Admiring the music of Hans Zimmer

I’ve mentioned in one of my early blog posts (‘Film soundtracks and Early Ego boosts’) that I particularly enjoy the film score music from Hans Zimmer.  Of all the film music I have listened to and added to my collection over the years his albums seem to be the ones I most come back to.

I have my favourites like ‘The Last Samurai’ and I have listened to this album so many times over the years that I know it by heart and hear it in my dreams!  I love the blend of Japanese instruments and western orchestral music and the way the albums builds and the overall feel leaves me breathless.

I also adore ‘Tears of the Sun’ and again the mixture of African singing and orchestral score is very moving.  The themes of the film are particularly harrowing and when I listen to the music I relive some of the emotion of the film.  It makes for a powerful experience.

The music for ‘The Thin Red Line’ is a very dark, brooding piece and whilst I never fully gelled with it I enjoyed the Polynesian chants so much that I bought the companion album that comprises just the chants and other hymns sung by the group that contributed to the film score.  The hymn used in the film ‘God Yu Tekkem Laef Blong Mi’ has a repeating phrase that gradually gets louder as more of the choir join in each time and the deep bass voices that mix with the higher treble voices make your hair stand on end by the time the hymn has finished.

It’s funny how I will watch a film and halfway though think ‘I like this music, I must find out who it is’ and then when I look at the end credits I find it is Zimmer again.  The music for ‘Inception’ was one of these instances and it goes to show Zimmer manages to add to the tension in the film and also be consistent enough that I admire his work even across many films.  I like how the music for this film has a futuristic, racy feel to it, yet remains unmistakably Zimmers style.

I was told by a friend that if I like Zimmer I must buy the Gladiator soundtrack and whilst I do like it, it doesn’t move me as much as other music Zimmer has created.  Maybe this is because I saw the film many years ago and I can’t associate the music to the film any longer, but to be honest I listen to the scores as music in their own right anyway, so maybe it just appeals less for some reason.  Also the music for ‘The Dark Knight’ seems aimless and has no definite crescendo.  It is certainly dark and brooding (rather like the film in places) but it seems to be rather flat compared to the soaring emotion in other music Zimmer has created.  But these are the only scores of his I can think of that have impressed me less.

What I also admire is unlike other film composers who sound similar from film to film (I’m thinking of Danny Elfman and James Horner here), Hans Zimmer manages to tailor the sound for the particular film project he is working on.  You get Polynesian chants, African singing, Japanese instruments and phrases or a futuristic feel, which all contribute to the film they are composed for.

Overall Hans Zimmer manages to create stirring, emotional film scores that compliment the action and emotion on the screen perfectly and even better, the quality is so high you can enjoy them as works of musicianship in their own right.  Getting that balance right must be like walking a tight line sometimes and whilst occasionally the music is better when watched with the film, like with ’The Dark Knight', generally Zimmer manages to walk that line exceptionally well.