- Purchase a product from the Music Store sold by Amazon.co.uk and receive £1 to use on an album download in our MP3 Store. Here's how (terms and conditions apply)
Check out the 3-disc
Extended Special Edition
DVD.
Amazon.co.uk allows you to pay for your items in your local currency. Restrictions apply. Learn More. |
Special Offers and Product Promotions
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
Listen to Samples and Buy MP3s
Songs from this album are available to purchase as MP3s. Click on "Buy MP3" or
view the MP3 Album.
|
Disc 1:
Disc 2:
|
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Back in the Golden Age of the Hollywood epic, composer Miklós Rózsa lavished much scholarly research on his scores for Quo Vadis (1951), Ben-Hur (1959), El Cid (1961) and others, gracing those movies with music that had as its wellspring authentic (or at least authentic-sounding) melodies from the period. For Ridley Scott's revival of the Roman epic, Gladiator, Hans Zimmer eschews such learned academia in favour of his own more contemporary, wall-of-sound approach (honed to perfection on movies like Tony Scott's Crimson Tide). In truth, no one is quite sure what Roman music sounded like, and Zimmer's unscholarly rock music background is temperamentally better suited to Scott's all-action movie anyway.
Gladiator's score is a stylistic conflation of some audacity, incorporating lavish synthesised, percussive action sequences (a Zimmer trademark), "ethnic" instrumentation including Spanish guitar, Chinese dulcimer and Armenian duduk, and--most suprisingly of all for Zimmer--unabashed plagiarism of Wagner (his cue "The Might of Rome" is "Siegfried's Funeral March" in all but name) and Holst ("The Battle" and "The Barbarian Horde" lean heavily on "Mars"). Vocalist and co-composer Lisa Gerrard (fresh from working on The Insider, coincidentally also starring fellow-Australian Russell Crowe) adds her ethereal vocalisms to the music's more intimate scenes ("Sorrow" and "Elysium" for example). Her contribution brings an exotic, Oriental flavour to a score that in its broad musical canvas reflects the movie's depiction of the vast scope of the Roman Empire. If not the equal of Zimmer's career best work on The Thin Red Line (1998), this is still a hugely entertaining and diverse soundtrack. --Mark Walker
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
45 of 45 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Hauntingly captivating,
By
This review is from: Gladiator: Special Anniversary Edition (Audio CD)
One word, 'WOW', this was magnificent. If you are a fan of the movie, the second disc in this collection contains the famous quotes from the characters in the movie, Joaquin PHOENIX, Russell CROWE and the late great Richard HARRIS. The tempo is exactly the same, nothing in the musical content has been altered, only extended versions with the actors voice overs, "FATHER TO A MURDERED SON, HUSBAND TO A MURDERED WIFE, I WILL HAVE MY VENGENCE, IN THIS LIFE OR THE NEXT."
The first disc is the original release of the soundtrack. Usually, you have a few tracks that you do not care for, Gladiator contains the images you love, in the music. Hans Zimmer, there are not many that can hold to your talent, my hat is off to you.
33 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
No other word than Beautiful,
By Mr B N Gates (Southend on Sea, Essex United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Gladiator: Music from the Motion Picture (Audio CD)
Some people find it hard to give music the description of beauty. Listening to this score will change anyone's perception of music forever. It is amazing, it grafts every possible emotion together to form an overall montage of defining beauty. Tracks such as "Progeny", "Wheat" and "Sorrow" link the true essence of what both this score and the film is about, together, giving clear indication of the emotions felt. Then there are tracks such as "the battle" and "the glory of Rome" that are filled with such exhilirating power that will soar your soul to new heights. And then, there are the three final tracks, which to me make one track - "Elysium", "Honor him" and "Now We Are Free" and what truly makes this score beautiful, they combine the purity of vocal and instrumental sounds to give an angelic, unforgettable finale to the album. Zimmer is fantastic in every thing he does, and this just goes to show the power he has, and Lisa Gerrard is just as majestic in both writing and performing many of the tracks. This score is probably the most effective I have ever heard and ranks up there in classic scores with others such as Morricone's "The Mission". If u buy only one score in your lifetime, buy this one!
56 of 57 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A musical banquet for the soul, a voyage through emotions!,
By A Customer
This review is from: Gladiator: Music from the Motion Picture (Audio CD)
What can I say? I saw the GLADIATOR movie on the Saturday and bought the soundtrack on the Monday. To those who haven't seen it, please go and experience this true cinematic masterpiece. The score is literally breathtaking, Hans Zimmer and Lisa Gerrard at their very best. I'm a 21 year old guy who's taste in music you would call average, Hard House, dance, Indy etc. Towards the end of the movie, the music was so amazingly refreshing and enchanting that I just broke down and cried like never before, right there in the cinema. The music touched an emotional chord deep inside and it's a moment I shall never forget. After buying the soundtrack I went home, put the CD in the player and lay on my bed. When the tracks ELYSIUM, HONOUR HIM and NOW WE ARE FREE came on, I broke down again and cried long after the songs had finished. They would have to be the most beautiful pieces of music I have ever heard, literally. I cry every time I hear it now! I highly recomend this album to anyone, a pure classic, enjoy!
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews |
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
![[Start the discussion]](http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/02/x-locale/communities/discussion_boards/start-new-discussion-sec._V192198663_.gif){kind=small}
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
