The Wings of A Film: The Music of Hans Zimmer

1	Gladiator, film score~Now We Are Free / Lisa Gerrard 5:13
2	Gladiator, film score~Am I Not Merciful 6:47
3	Driving Miss Daisy, film score~Driving Miss Daisy (encore version) 5:40
4	Thelma & Louise, film score~Thunderbird 7:46
5	The Thin Red Line, film score~Journey to the Line 9:53
6	Mission Impossible 2, film score~Nyah & Ethan / Heitor Teixeira Pereira 6:47
7	The Lion King, film score~Lea Halalela 5:59
8	The Power of One, film score~Mother Africa 5:46
9	Nine Months, film score~Excerpt 5:13
10	Rain Man, film score~Excerpt 5:05
11	True Romance, film score~Excerpt 3:31
12	The Lion King, film score~Busa / Lisa Gerrard 4:09

Barnes & Noble

"Hans understands the impact of music on moving images as well as any composer past or present" -- mighty big words coming from noted director Barry Levinson (Diner, Good Morning Vietnam), who worked with the innovative composer on Rain Man. Recorded live at the Flanders International Film Festival 2000 -- with Zimmer's Gladiator collaborator Lisa Gerrard among the featured soloists -- The Wings of a Film: The Music of Hans Zimmer features a dozen tantalizing selections spanning Zimmer's career. Removed from the context of the Oscar-winning film, the opening passages from Gladiator sound even grander, emphasizing their larger-than-life sonics. In marked contrast, "Driving," from Driving Miss Daisy, blends a poignantly nostalgic intimacy with down-home, thumping piano. Other standout selections include the Spanish guitar-accented "Nyah and Ethan" from Mission Impossible 2 (Score), the bluegrass guitar-laced "Thunderbird" from Thelma & Louise, and the African rhythms of "Busa" and "Lea Halalela" from the Oscar-winning The Lion King. Maestro Zimmer also shines as a conductor; leading an orchestra through his work, he eloquently affirms the power of his music both in its own terms and as an enhancement to film. Andrew Velez

All Music Guide

This is an album of excerpts from Hans Zimmer's film scores, performed at a concert at the Flanders International Film Festival by Zimmer with the VRO Flemish Radio Orchestra conducted by Dirk Brossé and featuring many guest soloists. Zimmer, a German-born veteran of the 1970s and '80s British rock scene (he was a member of the Buggles of "Video Killed the Radio Star" fame), broke into film scoring in the early '80s, and by late in the decade had become a prolific A list movie composer, eventually taking home an Oscar for The Lion King. He is responsible for dragging film composing into the synthesizer and computer era, but is equally capable of writing sweeping orchestral music, as is apparent here in the orchestra's performances of portions of his scores for Gladiator, Nine Months, and True Romance. Still, his most characteristic writing may be his minimalist work on Rain Man, which brought him his first Academy Award nomination, and which he performs here. His work on The Lion King, here featuring co-composer Lebo M, seems less impressive in retrospect, a pale imitation of South African mbaqanga music, though it certainly worked well in the film and on the Broadway stage. The music from Driving Miss Daisy remains attractive and melodic, even if one is reminded that it was noticeably anachronistic in the film itself. But perhaps a real sense of Zimmer's roots is provided in "Thunderbird" from Thelma & Louise, an orchestral setting for an extended electric guitar solo played by Pete Haycock, which is drenched in British progressive rock and sounds like it could have come from a Pink Floyd album. The excerpts add up to a clear portrait of a musician with the versatility and talent to be what he is: one of the world's top film composers. William Ruhlmann