Hans Zimmer

The Life,

The Legacy...

Life and AchievementsHans Florian Zimmer is recognized as one of the most acclaimed composers and music producers in film industry. He was born in September 12 of 1957 in German and his first success was as a member of The Buggles. Hans Zimmer started as a composer with his mentor and a prolific music composer Stanley Myers and their first work together was in 1982 for the soundtrack of Moon-lighting. Years later he started with solo projects, combining electronic music sounds with traditional orchestral arrangements.After a massive success with a lot of awards and fame, Zimmer decided to experience the role of being a mentor like Myers was to him and started to guide and to offer new opportunities to young talented composers.

Mark Mancina, John Powell, Harry Greg-son-Williams, Nick Glennie-Smith, and Klaus Badelt are some of the names associated to his initiative.Hans Zimmer performed live for the first time at the 27th annual Flanders, choosing some pieces of his own work. The concert was recorded and released as a concert album entitled “The Wings of a Film: The Music Of Hans Zimmer.”He already completed more than 100 film soundtracks and has some new projects for the next years.

The purpose of this master collection is to of-fer you a journey through the years in each one of the greatest scores of a music’s pas-sionate, Hans Zimmer.

Track Listings

• 1. Iko Iko (2:53)• 2. Scatterlings of Africa (4:05)• 3. Dry Bones (2:53)• 4. At Last (3:00)• 5. Lonely Avenue (3:09)• 6. Nathan Jones (5:10)• 7. Leaving Wallbrook/On the Road (2:52)• 8. Las Vegas/End Credits (8:20)• 9. Stardust (4:35)• 10. Beyond the Blue Horizon (3:44)

For Rain Man, the formula for Zimmer was based on the sound of steel drums, pan pipes and female vocals involved in a gospel tone. The soundtrack offered the style to the movie and one of the biggest challenges to Hans Zimmer was in fact, to keep it affable and idiosyncratic. “The Raymond character (Dustin Hoffman) doesn’t actually know where he is. The world is so different to him. He might as well be on Mars. So, why don’t we just invent our own world music for a world that doesn’t really exist?”. According to the critics the most attractive aspect of this score is the peculiar combina-tion of sounds for both lead personalities of the main characters. The relaxing rhythms mixed with the contemporary progres-sions are the most precious value to this soundtrack. There isn’t a colossal amount of score material in Rain Man but we can find out its complexity and duality.

1988

In The Lion King, the impact of the score lies in the maturation of its majestic and beautiful instrumental accompaniment combined with the spiritual elements of the story. The soundtrack fuses weighty choirs with broad and heavy bass. Richard Harvey gave his contribute with pan pipe solos throughout the score, that provides the grace the movie also transmits on its own.The soundtrack is rich in percussion and the action music relies densely on the tex-ture of the choir, chanting and shrieking.The Lion King score is one of the most dy-namic ever projected by Hans Zimmer and one of the most inspirational too.

Track Listings

• 1. Circle of Life (3:58)• 2. I Just Can’t Wait to Be King (2:49)• 3. Be Prepared (3:38)• 4. Hakuna Matata (3:31)• 5. Can You Feel the Love Tonight (2:56)• 6. This Land (2:53)• 7. ...To Die For (4:16)• 8. Under the Stars (3:43)• 9. King of Pride Rock (5:57)• 10. Circle of Life (4:50)• 11. I Just Can’t Wait to Be King (3:35)• 12. Can You Feel the Love Tonight (End Title) (3:59)

1994

Track Listings

• 1. Mutany (8:57)• 2. Alabama (23:50)• 3. Little Ducks (2:03)• 4. 1SQ (18:03)• 5. Roll Tide (7:33)

For Crimson Tide, Zimmer focused on a combination of solo performances on trum-pets and acoustic guitars. The score is mainly mono-thematic. The choir is strong on male elements and they often perform in the lowest depths of their voices, estab-lishing another typical sound for a Media Ventures score.At some point, we can also hear a deep performance by either a shakuhachi flute or pan pipes and the array of tingling, swoosh-ing, and zapping sound effects is the climax of the album. There is also a combination of drum pads, live percussion and a chime that gives a somber accent to some parts of the soundtrack. According o critics, the Crimson Tide’s score gives life to the kind of music that inspired the revolution of the synthetic blockbuster score concept in the late 1990’s.

1995

Track Listings

• 1. As Good As It Gets (1:25)• 2. A Better Man (5:36)• 3. Humanity (6:26)• 4. Too Much Reality (6:07)• 5. 1.2.3.4.5 (3:55)• 6. Greatest Woman on Earth (7:46)• 7. Everything My Heart Desires (4:00)• 8. Under Stars (3:33)• 9. My Only (1:47)• 10. For Sentimental Reasons (I Love You) (3:06)• 11. Hand on My Heart (3:45)• 12. Climb On (A Back That’s Strong) (4:15)• 13. Always Look on the Bright Side of Life (2:39)

While most people were used to “Jerry Bruckheimer side” of Hans Zimmer’s ca-reer, on As Good As It Gets we can go back to the early ages of his work and hear again the “Jim Brooks side” of Zimmer’s writing, which bring to us a new package of delightful sounds. The ensemble for As Good As It Gets is small, with just a dozen or two orchestral players, woodwind sections are joined by a pianist and some electronic effects that are almost unnoticeable. In order to show us some complexity, Zim-mer impresses with the layers of strings, almost always moving in counterpoint for Nicholson’s character.As Good As It Gets is a very refreshing and lovable score with outputs that at times are considerably lush with enough charm to embrace the listeners.

1997

Track Listings

• 1. The Prince of Egypt (When You Believe) (5:05)• 2. Deliver Us (7:16)• 3. The Reprimand (4:05)• 4. Following Tzipporah (1:01)• 5. All I Ever Wanted (With Queen’s Reprise) (2:51)• 6. Goodbye Brother (5:34)• 7. Through Heaven’s Eyes (3:42)• 8. The Burning Bush (7:18)• 9. Playing with the Big Boys (2:53)• 10. Cry (3:50)• 11. Rally (0:43)• 12. The Plagues (2:40)• 13. Death of the First Born (1:08)• 14. When You Believe (4:05)• 15. Red Sea (5:15)

In The Prince of Egypt most of the songs follow a pattern of some musicals: ballads of hope and faith, a feral vocal battle with the villain, a variation on the usual comedy comfort piece. We can hear as Zimmer’s first choice the Israeli musician Ofra Haza as well as other extraordinary solo and ensemble voices. The whole score is based on heavy instru-mentation like Middle Eastern instruments. The album is very consistent with a dog-matic style of simplistic bombast, mixing drum pads, electric bass, and other trade-mark instrumental sounds existed on his previous works. It’s a peaceful listening experience with a handful of attractive highlights.

1998

Track Listings

• 1. The Coral Atoll (8:00)• 2. The Lagoon (8:36)• 3. Journey to the Line (9:21)• 4. Light (7:19)• 5. Beam (3:44)• 6. Air (2:21)• 7. Stone in my Heart (4:28)• 8. The Village (5:52)• 9. Silence (5:06)• 10. God U Tekem Laef Blong Mi (Melanesian song) (1:58)• 11. Sit Back and Relax (2:06)

“I know it’s good, but not many people have heard it”, said Zimmer about the score of The Thin Red Line. The whole soundtrack is not traditional, but accord-ing to critic reviews, that’s why it worked so well. On the CD we can hear a mix of Taiko drums, Tibetan bowls and a deep electronic effect known by “Cosmic Beam”. French horns and strings are also recognizable on some themes of the soundtrack. The emotional part of the album is very strong with combinations of ethereal drums and flute performances. Melanesian singing is one of the strongest peculiarities of the The Thin Red Line’s album, giving a sound of purity and inno-cence to the score.

1998

Track Listings

• 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 Emporer 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)

In Gladiator, the score is clearly divided be-tween the world of Rome and the one of the afterlife, and the film begins and ends with the spirit of the latter.Composed by Hans Zimmer and Lisa Ger-rard, this epic soundtrack brings to us Zimmer’s powerful orchestral sounds and Gerrard’s emotional and ethereal themes, weaving the tow types together fluidly into one another. The contrasting sounds of this two created a traditional heroic score with some deli-cious dark and ominous tones.Gladiator is one of the best selling scores of all time, and is also among the most popu-lar, very equal to the masterpiece of the movie itself.

2000

Track Listings

• 1. There You’ll Be (3:42)• 2. Tennessee (3:39)• 3. Brothers (4:04)• 4. ...And Then I Kissed Him (5:35)• 5. I Will Come Back (2:53)• 6. Attack (8:57)• 7. December 7th (5:07)• 8. War (5:15)• 9. Heart of a Volunteer (7:05)

Pearl Harbor’s score is mainly focused on the emotional side of the movie. The album was reportedly recorded with a very small orchestra and with the participation of Faith Hill’s voice. We can hear a piano, an acoustic guitar and an occasional soft choir. In some parts of the score, trumpet and snare drum per-formances are very perceptible. The album is a very strong listening expe-rience and will likely be a deserving and frequent listen for many Zimmer collec-tors.

2001

Track Listings

• 1. Here I Am (End Title) (4:44)• 2. I Will Always Return (3:58)• 3. You Can’t Take Me (2:56)• 4. Get Off My Back (2:50)• 5. Brothers Under the Sun (3:57)• 6. Don’t Let Go (4:02)• 7. This is Where I Belong (2:21)• 8. Here I Am (4:32)• 9. Sound the Bugle (3:54)• 10. Run Free (6:21)• 11. Homeland (3:41)• 12. Rain (2:50)• 13. The Long Road Back (7:11)• 14. Nothing I’ve Ever Known (3:52)• 15. I Will Always Return (Finale) (2:46)

In Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, we found Hans Zimmer teaming up with Bryan Adams, and the outcome was an exciting, rousing, vibrant and emotional score. Although this movie was one of the most anonymous animation films of the 2000’s it brought us the regular return of Zimmer to animation films, where he provided most of the score material and also co-wrote some of the songs.Many of the songs and their own arrange-ments were set in the American West, with themes inspired on love, landscapes, broth-erhood, struggles and journeys.The few instrumental selection in this score made Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron one of the most pleasant and successful works from Hans Zimmer.

2002

Track Listings

• 1. A Way of Life (8:03)• 2. Spectres in the Fog (4:07)• 3. Taken (3:35)• 4. A Hard Teacher (5:44)• 5. To Know My Enemy (4:48)• 6. Idyll’s End (6:40)• 7. Safe Passage (4:56)• 8. Ronin (1:53)• 9. Red Warrior (3:56)• 10. The Way of the Sword (7:59)• 11. A Small Measure of Peace (7:59)

For The Last Samurai we can see the Hans Zimmer’s fine interest in exploring new genres of music. He combined na-tive instruments, an orchestral ensemble of strings and brass, adult choirs, and his own electronics. On this score we can also hear ethnic woodwinds, a violin, a Navajo voice, a koto and Taiko drums. Zimmer clearly mixes beauty and violence, fuses his own densely composed style with Japanese instruments and melodies, result-ing in a brooding, atmospheric collection of music.Asian melodies and intensity on percussion are the sounds cape of a somber and also a lush score. It’s a contagious mix of gravity and hope involved with the typical methodology of Hans Zimmer’s work.

2003

Track Listings

• 1. Spanglish (2:45)• 2. The Beach (9:46)• 3. Welcome to the Claskys (3:19)• 4. Drunk and Disorderly (2:14)• 5. John Comes Home (1:55)• 6. Learning English (1:32)• 7. No Left (3:54)• 8. Malibu (3:16)• 9. Cooking (1:24)• 10. Bus Stop (5:09)• 11. They Can’t Take That Away From Me (3:00)

Spanglish score is mainly a rhythmic score of spirit and energy.Zimmer centered himself on a mix of strings, woodwinds and a piano. This al-bum is essentially created by the percussion and the string section of the orchestra and Heitor Pereira’s guitar. There is also harmony between Mexican and American styles, managed by the com-poser. Frenetic rhythms, an inspired guitar, and frantic strings are the climax of the Span-glish’s score. The whole soundtrack is very thematic and respects the film content. According to critics Spanglish provides a great impression at the composer’s lighter side.

2004

Track Listings

• 1. Dies Mercurii I Martius (6:03)• 2. L’Esprit des Gabriel (2:48)• 3. The Paschal Spiral (2:49)• 4. Fructus Gravis (2:50)• 5. Quodis Arcana (6:07)• 6. Malleus Maleficarum (2:19)• 7. Salvete Virgines (3:14)• 8. Daniel’s 9th Cipher (9:31)• 9. Poisoned Chalice (6:19)• 10. The Citrine Cross (5:22)• 11. Rose of Arimathea (8:12)• 12. Beneath Alrischa (4:23)• 13. CheValiers de Sangreal (4:07)• 14. Kyrie for the Magdalene (3:55)

In The Da Vinci Code, Hans Zimmer inject-ed a heavy dose of majesty and power with crescendos of great magnificence, rattling the walls with harmonic resonance, rarely heard in Zimmer’s work before.You will find magic while hearing this score, with a melting pot of motifs, rhythms, and instrumentation.The movie offers various moments of discover and Zimmer responds with some very simple, but gratifying blasts of male and female voices in simplistic tonal pro-gressions.With a massive orchestra and chorus, to create a dramatic “stained glass cathedral” feeling, Zimmer offers us another master-piece.

2006

Track Listings

• 1. Jack Sparrow (6:06)• 2. The Kraken (6:55)• 3. Davy Jones (3:15)• 4. I’ve Got My Eye on You (2:25)• 5. Dinner is Served (1:30)• 6. Tia Dalma (3:57)• 7. Two Hornpipes (Tortuga) (1:14)• 8. A Family Affair (3:34)• 9. Wheel of Fortune (6:45)• 10. You Look Good Jack (5:34)• 11. Hello Beastie (10:15)

After composing the first Pirates of the Caribbean, The Black Pearl, Hans Zimmer brings us the sequel, Dead Man’s Chest, where we can find a much more experimen-tal score than in the first one, utilizing pipe organ musical box and electronic beats. Zimmer expands the orchestral palette a little farther, using a larger variety of rhythmic tools and toning back the bass far enough to allow other elements of the per-formance to shine, including female vocals, violin plucking and various light percussive effects.In Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, Zimmer went for a better charac-ter identification and added more stylis-tic spark through his rhythmic deviation providing us a brilliant continuation of the Pirates of the Caribbean series.

2006

Track Listings

• 1. Why So Serious? (9:14)• 2. I’m Not a Hero (6:35)• 3. Harvey Two-Face (6:17)• 4. Aggressive Expansion (4:36)• 5. Always a Catch (1:40)• 6. Blood on My Hands (2:17)• 7. A Little Push (2:43)• 8. Like a Dog Chasing Cars (5:03)• 9. I Am the Batman (2:00)• 10. And I Thought My Jokes Were Bad (2:29)• 11. Agent of Chaos (6:55)• 12. Introduce a Little Anarchy (3:43)• 13. Watch the World Burn (3:48)• 14. A Dark Knight (16:15)

In The Dark Knight’s score Hans Zimmer worked with James Newton Howard. It follows a logical musical progression. Both composers keep the score around the piano and light strings, but turns to darker and audacious instrumentation for the tragic parts of the movie. That way we can hear a cello, a guitar and other harsh electronics.They recorded live orchestra and then re-worked it with synthesizers, in order to con-struct the sound. On the entire album there is a variety of the “mood” on the themes. We can verify that, for example, in the last phase of the Batman theme that is not tri-umphant, but performed by a peaceful horn and a cello backed by the anxiety theme for the first half of the soundtrack. The Dark Knight album is distinct from other works of both Zimmer and Howard by pushing the boundaries between score and sound design.

2008

Track Listings

• 1. Watergate (4:25)• 2. The Numbers (1:54)• 3. Hello, Good Evening and Welcome (1:31)• 4. Pardon the Phlebitis (1:45)• 5. Status (3:59)• 6. Beverly Hilton (2:24)• 7. Money (2:47) • 8. Frost Despondent (2:29)• 9. Insanely Risky (2:49)• 10. Cambodia (0:59)• 11. Research Montage (3:03)• 12. The Final Interview (2:17)• 13. Nixon Defeated (2:43)• 14. First Ideas (9:55)

Frost/Nixon is not the kind of movie that usually is painted with Zimmer’s sound-scapes. His entire work in this film alter-nates between heavy strings and cellos accompanied with a piano to increase the tension.Zimmer also makes a good use of percussion with a flamboyant side of a mechanically rhythmic construct.The whole combination of sounds in this album gives a sensation of “time-bomb” re-quired by the movie. Frost/Nixon represents what recognizes Hans Zimmer as one of the most prestigious composers of the last 10 years: style and intelligence in construct and tone.

2008

Track Listings

• 1. Discombobulate (2:25)• 2. Is It Poison, Nanny? (2:53)• 3. I Never Woke Up in Handcuffs Before (1:44)• 4. My Mind Rebels at Stagnation (4:31)• 5. Data, Data, Data (2:15)• 6. He’s Killed the Dog Again (3:15)• 7. Marital Sabotage (3:44)• 8. Not in Blood, But in Bond (2:13)• 9. Ah, Putrefaction (1:50)• 10. Panic, Shear Bloody Panic (2:38)• 11. Psychological Recovery... 6 Months (18:18)• 12. Catatonic (6:44)

With Sherlock Holmes, Hans Zimmer brings us a brand new side of his music, or what he describes as the sound of The Pogues (an Irish rock band) joining a Romanian orchestraFor the musical accompaniment, Zimmer used a banjo, cimbalom, a broken pub piano, squeaky violins and other uncon-ventional instruments such as the experi-bass.He transformed the violins in order to make their performance emphasis into gyp-sy fiddles, which came out as an unexpected sound that turned out to be an excellent match for Sherlock Holmes’s personality in this movie, and in addiction to this, Zimmer heavily emphasizes the performances of a number of soloists to provide Holmes with an overwhelming unique sense of character.In Sherlock Holmes, Hans Zimmer took all of these delightful contructs and solo ele-ments and mount them into a score with a huge dynamic range and a great original-ity in instrumentation.

2009

Track Listings

• 1. Half Remembered Dream (1:12)• 2. We Built Our Own World (1:56)• 3. Dream is Collapsing (2:24)• 4. Radical Notion (3:43)• 5. Old Souls (7:44)• 6. 528491 (2:24)• 7. Mombasa (4:54)• 8. One Simple Idea (2:28)• 9. Dream Within a Dream (5:04)• 10. Waiting For a Train (9:30)• 11. Paradox (3:25)• 12. Time (4:36)

“I’m not interested in the massive heroic tunes anymore. Now, I’m interested in how I can take two, three, or four notes and make a really complex emotional structure. It’s emotional as opposed to sentimental” said Hans Zimmer at the time of Inception’s release. On some parts of this work, repetitive gui-tar sounds lead to an ever expanding and deeping performance on strings and blasts of brass, reaching the nearly iconic, bevy of strong, throaty, orchestral hits.There is also a profound mix of piano and guitar sounds performed and recorded by an orchestra, helping to cross the line be-tween the acoustic and the synthetic. Inception score creates a balance on the listening experience.

2010

The Thoughts...