Hans Zimmer Appreciation Thread

[Datameister 2,043]

I'm not sure there's much more that can be contributed to that.

I'm sure they were saying the same thing in the mid-70s.

[BLUMENKOHL 1,068]

Sound is finite. Human hearing of sounds is even more finite. Music is even more finite. Classical (used in a broad sense of the word - western music) music is even more finite. 70s classical music even more finite. And so on.

Couple that with our amazing brain's ability to blur things out of sight out of mind completely together, and music is very very very finite.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

I would actually rather he stopped fiddling with synthesizing orchestras and move into designing more strange and exotic synthesized instruments.

It's already being done. He worked with Diego Stocco on Sherlock Holmes, who is without a doubt a genius when it comes to instrumentation. He invented all sorts of instruments, and you can watch him perform them on his website (Click on "Watch").

The Experibass and Music From A Tree are my favorites. That's right, he turned a tree into an instrument.

[Matt C 454]

There's a degree of imagination called for, so if you're an exclusively technical listener you will never know that joy of letting the music carry you on such a journey.

I agree. The scenes where the score works, it really does work for me like you said. It's just frustrating that the entire score isn't like that for me, just isolated patches.

[Muad'Dib 1,802]

The Experibass and Music From A Tree are my favorites. That's right, he turned a tree into an instrument.

That's nothing...

[Wojo 2,453]

Why is there air?

There's air to blow up basketballs. Air to blow up volleyballs....

[Thor 7,504]

From reading the other Zimmer thread recently, I would never expect a thread like this to exist here. But I'm really glad it does. Zimmer is my 4th favourite film composer.

[Quintus 5,399]

I'd say he's about my fifth or sixth. He used to be my fourth.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

He's around my fifth or sixth as well. And Thor, my very first post on this forum 4 years ago was a thread about Zimmer

[Ollie 1,059]

And I've never forgiven you.

[Thor 7,504]

He's around my fifth or sixth as well. And Thor, my very first post on this forum 4 years ago was a thread about Zimmer

You rule! Takes guts to post that on a Williams board, I guess.

[Quintus 5,399]

Thinking about it, i was wrong earlier. My current order:

Williams

Goldsmith

Shore

Horner

Silvestri

Herrmann

Morricone

Zimmer

[Koray Savas 2,251]

My current top 10:

Michael Giacchino

Ennio Morricone

John Williams

James Newton Howard

John Powell

Hans Zimmer

Alexandre Desplat

Thomas Newman

Danny Elfman

Harry Gregson-Williams

[Thor 7,504]

As long as we're doing lists, here's mine:

1. John Williams

2. Danny Elfman

3. Elliot Goldenthal

4. Hans Zimmer

5. Georges Delerue

6. James Horner

7. Jerry Goldsmith

8. Vangelis

9. Alan Silvestri

10. Basil Poledouris

Or something. These things change continually.

[Datameister 2,043]

Mine is something like this:

1. John Williams

2. Everyone else

No, but seriously. Williams is the only one I have an easy time ranking.

[Quintus 5,399]

Shit I forgot about Poledouris. How could I. Throw him in after Herrmann.

[Ollie 1,059]

John Williams

Jerry Goldsmith

Bernard Herrmann

Akira Ifukube

Alex North

Miklos Rozsa

Michael Giacchino

Georges Delerue

Danny Elfman

Basil Poledouris

[Quintus 5,399]

Never thought too highly of Horner, Mark?

[Charlie Brigden 7]

1. Goldsmith/Williams

3. Shore

4. Rozsa

5. Steiner

6. Poledouris

7. Herrmann

8. Donaggio

9. Giacchino

10. Horner

[Muad'Dib 1,802]

1. John Williams

2. John Powell

3. Ennio Morricone

4. Erich Wolfgang Korngold

5. Michael Giacchino

6. John Barry

7. Michael Land

8. Hans Zimmer

9. David Arnold

10. Alan Silvestri

[Ollie 1,059]

Never thought too highly of Horner, Mark?

Not top 10.

[TownerFan 4,983]

My top ten:

Gustav Mahler

Dimitri Shostakovich

Sergej Prokofiev

Bela Bartok

Ralph Vaughan Williams

William Walton

Igor Stravinskij

Claude Debussy

Jean Sibelius

oh, and a certain guy named John Williams.

Jokes apart, I always find impossible to rank artists and their opuses... it brings to my mind the line from Dead Poets Society, when Professor Keating says "We're talking about poetry. How can you describe poetry like American Bandstand? "I like Byron, I give him a 42 but I can't dance to it!". For me, the same goes for music.

I'm happy I can enjoy composers' works without worrying how they rank in my own personal Top 40 list or whatever, be it classical music, rock, jazz or film music. Our personal "Top Favourites" lists say much more of how we perceive music and our relationship with it than the actual inner value of the music itself.

[Thor 7,504]

That's so.....zen.

[Richard Penna 3,690]

I can't rank composers either; I don't even really have favourite any more. JNH has started to lose me, every since he started taking on loads of smaller projects that demand nothing musically special, and when it became clear his friendship with Zimmer is affecting his style.

But on a theoretical list, Zimmer would probably be somewhere around 8 or 9, behind Powell, Elfman, Horner JNH, T.Newman, etc. He has talent, but most directors don't want it.

[David Coscina 3]

1. Prokofiev

2. Bartok

3. Herrmann

4. Williams

5. Goldsmith

6. Mahler

7. Vaughan Williams

8. Charlie Parker

9. Shostakovich

10. John Adams

[indy4 155]

Zimmer and Nolan are working on an "Augmented Sound Project" based on the Inception score. Whatever that means.

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/archives/christopher_nolan_hans_zimmer_prepping_augmented_sound_project_based_on_inc/#

[BLUMENKOHL 1,068]

indy, you're so 2000 and late.

http://jwfan.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=19602

But no one cares about my threads. I'm an old has been.

[indy4 155]

Eh, that's what I get for not posting here often. If it's any consolation, if I had an iPhone I would download that app.

[Muad'Dib 1,802]

Ok, so I finally checked out the Rango movie and was very impressed. It starts kinda slow, but it gets better with every minute. The third act and the Snake were the best parts. And the music was pretty good too, but I was dissapointed to see that a lot of the best music in the movie isn't included in the soundtrack. A shame, as there was a lot of nice stuff that for some reason didn't make it to the album. One thing that annoyed me was the synth trumpet, that really ruined the whole piece. I mean, if you're homaging Morricone at least use a real trumpet!

After seeing the movie, I watched all Sergio Leone films again and man, what a great genre of movie this is. Spaghetti-Westerns are the best thing that ever happened to Westerns.

However, I keep thinking what if Alan Silvestri would have scored it. After all, he was a collaborator with Verbinksi and something like his score for The Mexican would have fitted the film perfectly...

[Koray Savas 2,251]

I could barely hear any synths in the score. It was really an orchestral powerhouse from Zimmer. Quotes from The Magnificent Seven and Once Upon A Time In The West, even the use of "Ride Of The Valkyries" from My Name Is Nobody. It was all perfectly executed. An animated film for adults and western fans. My friend even asked after it was over if it was rated PG-13. Nope, it's just one of the few animated films that take advantage of its PG rating.

While Silvestri's The Mexican is a great score, I don't think he could have done what Zimmer did. Zimmer is a self-proclaimed Morricone lover, and its great to finally see him get the chance to go all out with the western genre.

[publicist 4,643]

Zimmer is a self-proclaimed Morricone lover, and its great to finally see him get the chance to go all out with the western genre.

Unfortunately, most of it just sounds like watered-down Tiomkin.

[Sharkissimo 1,973]

Zimmer is a self-proclaimed Morricone lover, and its great to finally see him get the chance to go all out with the western genre.

Unfortunately, most of it just sounds like watered-down Tiomkin.

No way. Tiomkin's scores were always virtoisic, like Korngold. Lots of tuplet flourishes, lush orchestration, and polyphony. Though he had a tendency to be too hyperactive, at times.

This, is just Moriconne's Dollars scores given the Zimmer treatment. A mechanical, computerised sound, even if it's performed by an orchestra. He always instructs the orchestra to play as one big surrogate synthesiser, devoid of human expression (except the trumpet here). IMO that is abuse of the symphony orchestra.

Must be very dull for the players.

[Kevin 22]

Zimmer is a self-proclaimed Morricone lover, and its great to finally see him get the chance to go all out with the western genre.

Unfortunately, most of it just sounds like watered-down Tiomkin.

No way. Tiomkin's scores were always virtoisic, like Korngold. Lots of tuplet flourishes, lush orchestration, and polyphony. Though he had a tendency to be too hyperactive, at times.

This, is just Moriconne's Dollars scores given the Zimmer treatment. A mechanical, computerised sound, even if it's performed by an orchestra. He always instructs the orchestra to play as one big surrogate synthesiser, devoid of human expression (except the trumpet here). IMO that is abuse of the symphony orchestra.

Must be very dull for the players.

[Wojo 2,453]

Too soon.

[gkgyver 1,645]

Did you know this:

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."

[Wojo 2,453]

Tease. Why not post a video, too?

I like it!

[gkgyver 1,645]

"Not available in your country"

[Wojo 2,453]

Well surely you'll find one that works.

[gkgyver 1,645]

Ok, I admit, I'm lazy.

[crocodile 8,013]

It doesn't sound bad.

Karol

[Koray Savas 2,251]

I've had that since it came out. There's also a really great guitar arrangement of the theme by Rafael Amargo.

[STORM 1]

Mod's note: Discussion moved from this thread:

http://www.jwfan.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=20034

Some good news, finally! John Williams hasn't done anything worthwhile in the last two decades anyway.

Karol

zimmer has`nt either[ever]

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Yep, that Zimmer guy has never done anything good. Defining genres, composing iconic themes, winning an Oscar. None of that is worthwhile.

[Neimoidian 14]

Yep, that Zimmer guy has never done anything good. Defining genres, composing iconic themes, winning an Oscar. None of that is worthwhile.

Actually, we already have a separate thread dedicated to Zimmer's contribution.

http://www.jwfan.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=19978&st=160

[Sharkissimo 1,973]

Yep, that Zimmer guy has never done anything good. Defining genres, composing iconic themes, winning an Oscar. None of that is worthwhile.

None of it. In fact it's been highly detrimental.

[King Mark 3,631]

iconic themes by Zimmer? did I miss something

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Rain Man, The Lion King, Gladiator, Pirates Of The Caribbean...

[Romão 2,274]

I'm not a Zimmer hater, far from it, I actually do think the guy has talent, but iconic or not, I still think the Pirates of the Caribbean theme is one of the worst things he has ever written and I sincerely doubt Zimmer himself is proud of it. On the other hand is Jack Sparrow theme is a lot of fun (before it gets all "wall of sound MV style")

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Regardless, it's as iconic as some of JW's most popular themes.

[Sandor 797]

I'm not a Zimmer hater, far from it, I actually do think the guy has talent, but iconic or not, I still think the Pirates of the Caribbean theme is one of the worst things he has ever written and I sincerely doubt Zimmer himself is proud of it. On the other hand is Jack Sparrow theme is a lot of fun (before it gets all "wall of sound MV style")

So what is the final word on who wrote the "He's A Pirate"-theme? Zimmer or Badelt? Is this a modern James Bond theme-like dispute, or is there more definite clarity on who wrote it?