at PST
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Pt. 2 (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Acclaimed composer James Newton Howard (The Dark Knight, Michael Clayton) brings us back to Panem for Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Pt. 2. Howard’s score is an immersive combination of arrangements both panoramic (the brassy bombast of “Rebels Attack”) and intimate (the spare and haunting, violin-led “Your Favorite Color Is Green”) that culminates with Jennifer Lawrence’s gorgeous rendition of “Deep In The Meadow.”
19 Tracks
July 14, 2008 at PDT
The Dark Knight (Collectors Edition) [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]
There’s little breathing room on Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard’s brilliantly conceived soundtrack for The Dark Knight. Just like Heath Ledger’s totally psycho portrayal of The Joker, almost every track is heavy, dense, and claustrophobic. Zimmer is a sucker for industrial music and dark electronics, both of which creep their way into “Agent of Chaos” and the violently rhythmic “Why So Serious?” Even the reflective orchestral offerings are smeared in grim textures and dystopian murk. Definitely file under “uneasy listening.”
28 Tracks
November 8, 2018 at PST
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
25 Tracks
December 31, 2013 at PST
Maleficent (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Composer James Newton Howard confides that the Maleficent production team spent a considerable amount of time discussing the tone his score should take. “It’s a fantasy. A classic story. It’s quite a dark movie, yet a fairy tale,” he notes. “At first there was an emphasis on being darker. But my perspective all along was that it was a beautiful fairy tale.” Newton-Howard says that director Robert Stromberg requested a “classic” film score, and so he employed a massive studio orchestra and several choirs to produce a symphonic epic that often recalls Hollywood’s golden era and its European classical roots. “The ‘angry’ Maleficent was the most fun to write,” James says, “done in the Wagnerian tradition. A lot of the movie has that scope visually, and I tried to achieve the same with the music.” Yet he’s also quick to point out "the movie has terrific heart. You can write all the action music you want, but unless there’s a human connection to the story and characters it’s going to leave you feeling empty.”
23 Tracks
December 31, 2012 at PST
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (Original Motion Picture Score)
29 Tracks
November 20, 2014 at PST
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Pt. 1 (Original Motion Picture Score)
23 Tracks
December 31, 1999 at PST
Unbreakable (Original Motion Picture Score)
14 Tracks
July 29, 2021 at PDT
Jungle Cruise (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
27 Tracks
December 31, 2006 at PST
I Am Legend (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
14 Tracks
December 31, 2000 at PST
Atlantis: The Lost Empire (Original Soundtrack)
18 Tracks
December 31, 2011 at PST
Snow White & The Huntsman (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
19 Tracks
October 25, 2018 at PDT
The Nutcracker and the Four Realms (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
17 Tracks
December 31, 1999 at PST
Dinosaur (Original Soundtrack)
16 Tracks
November 16, 2023 at PST
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (Original Motion Picture Score)
40 Tracks
December 5, 2019 at PST
A Hidden Life (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
14 Tracks

James Newton Howard

Content Link

Short Link

Badges and Lockups

App Icon

QR Code