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

[Davis 3,948]

On 2/5/2025 at 6:51 PM, Stark said:

Do we expect this release to sell out as quickly as Reivers? I don't want to spend too much money right now!

Considering how much bigger a star apparently HZ is than JW, I think it will sell out in no time. But another Zimmer release is coming out soon, so you might hold on to your money just yet in case it’s something you want more than G.

[Trope 1,149]

@Stéphane Humez I've noticed that the OST track "To Zucchabar" is at a higher pitch and faster tempo than the "Roman & Spanish" track on the complete score, even though they are clearly the same recording. The OST track always stood out to me as somebody with perfect pitch, as it sits in between C and C# minor. Now hearing the track "Roman & Spanish" for the first time, it's clear it was originally recorded in B minor. 

 

Would you have any insight to my newly developed theory that the "To Zucchabar" track on the OST was (possibly incorrectly) converted from 44100Hz to 48000Hz, thereby increasing the pitch and tempo (similar to what happened to the entire Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows score)? 

 

To back up my theory, I dragged the "Roman & Spanish" track from the LLL album into Audacity, switched the rate from 44100Hz to 48000Hz, and, voila, it matches the pitch of "To Zucchabar" on the OST. 

[Stéphane Humez 467]

Maybe it was a fuck up... I can't know for sure. But I don't think so, I think it was a choice to make it match the other tracks it was surrounding. It's not unusual. I've seen some albums with tracks' pitch changed to match the key of other cue they were edited with (comes to mind HGW's Equalizer 1 & 2).

I kept the track as it was written.

[WampaRat 1,734]

It's hard to imagine a better final product for this score. Enjoy! 

[Edmilson 10,347]

Gladiator was one of the first scores I listened to when I was beginning, with Zimmer, my film music fandom. And while I didn't love it as much as The Last Samurai or At World's End, I still thought it was great.

 

Nowadays it's nice listening to it as a more experienced fan, finding all the connections to other scores and how it fits in the context of Zimmer's trajectory. It was cool to see that the dramatic strings from Am I Not Merciful? preceded the trapped sailors elegy from Pearl Harbor on the following year, and that the choir from later in the same cue preceded some stuff from King Arthur and Pirates 2 and 3.

[WampaRat 1,734]

1 hour ago, Edmilson said:

It was cool to see that the dramatic strings from Am I Not Merciful? preceded the trapped sailors elegy from Pearl Harbor on the following year,

Yeah, Hans seemed to like that "walking bassline dirge" device for mounting emotional scenes. He makes it grungy and angry in The Dark Knight's "Watch The World Burn." The usage in Angels and Demons, I think, is probably more due to temp track bleed-through since TDK was a massive hit just the year before.  I was trying to think of some of his work pre-Gladiator that might have been the first usage of that idea. But there might not be any clear examples.
 

[Edmilson 10,347]

Watch the World Burn is actually a JNH cue though. It's for the final confrontation between Batman, Dent and Gordon, where Harvey threatens his family.

[Stéphane Humez 467]

Actually Watch The World Burn is entirely JNH, based on his suite he called "Passacaglia".


And the funny thing about Am I Not Merciful? is that it was written by Hans before Gladiator. It was a demo for another score (it didn't make it), but I guess Hans loved it too much he immediatly demo'ed it for Gladiator.

[Edmilson 10,347]

5 minutes ago, Stéphane Humez said:

And the funny thing about Am I Not Merciful? is that it was written by Hans before Gladiator. It was a demo for another score (it didn't make it), but I guess Hans loved it too much he immediatly demo'ed it for Gladiator.

I love the powerful choir in Am I Not Merciful?. Are they singing in Latin? Or just Hans' typical The Rock/Crimson Tide-like vowels but no words?

[WampaRat 1,734]

1 hour ago, Edmilson said:

Watch the World Burn is actually a JNH cue though. It's for the final confrontation between Batman, Dent and Gordon, where Harvey threatens his family.

I stand corrected! Fascinating.
They did a great job at blending their styles. There are several cues in Batman Begins that I thought was one composer and ended up being the other.

 

1 hour ago, Stéphane Humez said:

Actually Watch The World Burn is entirely JNH, based on his suite he called "Passacaglia".


And the funny thing about Am I Not Merciful? is that it was written by Hans before Gladiator. It was a demo for another score (it didn't make it), but I guess Hans loved it too much he immediatly demo'ed it for Gladiator.

Wow! I had no idea. Wonder what film that was originally for.

[fenrik 73]

And speaking of these things... am I overthinking (I often do! lol) or can I hear TDK in Patricide?

 

Here at 2:27:

 

 

[Richard P 4,735]

I recall Zimmer saying in one of Schweiger's interviews many years ago that he would come up with 'tunes' and look for a project to use them for. Am I Not Merciful is so suited to that scene so it's nice he finally found a use for it.

 

I listened to Barbarian Horde more closely last night, particularly how it builds up to the music where Maximus rides the horse. I'd always slightly considered this piece as a recycling of material from The Battle, and I reckon it's because the OST cuts out so much material - the post-entrance percussion and the chariot entrance - it robs the cue of some personality. The full film version is so much more of its own unique take on the material. If I could change a handful of things about the OST, one would be to include this entire sequence unedited.

[Trope 1,149]

@Stéphane Humez are you able to shed any insight as to where 1:26-2:45 of "The Battle" (OST version - disc 3, track 10) comes from? Compositionally, it matches the opening 1:20 of "Gladiator Waltz (Demo)", but it's clearly a re-recording done with elements of live orchestra.

 

Every part of the OST version of "The Battle" can be traced to some other track from the main score program (0:00-1:25, 3:03-7:20, 8:09-end from "The Battle (Film Version)"; 2:46-3:02, 7:21-8:08 from "The Trap - Escape Fails"), except for 1:26-2:45 (and the alternate Lisa Gerrard version of the elegy at the end).

 

Did they record the entire demo with the live orchestra during the sessions, and then splice this opening into the OST version of "The Battle" in order for it to have its intended/original thematic build-up as heard on Hans' demo?

 

Regardless, THANK YOU for including it on this release. I agree with whoever decided to splice it into the OST in the first place: it is the most effective build-up to the waltz statement (superior, compositionally at least, to the film version, which is clearly truncated to fit the scene).

[Stéphane Humez 467]

1 hour ago, Trope said:

@Stéphane Humez are you able to shed any insight as to where 1:26-2:45 of "The Battle" (OST version - disc 3, track 10) comes from? Compositionally, it matches the opening 1:20 of "Gladiator Waltz (Demo)", but it's clearly a re-recording done with elements of live orchestra.

 

Every part of the OST version of "The Battle" can be traced to some other track from the main score program (0:00-1:25, 3:03-7:20, 8:09-end from "The Battle (Film Version)"; 2:46-3:02, 7:21-8:08 from "The Trap - Escape Fails"), except for 1:26-2:45 (and the alternate Lisa Gerrard version of the elegy at the end).

 

Did they record the entire demo with the live orchestra during the sessions, and then splice this opening into the OST version of "The Battle" in order for it to have its intended/original thematic build-up as heard on Hans' demo?

 

Regardless, THANK YOU for including it on this release. I agree with whoever decided to splice it into the OST in the first place: it is the most effective build-up to the waltz statement (superior, compositionally at least, to the film version, which is clearly truncated to fit the scene).

 

Actually the first 1:30 of the suite were recorded, for some reason. Why particularly, no idea. Maybe it was tested as some insert, who knows.

It's always been available in mixes floating around (track labelled "GLAD WALTZ"). But the mix in the OST was far superior. Plus having the original ending with Lisa's vocal is the reason why it was included. And I'm so used to this whole montage, so yeah, it was better to keep it as it was in the album.

[Richard P 4,735]

OMG, I never noticed that before! I haven't seen the film in a very long time and hadn't paid much attention to the alternate (OST) Battle version because I assumed it was just the different ending and that the rest of the track was merely edited.

 

The buildup with the guitar is definitely a more spooky approach than the film version, but I do like both. Had Intrada done this set, we'd probably have two bonus versions - one with that waltz insert, and another with the Lisa ending - we just needed this one, cumulative alternate.

 

I like the sequencing of the end of the sketchbook section with After The War (Guitar), leading into The Wheat with the full opening, and the alternate The Battle, making an entire alternate opening sequence. Lovely way to bridge the two sections of disc 3.

 

It's taken a while to get used to the gapless playback (in comparison to most expansions these days) but what I find is that if a score is released with all cues in isolation, you have to either make a permanent playlisting choice either way, or have multiple versions of certain sequences in order to hear clean openings/endings, and that gets messy very quickly - it's not taken me long to dump multiple versions of other scores' sequences.

[Yavar Moradi 3,504]

7 hours ago, Richard P said:

Had Intrada done this set, we'd probably have two bonus versions - one with that waltz insert, and another with the Lisa ending - we just needed this one, cumulative alternate.

 

Considering @Stéphane Humez also produces Hans Zimmer releases for Intrada (and they seem to trust and leave most details/decisions up to him, as album producer), I'm pretty sure it would have been exactly the same.  

 

Yavar

[Richard P 4,735]

Hah true. Maybe that was a Doug thing then  

[crocodile 9,130]

I am really enjoying this set. I was worried it would feel bit repetitive (some expanded Zimmer releases are) but this one flows very nicely from start to finish. I listen to this quite a lot.

 

Karol

[Lady Dimitrescu 9,722]

Greetings, fellow Australian! 🇦🇺

On 04/05/2025 at 3:54 PM, Trope said:

Finally, it's arrived!!!! Ordered day 1 from Intrada and it's finally made its way to Australia. Honestly, this is my most anticipated release in a long time. It's got to be one of Hans' top 5 scores IMO. I cannot wait to sit down and listen to this all the way through this evening!