Gladiator (soundtrack)

Gladiator is the original soundtrack of the 2000 film of the same name. The original score and songs were composed by Hans Zimmer and Lisa Gerrard and was released in 2000, entitled Gladiator: Music From the Motion Picture. The Lyndhurst Orchestra performing the score was conducted by Gavin Greenaway.

The album won the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score and was also nominated for the Academy Award and BAFTA Award for Best Score ("Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music").

Track listing

1. "Progeny" – 2:13
2. "The Wheat"– 1:03
3. "The Battle"– 10:02
4. "Earth"– 3:01
5. "Sorrow"– 1:26
6. "To Zucchabar"– 3:16
7. "Patricide"– 4:08
8. "The Emperor is Dead"– 1:21
9. "The Might of Rome"– 5:18
10. "Strength and Honor"– 2:09
11. "Reunion"– 1:14
12. "Slaves to Rome"– 1:00
13. "Barbarian Horde"– 10:33
14. "Am I Not Merciful?"– 6:33
15. "Elysium"– 2:41
16. "Honor Him"– 1:19
17. "Now We Are Free"– 4:14

Commercial success

Well-reviewed by critics (popular score review sites Filmtracks, Moviewave, and Scorereviews all give it overall positive reviews) and fans (370 Amazon.com reviews with a 4.5 avg. rating) alike, this score has attained admirable commercial stock in the film music world. Not since James Horner's Titanic soundtrack (which sold millions) had a movie score been in such high demand.

More Music From Gladiator

On February 27, 2001, nearly a year after the first soundtrack's release, Decca released Gladiator: More Music From the Motion Picture. This CD contained an additional 18 cuts from the film (including remixes of earlier scores like "Now We Are Free"). Many tracks also use dialogue from the movie, such as Maximus' famous quote "Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife... and I will have my vengeance." While the release was not popular with critics, it was a fair commercial success.

Track listing

1. "Duduk of the North" - 5:33
2. "Now We Are Free (Juba's mix)" - 4:47
3. "The Protector of Rome" - 1:25 (featuring Russell Crowe as Maximus and Richard Harris as Marcus Aurelius)
4. "Homecoming" - 3:35 (featuring Joaquin Phoenix as Commodus and Russell Crowe)
5. "The General Who Became a Slave" - 3:03
6. "The Slave Who Became a Gladiator" - 6:11 (featuring Oliver Reed as Proximo and Russell Crowe)
7. "Secrets" - 1:59
8. "Rome Is the Light" - 2:43
9. "All That Remains" - 0:54
10. "Maximus" - 1:09 (guitar by Heitor Pereira)
11. "Marrakesh Marketplace" - 0:42
12. "The Gladiator Waltz" - 8:25 (featuring Russell Crowe, original synth demo version by Hans Zimmer)
13. "Figurines" - 1:01 (yangqin by Lisa Gerrard)
14. "The Mob" - 2:22
15. "Busy Little Bee" - 3:47 (featuring Connie Nielsen as Lucilla and Russell Crowe)
16. "Death Smiles at Us All" - 2:29 (featuring Russell Crowe and Joaquin Phoenix)
17. "Not Yet" - 1:32 (featuring Djimon Hounsou as Juba)
18. "Now We Are Free (Maximus mix)" - 6:21

Musical impact

Hans Zimmer's style influenced many composers, who used elements like female wailing vocals and the "battle waltz" for ancient war movies that followed.

Harry Gregson-Williams, a member of Zimmer's own Media Ventures Productions, relayed scoring duties for Ridley Scott's latter film, Kingdom of Heaven.

In June 2006, agents representing the estate of composer Gustav Holst (1874–1934) filed a lawsuit claiming that Zimmer plagiarized material from The Planets. Specifically, "The Battle" was believed to plagiarize Holst's "Mars, the bringer of war".^[5] The Track "Barbarian Horde" reprises most of these themes.

Film music critics noted that the score also borrows from works by Richard Wagner, particularly themes from Siegfried and Götterdämmerung, included in the latter half of "The Might of Rome" and "Am I Not Merciful?"^[6]

In 2003 Luciano Pavarotti released the song "Il gladiatore" from his album Ti Adoro. The song was based on a theme from the score, featured on the soundtrack as track 4, "Earth". Pavarotti told Billboard magazine that he was meant to sing this song in the film, "But I said no then. Too bad. It's a magnificent song and a tough movie. Still, there is so much drama in just the song."^[7]

The "Il gladiatore" version of this song, was performed by Andrea Bocelli during the 2009 UEFA Champions League Final in Rome, where FC Barcelona defeated Manchester United F.C..

References

External links

• Last.FM Gladiator Soundtrack page (all tracks with previews)
• Listen to "The Battle" cue
• About the Lyrics of: Now we are free
• Zimmer, Hans; Gerrard, Lisa; Fowler, Bruce; Fowler, Walt (2001), Gladiator : more music from the motion picture, Decca, p, OCLC 464674768