Gladiator
|
List Price: Our Price: $5.59 You Save: $13.39 (71%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $3.06 (click here) Category: Music CD See more new music releases 
|
|---|
Canadian Music Store
Free Music Notes for Gladiator
Free Music Review: A Great Soundtrack
Hit: 5 Stars
The music for Gladiator is quite different from the film it most closely resembles: The Fall of the Roman Empire. There is no splashy theme music or love music (as was fitting for scenes between Stephen Boyd and Sophia Loren). Nor does the music seek to express the grandeur of Rome as Miklos Roza did in "Ben-Hur." Instead, the music for Gladiator sets the mood of the film. Hans Zimmer and Lisa Gerrard have created stirring and elegiac music to fit the tragic story of Maximus. The recreation of the Colosseum is fabulous to behold but the story is what is important, not the effects. For me, the music evokes the characters of the film, as the best film music does. I found no traces of Gustav Holst's "Mars" in "The Battle" but when first encountering this music (and not knowing where it was from or who had written it), I thought it sounded like the work of a British composer (albeit Britten or Bantok, not Holst). Fortunately, Mr. Zimmer did not quote directly from the score of The Planets (as Bill Conti did for "The Right Stuff," which still won him an Oscar) for as much as it may have worked an original touch was needed to convey the spirit of the film.
I had not heard of Lisa Gerrard prior to Gladiator. My first impression was that the middle-eastern sound did not contribute well to a film set in the Roman Empire. However, on second hearing, I think Ms. Gerrard's music sets the mood of the film, particularly in "Elysium" and "Honor Him," very well. Her contribution to the music is very effective and haunting.
In sum, this is an outstanding score, and if you were moved by the film you will not be disappointed by the music.
Free Music Review: One of the best scores ever written!!
Hit: 5 Stars
Enough cannot be said about this score. It will move you and haunt you forever. The incredible sense of emotion and depth is beautiful.The first two tracks take you to the eerie and dark battlefields of Germania, and introduce you to Maximus' vision of home, with haunting strings and flutes, subtle spanish guitar, and the beautifully moving voice of Lisa Gerrard, we're taken from a dream to the harsh reality of war. Track 3 begins with building a cresendo that does not end for 5-6 minutes. At about 3.5 minutes into it, we hear a very cool method I like in music, when an instrument "asks a question" and another responds. Then the main theme kicks in full gear, and we hear it fully at about 6 minutes into it. Awesome french horns take over giving us the ride of Maximus, which ends again with the haunting voice of Lisa Gerrard.
We also get to hear some great Middle-Eastern style themes and some great themes for the power of the Roman Empire, however, I think the best part of this score is in tracks 13-17, as I find most people agree. #13 The Barbarian Horde is a great revisit to the heroic theme of Maximus as we first heard in #3 The Battle... Then #14 Am I Not Merciful (my fav) is so full of the sadness and hatred Commodus has for Maximus builds into a moving cresendo which ends in the last three tracks of Maximus' journey home. Beautiful strings and the voice of Lisa Gerrard take us into #17 Now We Are Free, a beautiful track of hope and freedom.
You must own this score, along with Volume 2, in which you get to hear the beautifully haunting Duduk of the North, and little ideas that never made it to the film, another must own. Hans Zimmer at his BEST!
Free Music Review: Majestic, Intense, Exquisite, Soul-Wrenching....
Hit: 5 Stars
...as I listen to this beautiful Hans Zimmer/Lisa Gerraud score while writing this, I realize I can add little to the numerous positive reviews already written. I just saw the movie yesterday, and concur with the many who have said how perfectly this music carries the viewer through the film. However, the score is an entity unto itself. While the film is somewhat dark and depressing, Zimmer/Gerraud's score reflects a majesty and spirituality that is uplifting and cathartic. While I recommend that the film be seen, this music can be experienced and enjoyed on its own. Since music appreciation is so very personal, the reader should know that instrumental film scores are my favorite type of music, and I own a number of Zimmer scores including "Crimson Tide," "Backdraft," "The Rock," and "Lion King." Track #9 "The Might of Rome" has definite overtones of "Crimson Tide" with the choral additions. Beautiful! I certainly agree with those who feel Track #3 "The Battle" and Track #13 "Barbarian Horde" reach deep inside a person's soul with their majesty and exhilarating rhythms and sounds. And I certainly appreciate the tracks running together seamlessly as they do which avoids interruption in mood. I give no recommendation except for myself, but offer my opinion instead. I would have purchased this score without having seen the movie because of my love for Zimmer's talent. If you are unsure, see the film first! If you know you enjoy Hans Zimmer or thrilling instrumental music, then the score from "Gladiator" will not disappoint!Free Music Review: Bravo!
Hit: 5 Stars
What do you say to someone who hasn't even seen the movie but has fallen in love with the soundtrack. I guess you might tell them to go see the movie. Unfortunately, I live fifty miles away from the nearest theatre so we have to plan our night out to the movies or wait for the video. BUT--I think I know the Gladiator soundtrack so well I have already created the movie in my mind. The expression in the music is so descriptive--it shows not tells--very important if it's going to draw an audience.I am a prolific writer--children's writing--and I love this soundtrack to help put me in to the mood. Currently I'm writing a some what graphic sci-fi piece. If I have writers block this music smooths out the distractions and helps me move into that wonderful get-away-place called imagination.
How does this review help you if you don't write? Well--we all have worries, right? We all get stressed and we'd like to possibly put some bill collectors in the ring with a gladiator--then no more worries. As good as that may sound it's still wrong. But that doesn't mean, for a time while we listen to this beautiful and stirring music, that we can't imagine our stresses being thrown to the lions or a bill collector pleading for his life. How about a terrible boss, or a stinky teacher, or that mechanic that never seems to be able to fix your car and the bills are stacking high? This soundtrack does it all for me. I can actually get satisfaction from the worries of life just by taking the time to listen to this incredible soundtrack. My compliments, as a music lover, to Hans Zimmer and Lisa Gerrard. Bravo!
Free Music Review: I brought the CD--My highest praise
Hit: 5 Stars
The soundtrack to the movie--Gladiator is essentially what a soundtrack is suppose to be it adds to the film and can become a kind of invisible actor-establishing mood, themes and characters.. I brought the sound track after seeing the film because I was captured by the music, and the visual recreation in the film and the acting of Russell Crowe. The soundtrack especially cuts 3 and 13 add to the visual statements being made on the screen--the violence, blood and chaos of the battle, but also the gladiatorial contests. The similarity of these types of mayhem is explored in the military aspect of the music. Lisa Gerrard's vocals and the duduk compositions of Djivan Gasparyan are the most haunting aspects of this fictional tale of a general who becomes a gladiator. I searched for music by Gasparyan on Amazon.com and found the basis of the duduk themes used in the film--he plays similar songs in his CD-Moon Shines at Night(1993 Gyroscope. I also explored an Armenian website to familiarize myself with this oboe-like instrument. The cut-#6, To Zucchabar is very good. My only caveat with the CD is that the thematic continuity was given precedent over the chronological arrangement of the film. Thus, To Zucchabar should have come after #8 The Emperor is Dead#8 since this is how it occurs in the movie. I also cry on Elysium and Now we Are Free. This soundtrack has be played in a surroundsound kind of atmosphere or you can't get the feel of the film's visual and emotional impact. Although I liked Braveheart and Mel Gibson in it--the music didn't grab me as this one did.