Top Score

Video game composer Dren McDonald had a great idea to raise money for an after-school music program in California. McDonald is Emily Reese's guest on this week's episode of Top Score.

Composers Kenny Young and Brian D'Oliveira collaborated on music for the game 'Tearaway'. They are Emily Reese's guests on this week's episode of Top Score.

When Brian Min wrote music for 'The Cave,' he never meant for that music to stay in the game. We're glad it did.

There were so many great soundtracks for games in 2013, our Top 5 list was just the tip of the iceberg.

Of all the great music to emerge from video games in 2013, one soundtrack comes out on top.

Jessica Curry's score for Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs earns the number 2 spot on Top Score's Countdown to the Best Video Game Soundtracks of 2013.

2013 had several outstanding orchestral scores for video games. Over the next four weeks, you'll hear from five of them, starting with number 5.

It's a game about love, and flowers, and flying, and nature... and there's great music too. Composer Vincent Diamante talks about "Flower" on Top Score.

This introduction to the music of Guild Wars 2 , written by Jeremy Soule, also illustrates how you can learn about other composers — Edvard Grieg, for instance — from video games.

The art in To the Moon is deceptively simple. With blocky graphics, it's a lot like an Impressionist painting up close. But as you sit back, the images come alive. Kan Gao's atmosphere score is much the same.

The Castlevania series of games has great music, including the newest in the series, "Lords of Shadow" by Oscar Araujo.

The newest Game Music Bundle features 14 soundtracks from scary games, the perfect music for your Halloween party!

The Videri String Quartet is a typical string quartet -- with a twist. Although each member of the ensemble is classically trained, the group chooses to exclusively play video game music.

Composer Lorne Balfe wrote music for the game Beyond: Two Souls , which just came out on Tuesday. Balfe's music helps to tell the story of the game, centered on a character named Jodie. And the music is brilliant.

In Borderlands 2: Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep , composer Raison Varner had the opportunity to poke a bit of fun at one of the most beloved genres of all media — the fantasy genre.

Gustavo Santaolalla won back-to-back Oscars in 2006 and 2007, for Brokeback Mountain and Babel, respectively. And those sparse film scores are indicative of Gustavo's use of space in music — silence can be one of the most effective sounds to use in a video game.

Composer Jack Wall wrote two quite different soundtracks for Lost Planet 3 — one takes the player through the battles and cinematics of Lost Planet, and one takes the main character back to Planet Earth.

The Washington Metro Gamer Symphony Orchestra is a brand new all-volunteer ensemble devoted entirely to performing orchestral arrangements of video game music.

Composer James Hannigan wrote music for Dead Space 3 ; an ominous score for a terrifying game.

British composer James Hannigan has scored just about every type of game imaginable, from the final four 'Harry Potter' games to terrifying 'Dead Space 3'. We talked about his newest project, a big online fantasy game called 'RuneScape 3'.