Terry's Reviews
Page
|
||
| Movies | Music | Books |
Music Reviews: |
||
 |
Hannibal - Music by Hans Zimmer Decca Records - 2001 |
|
| Ridley Scott
and Hans Zimmer have teamed up again after the enormously successful Gladiator. They have
of course worked together before that on Black Rain and Thelma & Louise. Zimmer hasn’t scored a horror film in a long time. The last one that could be considered horror would be Pacific Heights and before that the Bernard Rose film Paper House. This certainly doesn’t sound like your average horror score. There are songs featuring Sir Anthony Hopkins performing Hannibal Lector’s dialogue. Most of this score is very classical sounding, especially "Gourmet Valse Tartare," which most accompany some sort of dance in this film. At times the first half of the cue sounds like a carnival or circus. Things do change, for the dark, as the highly intelligent psychopath takes over. Zimmer uses his experience from Gladiator and puts the orchestra into a horror environment. "For a Small Stipend" Zimmer uses sounds that remind me of music from Italian horror filmmaker Dario Argento’s Suspira, but on a much bigger level. Zimmer keeps a high pitch clanging sound that flickers though the cue, and then violins creep in and carry the track to the end. "The Capponi Library" is electronic ambient horror landscape that cuts like a knife. "For A Small Stipend" has odd percussion sounds emanating from some sort of percussive instrument. Drums also pound, while electric violins screech and scream right into "Firenze Di Notte." "Dear Clarice" begins the CD off with Dr. Lector’s charismatic touch. In a cinematic way, it’s good to hear Hannibal Lector’s voice again, though it means film characters will die. Hans Zimmer underlines Anthony Hopkins lines with masterful grace. Highlighting the essence of what Hannibal says. "Let my Home be my Gallows" is ten minutes of nightmare music. Large clashes of gloom crash down without predictability and violins cry out horror. This is unlike anything else I’ve heard Zimmer do. The real classic sound gives the score class and the beauty of the sound will relax you. But be warned that it gives way to terror, which makes it all the more frightening. I think it’s what makes the character Hannibal Lector so frightening. He is intelligent and well mannered, but like the flip of a switch, can immediately alter his nice side to become a full-fledged killer. That unpredictability brings danger, which is how I’d describe Zimmer’s score. "Virtue" is a lovely cue featuring Liberia Boys choir; as is the stately tenth cut "The Burning Heart." The music is so extravagant and sweeping that it will literally pick you off your feet. "To Every Captive Soul" has a tug of war feel of emotion, where good and evil sway back and fourth. Zimmer gets his orchestra to spill fourth deep musical expression with each turn of the music. "Vide Cor Meum" is an operatic stamp to finish the CD, with Danielle De Niese and Bruno Lazzaretti handing the soaring vocals. |
||