So recently I replayed all of Halo 3 for fun, one thing I realized is that instead of drowning a cutscene in dialouge, sometimes it would let a scene play out whether action oriented or not, with just music. Like minimal talking, just music. We need this back in Halo games. Dialouge is fun and all. Knowing more about the lore. However, sometimes we need the music to just take over and make space to let the gamers absorb everything.
One of my favorite custscenes is the closing scene after Floodgate in Halo 3. it starts right after Lord Hood and Shipmaster’s debate. Starts at 4:07
Agreed OP. I think the music in Halo 4, while good, was not implemented well into the cutscenes. I hope 343 has taken this into consideration while working in the next Halo. For both cutscenes and gameplay.
One example where I believe 343 nailed it was the Short Sword trench run. The song 117 IMO fit there perfectly.
With Bungie’s Halo soundtracks if I listen to one of Marty’s songs I can picture the exact cutscene or gameplay moment it was from. I didn’t get that with Halo 4.
The cutscenes in Combat Evolved had a more “Let’s make sure we explain things to the player” feel. Halo 2 had so much going on they needed to pack as much as much dialog into the scenes to make sure they weren’t losing people. By Halo 3, we had it explained to us so many times “the rings will kill us all” “all sentient life in the blah blah” that they could get away with these beautiful scenes with a powerful score and well choreographed character movements and behaviors (I love in that scene you mentioned when Johnson and the Elite are carrying weapons and Spark flies by leaving the marines looking baffled).
BUT considering how much dialog Halo 4 had, people were still lost. It’s a big story they’re trying to tell and I don’t think they can afford that luxury. Halo 4 is like Combat Evolved in a lot of ways, but like I said above, we need things explained to us. The next Halo will probably blow things wide open and, like Halo 2, we’re probably going to be hanging onto every word and anxiously awaiting for the next line of dialog to learn what’s happening.
117 in Halo 4 could have been an even better moment, if only they turned the music volume up, it seemed way too quiet compared to other Halo games, like it took a back step and really, music in Halo is as important as the gameplay and story in my opinion.
I think after all these years, I might have to say that although the Halo 4 OST as a whole isnt up to previous standards, 117 is probably one of my fav Halo tracks ever.
Oh and yeah, that Floodgate cutscene is awesome, got goosebumps watching that through again. Thanks mate 
i hope halo xbox one OST will go somesthing like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSqm5Id6Hw0