In the year 2000, the sword-and-sandal epic was revived, with Russell Crowe trebucheted to international stardom as the star of Ridley Scott’s hugely successful film, Gladiator. But fame was also found for Hans Zimmer, today the biggest music man in Hollywood, but who along with Australian composer and singer Lisa Gerrard wrote some of the most influential film music in decades for Gladiator. In Episode 17, we take a look at what makes Zimmer’s sound so pervasive, how Lisa Gerrard’s voice intensifies the film’s emotions, and just where all that strength and honour comes from.

Episode notes:

3:02 – Gladiator as the breakthrough Hans Zimmer score

5:09 – Some background on the significance of Gladiator, sword and sandal films, epics, and peplum

14:24 – Hans Zimmer style and the 1990s action film

21:00 – Hans Zimmer and the synth

23:52 – The unusual instrumentation of Gladiator

25:25 – A duduk demonstration

27:10 – The themes of Gladiator – Commodus’ theme

33:15 – The power of Lisa Gerrard’s voice

39:48 – Maximus’ hymn

43:00 – Maximus’ polyrhythms

45:32 – Zimmer’s Vangelis’ moment

48:01 – Once Upon a Time in Ancient Rome

53:11 – The Earth theme – Gladiator’s musical soul

1:00:56 – Lucilla’s theme

1:05:17 – The Gladiator waltz

1:08:15 – A Holst heist?

1:12:34 – Gladiatorial piracy

1:16:41 – The death of an emperor (or, Mozart’s Da Vinci Code)

1:21:02 – To Zuccabar

1:24:00 – Gladiator’s establishing music (and a surprise)

1:29:21 – Zimmer’s answering horns

1:31:43 – The Might of Wagner

1:39:18 – The Hans Zimmer Olympics

1:41:27 – Gladiator’s finale: Now We Are Free

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