The Wings of a Film: The Music of Hans Zimmer [LIVE]

Hans Zimmer (Composer)

Product Details

• Composer: Hans Zimmer
• Audio CD (June 19, 2001)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Live
• Label: Decca
• ASIN: B00005KBBI
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #89,688 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Composer/former Buggles keyboardist Hans Zimmer helped pioneer the fusion of traditional orchestral music with synthesized sounds that both seamlessly mock and supplement the traditionally acoustic. What listeners sometimes mistake for a symphony orchestra in full voice is often but shrewdly manipulated digital samples. Thus, this concert performance (recorded at the 2000 Flanders Film Festival) adds a welcome, truly organic dimension to the best of Zimmer's canon. The composer is featured as a performer (with Dirk Brosse conducting the fine efforts of the VRO Flemish Radio Orchestra), as are many of his frequent collaborators; Lisa Gerrard adds her distinctive vocals to the included Gladiator excerpts, while guitarists Pete Haycock and Heitor Pereira add their familiar flourishes to cues from Thelma and Louise and Mission: Impossible 2, respectively. Reworked music from The Lion King and The Power of One supplement the already familiar, but it's Zimmer's haunting, emotionally compelling "Journey to the Line" (from The Thin Red Line score) that is the collection's unlikely high point. --Jerry McCulley

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not All You Could Hope For, February 28, 2004

By	Robin Rheaume (Singapore) - See all my reviews

If you're looking for a collection of Zimmer's work all in one place this is it. But that's all. These are not the best versions of his work you'll find and if you've grown to love some of his music from movie soundtrack CDs, you'll be disappointed. This is LIVE meaning each piece has several seconds of applause at the end. The arrangements are for orchestra so some of the studio techniques which give the music a kick are missing.

For some people, once they're used to one version of a song, variations will never do. If that's you don't waste time on this CD. I'm not such a person yet these live recordings left me cold.

The music for Rainman is a good case in point. I like that the arrangement, unlike the soundtrack CD, is a full 3 minutes of the piece (the soundtrack was split into two shorter pieces) but the music simply doesn't transport me the way the original did. There's less emotion.

If you're into Hans then this is still a must have but is not as satisfying as, say, a compilation of the original works.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bliss, September 24, 2001

By	Jacob Schuster (Roseville, MN United States) - See all my reviews

I had been looking for the instrumental music from Thelma and Louise since I saw the film in 1991. Ten years later, on a whim, I found The Wings of a Film and as soon as track four began playing, tears streamed down my face for I had found it. Hans Zimmer is a musical and emotional genius and this is a must have for music lovers. When I saw the preview for Pear Harbor, it brought me to tears only because of the compelling score. I bought the soundtrack, and although it was good, it was not the emotion invoking music of the preview. However in The Wings of a Film, track five is from the Thin Red Line and it too was the song I had sought. I am thrilled with this purchase and suggest it to all with a soul for music.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Big disappointment, November 28, 2002

By	chuck wood (Pendleton, OR USA) - See all my reviews

Ever buy a CD you had high hopes for and when you got it - it became one you quickly decided you would only listen to once? That would be my experience with this. Over-orchestrated, there is nothing subtle about this recording, it is loud and bombastic. Many of my favorites - such as the Lion King pieces -were reworked and changed miserably. I absolutely loved Zimmers' ~ Millennium: Tribal wisdom and the modern world.