Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Progeny
2. The Wheat
3. The Battle
4. Earth
5. Sorrow
6. To Zucchabar
7. Patricide
8. The Emperor is Dead
9. The Might Of Rome
10. Strength and Honour
11. Reunion
12. Slaves To Rome
13. Barbarian Horde
14. Am I Not Merciful?
15. Elysium
16. Honor Him
17. Now We Are Free

Disc 2:

1. Duduk Of The North
2. Now We Are Free (Juba's Mix)
3. The Protector Of Rome (Feat. Russell Crowe As Maximus And Richard Harris As Marcus Aurelius)
4. Homecoming (Feat. Joaquin Phoenix As Commodus And Russell Crowe)
5. The General Who Became A Slave
6. The Slave Who Became A Gladiator (Feat. Oliver Reed As Proximo And Russell Crowe)
7. Secrets
8. Rome Is The Light
9. All That Remains
10. Maximus (Guitar By Heitor Pereira)
11. Marikesh Marketplace
12. The Gladiator Waltz (Feat. Russell Crowe) (Original Synth Demo Version By Hans Zimmer
13. Figurines (Yan Ching By Lisa Gerrard)
14. The Mob
15. Busy Little Bee (Feat. Connie Nielsen As Lucilla And Russell Crowe)
16. Death Smiles At Us All (Featuring Russell Crowe And Joaquin Phoenix)
17. Not Yet (Featuring Djimon Hounsou As Juba)
18. Now We Are Free (Maximus Mix) (Mixed By Jorio)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1027 in Music
• Released on: 2005-09-05
• Number of discs: 2
• Formats: Box set, Soundtrack
• Running time: 118 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Back in the Golden Age of the Hollywood epic, composer Miklós Rózsa lavished much scholarly research on his scores for Quo Vadis (1951), Ben-Hur (1959), El Cid (1961) and others, gracing those movies with music that had as its wellspring authentic (or at least authentic-sounding) melodies from the period. For Ridley Scott's revival of the Roman epic, Gladiator, Hans Zimmer eschews such learned academia in favour of his own more contemporary, wall-of-sound approach (honed to perfection on movies like Tony Scott's Crimson Tide). In truth, no one is quite sure what Roman music sounded like, and Zimmer's unscholarly rock music background is temperamentally better suited to Scott's all-action movie anyway.

Gladiator's score is a stylistic conflation of some audacity, incorporating lavish synthesised, percussive action sequences (a Zimmer trademark), "ethnic" instrumentation including Spanish guitar, Chinese dulcimer and Armenian duduk, and--most suprisingly of all for Zimmer--unabashed plagiarism of Wagner (his cue "The Might of Rome" is "Siegfried's Funeral March" in all but name) and Holst ("The Battle" and "The Barbarian Horde" lean heavily on "Mars"). Vocalist and co-composer Lisa Gerrard (fresh from working on The Insider, coincidentally also starring fellow-Australian Russell Crowe) adds her ethereal vocalisms to the music's more intimate scenes ("Sorrow" and "Elysium" for example). Her contribution brings an exotic, Oriental flavour to a score that in its broad musical canvas reflects the movie's depiction of the vast scope of the Roman Empire. If not the equal of Zimmer's career best work on The Thin Red Line (1998), this is still a hugely entertaining and diverse soundtrack. --Mark Walker

Customer Reviews

A musical banquet for the soul, a voyage through emotions!
What can I say? I saw the GLADIATOR movie on the Saturday and bought the soundtrack on the Monday. To those who haven't seen it, please go and experience this true cinematic masterpiece. The score is literally breathtaking, Hans Zimmer and Lisa Gerrard at their very best. I'm a 21 year old guy who's taste in music you would call average, Hard House, dance, Indy etc. Towards the end of the movie, the music was so amazingly refreshing and enchanting that I just broke down and cried like never before, right there in the cinema. The music touched an emotional chord deep inside and it's a moment I shall never forget. After buying the soundtrack I went home, put the CD in the player and lay on my bed. When the tracks ELYSIUM, HONOUR HIM and NOW WE ARE FREE came on, I broke down again and cried long after the songs had finished. They would have to be the most beautiful pieces of music I have ever heard, literally. I cry every time I hear it now! I highly recomend this album to anyone, a pure classic, enjoy!

Hauntingly captivating
One word, 'WOW', this was magnificent. If you are a fan of the movie, the second disc in this collection contains the famous quotes from the characters in the movie, Joaquin PHOENIX, Russell CROWE and the late great Richard HARRIS. The tempo is exactly the same, nothing in the musical content has been altered, only extended versions with the actors voice overs, "FATHER TO A MURDERED SON, HUSBAND TO A MURDERED WIFE, I WILL HAVE MY VENGENCE, IN THIS LIFE OR THE NEXT."
The first disc is the original release of the soundtrack. Usually, you have a few tracks that you do not care for, Gladiator contains the images you love, in the music.
Hans Zimmer, there are not many that can hold to your talent, my hat is off to you.

No other word than Beautiful
Some people find it hard to give music the description of beauty. Listening to this score will change anyone's perception of music forever. It is amazing, it grafts every possible emotion together to form an overall montage of defining beauty. Tracks such as "Progeny", "Wheat" and "Sorrow" link the true essence of what both this score and the film is about, together, giving clear indication of the emotions felt. Then there are tracks such as "the battle" and "the glory of Rome" that are filled with such exhilirating power that will soar your soul to new heights. And then, there are the three final tracks, which to me make one track - "Elysium", "Honor him" and "Now We Are Free" and what truly makes this score beautiful, they combine the purity of vocal and instrumental sounds to give an angelic, unforgettable finale to the album. Zimmer is fantastic in every thing he does, and this just goes to show the power he has, and Lisa Gerrard is just as majestic in both writing and performing many of the tracks. This score is probably the most effective I have ever heard and ranks up there in classic scores with others such as Morricone's "The Mission". If u buy only one score in your lifetime, buy this one!