“I never liked film music very much,” Williams said to The Guardian’s Dalya Alberge, “Film music, however good it can be — and it usually isn’t, other than maybe an eight-minute stretch here and there … I just think the music isn’t there. What we think of as this precious great film music … we’re remembering it in some kind of nostalgic way. Just the idea that film music has the same place in the concert hall as the best music in the canon is a mistaken notion, I think.”
For most movies, yes, for some movies, no. Lord of the Rings has a score that can stand alone.