• More Music from Gladiator

• Hans Zimmer & Lisa Gerrard
• Additional Music by Klaus Badelt & Djivan Gasparyan
• The Lyndhurst Orchestra
• Decca
• 2001

This is the kind of album that soundtrack fans are willing to embrace simply because they can't get enough of the original album, but equally annoys many who demand a "proper" expanded version of a particular score. In the same manner as Decca's previous More Music from Braveheart, this More Music From album features extra cues, a demo, a smattering of dialogue and some alternate versions. The original Gladiator album was extremely well produced and played out as a synth and symphony version of the film. This album obviously doesn't work in the same way, but still plays very well indeed.

This is the kind of album where everything seems familiar, but different. The motifs, the texture of the music and the soundscape instantly reminds the listener of the first album, but all the tracks are either something new entirely, or differently arranged or performed. For example, the alternate version of Now We are Free features a more percussive and choral arrangement, which you can hear wouldn't have been suitable for the film in the way that it was intended. The pseudo spiritual finale that Gerrard and Zimmer were going for, is lost in the Lion King sounding choir. Admittedly, many people felt their final attempt didn't work either, but much though I love Miklos Rozsa's music, I'm not sure that kind of music would have matched Ridley Scott's take on the material.

Of course, some of the tracks are a little bit of nothing and simply act as transitions between the more interesting sections, but whenever the music becomes quiet, the dialogue extracts appear. I'm not a great fan of dialogue where it tramples all over the music, but in this instance, it helps to prop up the less interesting music and on an album such as this, isn't really interrupting the flow of a soundtrack. Perhaps the most interesting demo is Zimmer's original synth mock up of the opening battle, The Gladiator Waltz. Zimmer's curious explanation about wanting the music to be a waltz, to suggest the Romans as cultured rather than savages. I don't quite hear it myself, but Zimmer does at least also admit the Holst influence, as well as that of several other classical composers. It's surprising how similar the demo sounds to the final orchestral version.

An interesting melting pot of an album that will no doubt annoy people who just wanted a second disc of material that didn't feature on the first. However, produced like this, all the best, new material plays without intrusion and the dialogue adds to the atmosphere of the more subliminal, brooding portions. In the long run, I think the original album presents all the best material and in a way that reflects the film's narrative the best, so providing the more enjoyable experience as a soundtrack, as such. However, as a stand alone selection of Zimmer's and Gerrard's music, it's another hour of extremely entertaining material that, despite its more disparate origins, is worked together to great effect. The detailed track by track analysis by Zimmer is also extremely interesting. It's almost a shame he didn't contribute in the same way to the original album, but here it gives him a chance to explain where all the different ideas are coming from.

Rating ~