{"id":3508,"date":"2011-08-30T23:30:41","date_gmt":"2011-08-31T03:30:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=3508"},"modified":"2011-08-30T23:30:41","modified_gmt":"2011-08-31T03:30:41","slug":"cd-film-music-of-hans-zimmer-vol-2-the-2011","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=3508","title":{"rendered":"CD: Film Music of Hans Zimmer – Vol. 2, The (2011)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Return to<\/strong>:\u00a0Home <\/a>\/\u00a0Soundtrack \u00a0Reviews<\/a> \/ <\/em>F<\/a><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>Rating: Very Good<\/p>\n

Label:\u00a0 Silva Screen Records <\/a>\/ Released:\u00a0July 25, 2011<\/p>\n

Tracks & Album Length:\u00a0 CD1: 11 tracks \/ (51:20) + CD2: 12 tracks \/ (51:01)<\/p>\n

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Special Notes:\u00a0 8-page booklet with liner notes by Michael Beek.<\/p>\n

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Composer: Hans Zimmer<\/p>\n

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Review:<\/p>\n

With more than 20 years of scores under his belt, it\u2019s possible to divide Hans Zimmer\u2019s work into several stages, and Silva Screen\u2019s first volume addressed the hits from his formative years, scoring blockbusters, bonehead action vehicles for Michael Bay, small audience-pleasing pictures, and themes that generally addressed the lighter side of humanity.<\/p>\n

Vol. 2 isn\u2019t dark per se \u2013 the Pirates of the Caribbean<\/strong> franchise is pure popcorn \u2013 but most of the represented films cover Zimmer\u2019s more interesting shift in scoring style, where he sits on deeply saturated chords, plays with minimalist figures, and shows a musical voice less concerned with accessible melodies.<\/p>\n

The bombast that makes him unique among orchestral & electronic composers is still there, but it\u2019s used with more precision and variation. Inception<\/a><\/strong> [M<\/a>] (2010) and its progenitor, The Dark Knight<\/a><\/strong> (co-composed with fellow boom-master James Newton Howard in 2008), are perhaps his darkest scores, and they\u2019re steeped in deep chords and massively thick levels of bass, but the electronic tools have become more varied, and the reliance of big sonic booms has waned \u2013 except in the popcorn realm.<\/p>\n

As popular as the Pirates<\/strong> franchise is, musically, it\u2019s all tied to a handful of brilliantly addictive themes, and a handful of themes & motifs reworked from a particular trio of older films – The Rock <\/strong>(1996), The Peacemaker<\/strong> (1997), and Crimson Tide <\/strong>(1995).<\/p>\n

Pirates<\/strong> illustrates the dilemma that\u2019s affected Zimmer since his mastery of the blockbuster sound: producers want it, directors know it\u2019s what\u2019ll make their film more accessible, and it\u2019s easy to produce because its elements pre-exist, which is why the prior Pirates<\/strong> scores are derivative of the aforementioned action trio, and themselves (Jack Sparrow\u2019s fiddle jig excepted).<\/p>\n

The \u201cMermaids\u201d theme from the latest On Stranger Tides<\/strong> is more unique because it falls under Zimmer\u2019s current post-Dark Knight<\/strong> stage: less busy writing, and hyper-focusing on a specifically haunting mood.<\/p>\n

That fixation on tense moods was present as far back as Paperhouse<\/strong> (1988), but Zimmer didn\u2019t get another rich chance to explore it again until The Ring <\/a><\/strong>(2002), although credit has to be extended to the myriad co-composers who refined the beautiful minimalism motifs into the score\u2019s chilling design.<\/p>\n

To balance out the gloom of The Ring<\/strong>, the two Batman<\/strong> films co-scored with Howard, Inception<\/strong>, Angels & Demons<\/a><\/strong> (2009), and (amusingly) The Peacemaker<\/strong>, Silva\u2019s 2-disc set includes themes from the three Pirates<\/strong> sequels, which function as more vivacious bridges towards additional themes from Madagascar <\/strong>(2005), Spirit: Stallion of Cimarron <\/strong>(2002), The Prince of Egypt <\/strong>(1998), and The Lion King<\/strong> (1994) \u2013 his populist endeavors.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also the \u201cHonor\u201d theme from the HBO series The Pacific<\/strong> (2010), and the main theme from Sherlock Holmes<\/strong> (2009)\u2013 a better use of a simple, catchy theme than the Pirates<\/strong> films because the time period and idiosyncrasies of director Guy Ritchie\u2019s style inspired Zimmer & his co-composers to use rustic fiddles and a cimbalom to brilliant effect. (Sherlock Holmes <\/strong>does fall into populist material, but it\u2019s far less reliant on repeated and elongated theme statements than Pirates<\/strong>.)<\/p>\n

Silva\u2019s collection gathers a select series of themes re-recorded & performed digitally by London Music Works, some of which were previously released as digital EPs. 2004\u2019s King Arthur<\/strong> (with its shades of Steve Jablonsky\u2019s The Island<\/strong>) fares better among the 15 orchestral emulated selections that make up this 23 track set, whereas the remaining 8 (performed by The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra) offer up some interesting arrangement of scores, such as chamber-based The Ring<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Each theme is given its full statement, and the lengths are often quite generous \u2013 often owing to Zimmer\u2019s preference in developing themes from simple hooks.<\/p>\n

Michael Beek\u2019s lengthy liner notes provide a compact overview of Zimmer\u2019s stature, and he diplomatically acknowledges the issues critics have expressed with Zimmer\u2019s music-by-committee design that began with the formation of Media Ventures, and its new incarnation, Remote Control Studios<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Zimmer is a dynamic combination of mentor, tutor, protector, employer, and artist, and he\u2019s unique in carrying those responsibilities for such a substantive group of graduating composers (of which the best-known are John Powell, Mark Mancina, and Ramin Djawadi). Commercially, he may be the \u2018unrivalled composer king of Hollywood,\u2019 but he\u2019s still a controversial figure. Fortunately, within his massive canon, fans and critics have much to pick and choose for their own enjoyment.<\/p>\n

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\u00a9 2011 Mark R. Hasan<\/p>\n

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External References:<\/p>\n

IMDB <\/a>— Soundtrack Album <\/a>— Composer Filmography<\/a><\/p>\n

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Return to<\/strong>:\u00a0Home <\/a>\/\u00a0Soundtrack Reviews<\/a> <\/em>\/\u00a0F<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Return to:\u00a0Home \/\u00a0Soundtrack \u00a0Reviews \/ F . Rating: Very Good Label:\u00a0 Silva Screen Records \/ Released:\u00a0July 25, 2011 Tracks & Album Length:\u00a0 CD1: 11 tracks \/ (51:20) + CD2: 12 tracks \/ (51:01) . Special Notes:\u00a0 8-page booklet with liner notes by Michael Beek. . Composer: Hans Zimmer . . Review: With more than 20 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[162],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-UA","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3508"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3508"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3508\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3528,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3508\/revisions\/3528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}