Hans Zimmer & Lisa Gerrard - GLADIATOR - 25th Anniversary 3-CD Expanded Edition from La-La Land Records

[Stark 713]

4 minutes ago, Richard P said:

Interesting... so I've been wrongly assuming Zimmer is a really good album producer. Someone else on his team evidently is.

I’ve been wrongly assuming Zimmer is a really bad album producer! (POTC hurt me deeply back in the day)

[Richard P 4,772]

Also, it's a reminder that if an album is missing something (or many things) really obvious, it may just be that it hadn't been recorded yet.

[Trope 1,189]

This looks like such an awesome release! I can’t justify buying as much as I would like these days, but this was an instant purchase. This is surely one of Hans’ most classic and important scores. To see it produced with such love and care and attention to detail is wonderful. I can’t wait til the end of the month!!

[mstrox 7,215]

13 minutes ago, Stéphane Humez said:

He has no time for this.

Usually the albums need to be completed by the time the film gets out. Sometimes OSTs are even made BEFORE the score is even finished !

So he'll get one of his guys or additional writer to handle a selection. Marc Streitenfeld compiled The Rock's album in 1996, Jeff Rona Crimson Tide in 1995, or Al Clay POTC 1 in 2003 !

Don’t tell Thor that composers don’t piece together their own albums, or he’ll have to change his whole worldview.

[Stéphane Humez 581]

Just now, mstrox said:

Don’t tell Thor that composers don’t piece together their own albums, or he’ll have to change his whole worldview.

 

I'll give you another example. Many years ago I was extremely mad a great cue from Rush was missing. When I yelled at Hans how this could have happened, he told me "Don't blame me ! Blame Stephen Lipson he made the album !" lol

[Thor 9,308]

5 minutes ago, mstrox said:

Don’t tell Thor that composers don’t piece together their own albums, or he’ll have to change his whole worldview.

 

I don't really care who does it, as long as it IS made into a proper album by someone. But Zimmer's albums have always been all over the place -- from the beautifully curated albums of the 90s and early 2000s to the many excessively long presentations in recent years. So it makes sense that he doesn't often oversee that process himself.

[Jay 42,446]

47 minutes ago, Stéphane Humez said:

Marc Streitenfeld compiled The Rock's album in 1996

 

And he did a GREAT job, its a terrific assembly.

 

Of course, I enjoy your expanded program more now, but for an OST, that's a really good one

[enderdrag64 1,444]

3 minutes ago, Thor said:

 

I don't really care who does it, as long as it IS made into a proper album by someone. 

Would you ever consider listening to an alternate album playlist made of an expansion?

[Thor 9,308]

I don't think so. It's pretty much perfect the way it is. But if I get access to the digital album at some point, I will definitely check out what that sketchbook is all about -- other than repeats from the "More Music From" album, which I never got.

[WampaRat 1,803]

When it comes to album assemblies, I've never been one who needs every single note from the score. But I do like most of the story beats/progression reflected musically in some form on the album. It kills me when a standout set piece or a particularly unique theme/motif variation that would lend itself well to the listening experience is left off the album. And that can happen quite a bit on Zimmer's albums (and Williams!)

In the case of Gladiator, the OST album jumps from the Barbarian Horde straight to the end of the film! I would have liked at least 2 more cues on there to reflect the roughly 40 minutes of story happening between those two tracks lol. 

Ultimately I need the album to tell me the story of the film musically. Sometimes it works great in 45-60 minutes. Other times I need it to be 85-90 minutes
 

[Richard P 4,772]

I found it really jarring, story-wise to miss the entire section of the film after Barbarian Horde.

 

But the OST does work well when considered as a concept. This expanded set will be its own entity when I want to spent 2 hours listening to the entire thing - it's very similar to Fellowship in that respect - there are two different listening experiences on offer, with this set containing rather a lot of highlights.

[Laserschwert 571]

Alright, ordered at Soundtrack Corner (which has just dispatched The Reivers for me). One more grail down!

 

I've listened to the OST a lot back in the day, and I'd call it a genre-defining soundtrack, which has been aped a million times since. I guess the only Zimmer (sorry, I mean Badelt) left on my list would be the first Pirates score.

[Quppa 304]

So the only tracks attributed to both Hans Zimmer & Lisa Gerrard are 3-10 The Bodies (Alternate) and 3-17 Figurines (and HZ + LG + Klaus Badelt for 2-13 Busy Bee and 2-19 Now We Are Free)? I always assumed they worked together on the whole soundtrack.

[Jay 42,446]

I think all the tracks with no symbols at all are composed by the two of them, since they share front cover credit.

 

That is curious that they used + for seemingly the same credit. Could be a typo in the press release.

[Quppa 304]

5 minutes ago, Jay said:

I think all the tracks with no symbols at all are composed by the two of them, since they share front cover credit.

 

That is curious that they used + for seemingly the same credit. Could be a typo in the press release.

 

I thought the same but that would leave no solo credits for Zimmer. Seems to match https://www.hans-zimmer.com/index.html?path=discography&id=1&project=755 also. EDIT: Actually there are some differences - e.g. Figurines is attributed to HZ & LG in the LLL credits but LG alone on Hans-Zimmer.com.

[Jay 42,446]

Ahh ok then.

[Davis 3,949]

I have two versions of Gladiator, so I’m skipping this one. I’ve seen the film and heard the score so many times I know it by heart now.

 

The two HZ scores I would buy instantly are CRIMSON TIDE and TOYS. 

 

[Lady Dimitrescu 9,901]

I like Crimson Tide, it's Zimmer in his full-on power-anthem mode, but is there any significant material that's not on the OST? I listened to it a few years ago and it didn't leave me wanting more.

[tomsmoviemadness 4,271]

For me, Crimston Tide is not so much about more music, because I do think the album covers the most significant music.

For me it's more about the tracks not being in these long suites.

[Lady Dimitrescu 9,901]

I like that.

[Thor 9,308]

Yes, long suites are great, even when they're just assemblies of tracks.

[Jurassic Shark 14,994]

14 hours ago, Richard P said:

Also, it's a reminder that if an album is missing something (or many things) really obvious, it may just be that it hadn't been recorded yet.

 

Or in the case of Zimmer, because there's potential copyright issues. 

[Richard P 4,772]

And yet The Battle and The Might of Rome are the main 'inspired by' cues and both were on the OST. I still don't really hear the Holst connection though - I think it's an overblown comparison.

 

Whoever put this album together really liked the first half of the score, then ignored almost everything post-Barbarian Horde. Earth from the OST contains one of the romantic cues from this section, and that's about it. I understand the omission of The Trap because it's very much the same idea as the other battle cues, but I wonder whether someone was told to keep it to an hour.

[Edmilson 10,517]

Yep. The OST is 61 minutes long, it wouldn't hurt to add two or three more tracks with 2 min right after Barbarian Horde.

 

But it's still better than the Pearl Harbor OST, which is 46 minutes long and doesn't include A LOT of music, including the swashbuckling music for when Ben Affleck and the other guy hop on their planes to fight the Japanese fighters at the end of the attack.

[filmmusic 2,633]

I'm on the fence about this one.

I love the music but I don't buy cds anymore (except for John Williams cds). I'm more of a blu-rays/UHDs guy.

And I still have some cds I bought long ago and haven't listened to them yet. (eg. Kilar's Dracula)

[Luke Skywalker 2,199]

6 hours ago, Richard P said:

And yet The Battle and The Might of Rome are the main 'inspired by' cues and both were on the OST. I still don't really hear the Holst connection though - I think it's an overblown comparison.

 

 

Really? I remember the holst quotes been very blatant. I found it somehow intentional as it was from Mars, the bringer of war. Roman god of war in the germany roman war scenes…

[crocodile 9,206]

I also don't hear Mars in this. I just don't. On a superficial level it might seem somewhat similiarish (I guess?) but even that didn't occur to me until it was pointed out by someone. I mostly hear just last remnants of 1999s action Zimmer.

 

Karol

[Jurassic Shark 14,994]

23 hours ago, Stark said:

POTC hurt me deeply back in the day

 

[WampaRat 1,803]

I wonder if the Holst estate would not have gone after Zimmer if he hadn't printed in the liner notes for the More Music album that he was "using the same language, the same vocabulary, if not the same syntax" as Gustav Holst's "Mars, the Bringer of War." But why wait 6 years after the film had come out to file a case against him? 

Why didn't they go after Williams for Star Wars? There's undoubtedly some Mars, Bringer of War in there too. I guess Johnny was just a bit better at hiding it(?) 

Did people ever take Horner to court for his lifting/borrowing of classical pieces?

 

[Yavar Moradi 3,597]

25 minutes ago, Luke Skywalker said:

Really? I remember the holst quotes been very blatant. I found it somehow intentional as it was from Mars, the bringer of war. Roman god of war in the germany roman war scenes…

 

Yeah, it's pretty darn blatant to my ears... I don't understand why some folks can't hear it. Of course it's pretty blatant in Star Wars for me too (but I do prefer the way Williams did it, if I'm honest).

 

Yavar

[Jurassic Shark 14,994]

4 minutes ago, WampaRat said:

Why didn't they go after Williams for Star Wars? There's undoubtedly some Mars, Bringer of War in there too.

 

Hey, that job is taken by Korngold's estate.

[Edmilson 10,517]

9 minutes ago, WampaRat said:

But why wait 6 years after the film had come out to file a case against him? 

It was only 6 years after that they rented the Gladiator DVD from the video shop 

 

9 minutes ago, WampaRat said:

Did people ever take Horner to court for his lifting/borrowing of classical pieces?

 

A few times, yeah. Someone sued him because of Honey I Shrunk the Kids and then the score could not be officially released until 20 years after the movie came out.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,935]

27 minutes ago, Yavar Moradi said:

 

Yeah, it's pretty darn blatant to my ears... I don't understand why some folks can't hear it. Of course it's pretty blatant in Star Wars for me too (but I do prefer the way Williams did it, if I'm honest).

 

Yavar

 

Both quite blatant and both quite blatant for a reason.

 

Pretty sure they were making a point rather than trying to pass something off as their own.

[Jurassic Shark 14,994]

2 hours ago, WampaRat said:

Did people ever take Horner to court for his lifting/borrowing of classical pieces?

 

Well, accidents do happen...

 

1 hour ago, #SnowyVernalSpringsEternal said:

Pretty sure they were making a point

 

That's exactly what people would say if caught ripping off other composers.

[Yavar Moradi 3,597]

3 hours ago, #SnowyVernalSpringsEternal said:

Pretty sure they were making a point rather than trying to pass something off as their own.

 

I suspect it was much more a case of temp-tracking. We know that's the case with Star Wars at the very least, which is why there's also plenty of Stravinsky/Elgar/etc. in Williams's score. Drastically different temp-tracking compared with The Empire Strikes Back.

 

And we know Ridley Scott likes to have his editor temp track a lot (see Alien where they ultimately left some of the temp track in the film!)

 

Yavar

[Jay 42,446]

Thank you to La-La Land Records for making this release happen! I hope everyone enjoys the gorgeous presentation that Stéphane put together, and the beautiful mastering from Maxime that preserves the original intent of the score and gives it new life.

 

I had such an amazing time talking with both Hans and Lisa for the liner notes. They shine some amazing insight into how this iconic score came together, and 

 

I just wanted their voices to shine through as they reflect back 25-years to how their score came together.

 

I hope everyone enjoys the notes, they are beefy, but I think the story of how Gladiator came to be needed to be covered in as much detail as possible, and I wanted to make sure both Hans and Lisa had the space to speak about their work.

 

This film came out when I was 13. Just 4 years prior I was a 9-year old discovering some cassette of the score to The Rock. By this age I was looking for that "Zimmer" name on CD covers specifically. This score only furthered my obsession of how music and imagery work together to tell a story. So, it was truly an honor to get to preserve the behind the scenes stories with this album.

 

Thank you Michael and Matt for shepherding this release. Thank you to Dan for the gorgeous art direction.

But thank you to Hans and Lisa, and everyone else who touched the score to help bring Maximus home in a score that is equal parts brutal, heroic, heartbreaking, elegant, gorgeous, and deeply moving.

 

I hope everyone enjoys the release and enjoys the exclusive liners whether you're revisiting or discovering for the first time. This is a limited edition of only 3500 copies, so don't sit on grabbing yours!

 

#gladiator #25thanniversary #ridleyscott #hanszimmer #lisagerrard #lalalandrecords #soundtrack #strengthandhonor

 

https://www.facebook.com/kayasavas/posts/pfbid022zKP5pPio5iPoLoNs3C7hVb84WyL2NjBZSNeJzWznNcYy9ogUfaQpaXUCgp9hURml

[WampaRat 1,803]

9 minutes ago, Jay said:

I hope everyone enjoys the notes, they are beefy,

Music to my ears! Can't wait to jump into this.

[Bilbo 4,006]

6 hours ago, Edmilson said:

Yep. The OST is 61 minutes long, it wouldn't hurt to add two or three more tracks with 2 min right after Barbarian Horde.

 

But it's still better than the Pearl Harbor OST, which is 46 minutes long and doesn't include A LOT of music, including the swashbuckling music for when Ben Affleck and the other guy hop on their planes to fight the Japanese fighters at the end of the attack.

Oh God yes! Pearl Harbor. That’s the one I want next. Zimmer did a Goldsmith on that and scored a much better film than what he was watching. 

[WampaRat 1,803]

I was a newly minted Zimmer fan around the time that film was coming out. I looked forward to that score so much "from the guy who did Gladiator". I was so disappointed by the album release. So much great stuff left off it. Particularly THIS cue:

A great MV action cue. Noble. A tad tongue-in-cheek. Probably not the right tone for the devastation occurring on screen even if its a little heroic moment for the main characters lol.

[Edmilson 10,517]

I just listened to that cue today lol. Reminded me a lot of Pirates of the Caribbean. 

[Richard P 4,772]

Sounds infinitely more like Pirates to me than a 40s war movie.

 

Also:

 

Quote

Big release day ! What can I say about Gladiator that wouldn't sound cliché or already said before ? It's the first Hans CD I ever got when I was 13 in 2000 (actually bought by my brother Antoine !). So when you get the opportunity to revisit that one, it's an honor, a strength, but mostly "handle with care" ! Basically work on this one took roots nearly 2 years ago, as I was literally chasing poor Lisa Gerrard all the way to the elevator of a Hans Zimmer Live venue. She didn't know me, I was out of breath, couldn't find my words, and asked her if she'd be down for a new expanded version of this wonderful score. She said "Oh yes please do it !" So I hope you'll be entertained !

 

https://www.facebook.com/stephane.humez/posts/pfbid0HYx7UBL9kdCFvh66cS5bWsVavHzJahiGHvy8MzvSzAshbqTVsHx8ksk3B53eb3nql

 

It's nice that Gerrard was so supportive from the start, as I've always been a little nervous that an expansion would be prevented by her 'star' status.

 

Nice to see enthusiasm for other Zimmers, but in terms of expandable scores prior to 2005, that's it for me - The Rock and Gladiator. I hope you guys get Pearl Harbor at some point.

 

It's a fair comparison to say that for me, this release is like what the Hook UE was for most here. My first reaction on seeing the picture clue was... roman numerals... could it really be? Omg.....

[Stéphane Humez 581]

9 minutes ago, Richard P said:

It's nice that Gerrard was so supportive from the start, as I've always been a little nervous that an expansion would be prevented by her 'star' status.

 

I honestly thought the same for years. Mind you I was backstage & with Hans' team for his shows numerous times since 2016, so I've crossed path with Lisa several times. I just never dared to go bother her out of fear ! lol

And she's exactly the opposite, she's super nice and a lot of fun !

[Edmilson 10,517]

On 02/04/2025 at 8:00 PM, WampaRat said:

So much great stuff left off it. Particularly THIS cue

I had this conspiracy theory where the reason for why the sky battle cues were left out of the OST was because they were done by HZ's assistants (Badelt, Jablonsky, etc) and not by Zimmer himself. They were the biggest ommission from the album despite its incredibly short length (just 46 minutes). But now that we learned that Zimmer doesn't produce all of his albums I don't know anymore.

 

What do you say, @Stéphane Humez?

[Stéphane Humez 581]

7 hours ago, Edmilson said:

I had this conspiracy theory where the reason for why the sky battle cues were left out of the OST was because they were done by HZ's assistants (Badelt, Jablonsky, etc) and not by Zimmer himself. They were the biggest ommission from the album despite its incredibly short length (just 46 minutes). But now that we learned that Zimmer doesn't produce all of his albums I don't know anymore.

 

What do you say, @Stéphane Humez?

 

Honestly, if you wanted to do a 40 min album of that score, I believe what they did was great. Besides the Air Battle. But the recording of that cue was pretty weak (rushed, I'd say) so I can see it being left out.

Pearl Harbor is great, but don't hold your breath for that one, it's not happening any time soon I'm afraid.

[Edmilson 10,517]

23 minutes ago, Stéphane Humez said:

Pearl Harbor is great, but don't hold you breath for that one, it's not happening any time soon I'm afraid.

Really? That's sad... The OST is a nice summation of the score, but I'd personally would've included at least one of the Air Battle cues (poor recording notwithstanding) and 4M29 Danny & Evelyn Make Love (nice variation of the love theme).

[Jarek Urbanczyk 0]

What's happening now with Hans Zimmer's music releases from the 90s is amazing. I remember at that time that my top ten things that I wanted to see expanded were Broken Arrow, The Rock, Backdraft, Gladiator, The Peacemaker, Drop Zone, The Thin Red Line, The Prince of Egypt, The Fan, Crimson Tide. Only the last three were not released.

Stéphane, tell me there's a glimmer of a chance they'll be released.

Thanks to all the initiators who contributed to the release of Gladiator, but also other Hans Zimmer music expansions.

[Stéphane Humez 581]

3 hours ago, Jarek Urbanczyk said:

Stéphane, tell me there's a glimmer of a chance they'll be released.

 

I'm trying !!!

[crocodile 9,206]

 

 

Karol

[Jarek Urbanczyk 0]

23 minutes ago, Stéphane Humez said:

 

Próbuję!!!

Thx!

[bollemanneke 4,013]

I'm very hopeful we've finally reached the moment where we'll start getting as many Zimmer expansions as Williams ones. And it's about time. And it's great that someone who knows what they're doing is in charge.