Hans Zimmer isn’t among the greatest composers of all time.
It's not what you think. It's who you listen to.
Whenever you hear the name, Hans Zimmer, you hear about a titular legend who has scored the enigmatic Nolan Films and is the Einstein of the music industry, revolutionising it like no other. The praises go all the way to the tranches of Social Media. Below is a quote by a Redditor, which I suggest you look through.
“Hans Zimmer is a God”
Take a look at the post. The thread is why I'm writing this.
They are not wrong in asserting the latter viewpoint.
Hans has worked on a plethora of genres, from superhero epics like The Dark Knight to grounded, heart-tugging films like Rain Man. He has also collaborated with some of the greatest directors of all time, from Christopher Nolan to Ridley Scott. Those 2 Oscars for Lion King and Dune speak for themselves, along with ten other nominations spanning over a timeline of 33 years (That's 1.5 times my age, mind you), and 6th in the record of nominations for the Academy Awards for the Best Musical Score (12).
Then you'll ask me, Scopy, what's wrong in declaring he's among the top composers of all time?
There is a marginal difference between the definition of 'influential/accomplished' and 'best'. Hans Zimmer has his own Trinity College, Remote Control Productions, where he hires some of the most sought-after musical prospects, from Tom Holkenberg (film composer of Mad Max: Fury Road) to Lorne Balfe (music composer of Assasin's Creed games). The company even worked with the likes of Harold Feltmeyer (Top Gun: Maverick) and Henry Jackman (X-Men: First Class, Captain America: The Winter Solider), and except Harold, every other composer listed is a disciple of Zimmer himself. Not to mention the possibility of hiring ghostwriters to film some of his scores, which will be later covered; what he needs to improve, though, he barely makes up for it.
Case study: The Academy Awards
Hans Zimmer is 6th in the leaderboard for the most nominations in the Academy Awards for best musical score. But a man of his stature, composing three movies on average and boasting a track record that's unrivalled in the industry, should be nominated for more films than, say, John Williams himself (48 nominations for the Star Wars Composer. Unheard of). Of course, I'm not indicating that the Oscars are the litmus test for excellent musical scores. However, they have a certain credibility of their own, and sometimes, the public may not appreciate their expert viewpoints as both parties have distinct, clashing opinions of high art.
So what does the Oscars look out for?
- The work must be the result of a creative interaction between the filmmaker(s) and the composer(s) and songwriter(s) who have been engaged to work directly on the motion picture.
- Works shall be judged on their effectiveness, craftsmanship, creative substance and relevance to the dramatic whole and only as presented within the motion picture. Extended, revised, enhanced or alternate versions outside of the film shall not be considered.
- Films eligible for Original Score and film clips of eligible Original Songs shall be viewed by all members of the Music Branch, who will use a preferential voting system to produce a shortlist of 15 titles in each category. Five nominees for Original Song and five nominees for Original Score will then be chosen by a second round of balloting, again using a preferential voting system.
Observe the highlighted sentences. The first point applies to every composer, but only a few have a synchronised viewpoint of the film's vision. Hans Zimmer and Christopher Nolan are among those partnerships, so the chinks only appear in the second point. Let's scrutinise each criterion closely and see if we can spot the elephant in the room.
Relevance to the Dramatic Whole
Definition: The degree of association the song has with the movie and the scenes it's played in.
Some of Zimmer's tracks have inspired me creatively in my writing process as an amateur novelist. It has helped me invoke some abstract narratives I would have never thought of or felt. Such is the dramatic presence of the German Meister.
The "Now we are free" motif from Gladiator attacks me with its simple, instrumental sonata complimenting Lisa Gerrard's heavenly command over her impressive vocal range. The song starts with the congas and the guitar before the violas and contrabass come in briefly and fade in and out in the background when Maximus reflects upon the malicious epic he just faced as he stares into empty space lying flat in the sandboxes of the Colosseum, barely alive in the last scene of the movie. Then suddenly, Lisa Gerrard blooms into the picture, starting in alto. As it approaches the verse-chorus, she transitions seamlessly between Contralto and Alto, as the bass drums are now included, signifying the intense, indescribable pain Maximus carried as he rose to the Colosseum. When taking forward this momentum as the orchestra basks in all its glory, she moves immediately over to mezzo-soprano with blazing triumph and grace as the drums grasp hold of its full force, savouring his chivalrous victory earned by Maximus over Commodus and Rome. The song then concludes with a hum ranging from contralto and alto, as Maximus has finally attained salvation from the turbulent, gruesome journey he faced, reuniting with his family.
The title, "Now we are free", is apt in this sense as it signifies the liberation of Maximus from his wilful torture, as the thought process of Maximus moves from reflection to celebration to peace. Does it reach the intended level of success in conveying the message? That's up to you to interpret, but I hardly see a better execution for the theme than this song. It chocks out the sorrow in the reflective section, hopes and success in the celebratory area, and finally, resolution in the salvatory section. These are the emotions we are supposed to feel, and we think it best through the masterful orchestration from Zimmer.
So, Zimmer passes the effectiveness check.
Craftsmanship
Let's continue using Zimmer's "Now we are free" for the sake of simplicity.
It's hard to argue that his craftsmanship is flawed in any way whatsoever, fluidly using the strings and congas to landscape a harsh, bittersweet victory for Maximus (congas for the harsh, feral part, and the strings for the bittersweet section), as he raises the tempo by adding the bass drums into the chorus, roaring into the scene with the perfect pinch point, coalescing with Lisa Gerrard's direction. The simple instrumental section in the beginning erupts into a full-blown orchestra, attesting to the chaotic range of emotions felt by both Maximus and us, the audiences. Such a phase transition requires immense skill and meticulousness from the composer and the producer to bring the best out of the song's intended message. Including the harps and violas in the background for just a handful of seconds, culminating all of the emotions we experienced to the vertex, demonstrates the ear for detail in the song.
Zimmer himself says that the best music for him comes from listening and paying attention to the chords and the various instruments used in multiple sections of an orchestra/song, so it's safe to say that he blows this criterion out of telescopic sight.
Creative Substance
This might be Zimmer's most significant and worst attribute. Let me explain.
Zimmer is renowned for being one of the pioneers of synthesisers in new-wave cinematic music. His introductory film, The Rain Man, used a synthesiser and steel drums to emphasise the lost, mythical world Raymond was living in as he travelled along the continent. Hans even describes in an interview that he used "Raymond imaging living on Mars" as an inspiration for the composition. He was eventually nominated for the best musical score in 1989, too. Zimmer famously used blades for playing the cello for the Joker's theme in The Dark Knight, intending to create an effective display of discomfort and disorder (an agent of chaos) in his theme song "Why So Serious". There might have been some divine intervention from Christopher Nolan, though.
However, this is where the path becomes an enigma. Zimmer is notorious (like many other composers) for recycling some motifs used in the past to compose his songs. The Kraken theme in Pirates of The Caribbean: The Dead Man's Chest recycled the Molossus theme in Batman Begins in its chorus, only effectively reducing its tempo and a change of instrument (organ). Some bombastic themes from Batman v Superman were recycled from Gladiator's grand, commanding pieces. Chevaliers de Sangreal from The Da Vinci Code was praised for its orchestral ingenuity, but it was just Hans' signature Shepard's Tone in play. This could be due to Hans asking some ghostwriters to score for some films he is not intrigued by but intends to claim it's booty.
Phantoms of the Opera
For those unfamiliar with the concept, ghostwriting is the practice of composing music and someone else taking credit for it (legally). Zimmer started to employ ghostwriters (for RCP) in the early 2000s, most likely after he found success with the team effort for Gladiator. These ghostwriters wouldn't just work for Zimmer on smaller projects; they would accompany him to tentpole releases like the Dark Knight trilogy and Man of Steel. The Dark Knight had at least four composers (Hans Zimmer, James Newton Howard, Lorne Balfe and Henry Jackman) working on it, and The Dark Knight Rises had seven! The writing of the rest of the ghostwriters has ranged from barely passable to atrocious. There usually needs to be more clarity between the writing styles of Zimmer and his legion of ghostwriters as they are generally responsible for the more ambient pieces, and they can't be trusted to adapt any of the themes that Zimmer has composed sufficiently. Frankly, this could be why most of his other soundtracks, notably after Gladiator, have been inconsistent. The band of composers for The Dark Knight was the reason it was disqualified from the Oscars that year. The lack of coherence breeds boring, unmoving scores, and Hans deserves every nanometre of criticism for this.
Hans enters a limbo, Schrodinger's Music, where he is a superposition of all possible outcomes of creative soundtracks. The only way to determine the state is through hearing his music. For this section, he gets an A, B, C, D, E and F simultaneously.
Effectiveness
Definition: the degree to which something successfully produces a desired result; success.
Hans makes brilliant scores. It cannot be disagreeable at all. But do they all move me to the extent I didn't know? Let me explain.
Imagine you are going on a tour around Switzerland. You visit Bern and its surrounding hill stations, and its beauty moves you. However, on the way to the Matterhorn, you find a narrow creek lush with fledgeling oak trees and shrubs ripened with wild berries of striking cardinal reds. A tributary flows through the stream, nurturing the striking, inexplicable landscape you have stumbled upon. However, the creek looks like it would disappear in time, as beyond the creek, haunted, leafless deadwood devoid of life dominate the environment. The hill stations in Bern are Hans Zimmer.
The creek is John Barry’s Somewhere in Time.
I wrote the previous paragraph by listening to the haunting, ephemeral music of John Barry in Somewhere in Time. The ability to convey a theme at its most incredible intensity shows the true mark of a great composer. Hans does reach the peaks that music can get, but composers like Barry, Mancini, Hermann and Morricone go to the stars that no one other than them can bear. The only modern-day composer achieving this is Giacchino, a bizarre mix of Hans and Barry, yet he manages to create his distinctive style that resonates with me so well.
Where does Hans go wrong? He needs help understanding music theory. So do I, hence my fascination with traditional composers like Barry. He (Hans) dropped out of music school eight times (to be fair, his musical style does not complement traditions) and did not formally learn it at all.
From my layman's analysis, Hans uses his instruments to add texture to a classical theme. The best example can be found in The Dark Knight. A Dark Knight (my favourite Zimmer theme) is heavily inspired by Lasiurus, composed by James Newton Howard in Batman Begins. The motif is the same; the difference lies in the synthesiser and the tempo. Hans' progression is more synchronised, adding a neo-dystopian feel through the synthesiser. He relies more on bass than James, who used strings as the primary instrumentation for the former song. You can hear both themes through the videos attached below:
As you can hear, A Dark Knight is a polished, orchestrated version of the raw, melancholic Lasiurus. This is Zimmer's metier. He can add a surreal atmosphere to a great song, making it seem grand and dramatic. This is also observed in Gladiator, where Wagner inspired most of his songs. However, Zimmer's addition of congas and harps adds brevity to the already intense piece, simultaneously making it tragic and beautiful. Zimmer, sadly, falls under a new paradox; I'd like to call it Zimmer's paradox. However, the same quality that makes it great does not make it great. It feels shallow and devoid of emotion compared to some of Barry's, Hermann's or Williams' music. Indeed, some of their music is also inspired by other classical composers. Rachimanoff's Rhapsody illuminates Barry's central motif in Somewhere in Time. Still, instead of tidying the music for modern viewers, John adds a careful re-arrangement by adding his sections of violas and contrabass, perfectly pacing and carrying the momentum from a symmetric mixture of love and melancholy. The instruments don't add texture but simultaneously define an additional dimension of sorrow, happiness and nostalgia. There isn't just one motif for this theme, too; there is a combination of some other motifs, along with variations in tempo and pitch. This results in the composition having multiple iterations/ definitions that layer the theme intricately, like a tapestry, as Zimmer claims.
In contrast to the lengthy explanations I had to resort to for the Gladiator composer, I can explain John's motif in one sentence: The romantic allure of the past.
Hans is fighting against a losing war regarding elegance and coherence from the classical era. There is simply nothing more humane than listening to the soothing, grounded melodies of the orchestra than the bumbling, ferocious symphonies by the meister.
As Da Vinci once quoted:
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication
Summary
Hans fails the effectiveness part and barely passes the creative criterion listed by the Academy Awards (compared to his peers). He gets a 2.25/4 overall.
His mastery over the instruments and their significance to the drama is unquestionable and might be superior to some classical composers in retrospect.
But composers like John Barry, Henry Mancini, John Williams, Bernhard Hermann, Philip Glass, Ennio Morricone, Nino Rota, James Horner. They all reach a three at the very least in the criteria.
The RCP, combined with his lack of formal music theory education, will forever dent his reputation as one of the greatest composers in cinema history. However, that does not necessarily imply that his contributions were folly; I have to thank Hans Zimmer for encouraging a new barrel of composers. Yes, they may be flawed compared to the romantic era of composers, but they do capture the essence of the characters in the movie and the themes excellently, as Hans does.
Tom Holkenberg's theme, "Men are still good" in BvS, is my favourite Batman theme of all time for its voluptuous use of bass drums and its nerve-wracking operatic scores, synchronous with its lachrymose use of brass. The theme becomes increasingly intimidating over time, parallel to the pent-up anger Bruce has accumulated over the 20 years he was the Dark Knight.
Henry Jackman, my favourite composer from the Zimmer burrow, has an almost classical knack for expressing frustration and vengeance. He can carry momentum and intensity far better than Hans, John Williams or any composer I have seen other than Mozart or Tchaivosky. His theme, Frankenstein's Monster, in X-Men: First Class, starts timidly with a moody guitar motif before the classical strings are in motion (I'm obsessed with violas. Don't ask why.) The song increases the tempo, adding a synth and bass to create a fireball of an orchestra. In its chorus, the music speaks: I'm vengeance. It's fiery and to the point, as songs should be.
Some of these composers have created work indelible to my mind and have inspired many younger composers without a solid background in music to pursue their passion as long they are learning throughout and thoroughly. Think Benjamin Walsfinch, who composed the end credits theme, a sober, haunting motif to the conclusion of the events in Dunkirk. I never heard of him before that, but he may have some prospects in the future. Who knows?
What are your thoughts about Hans? And who is your greatest composer? Let me know in the responses.
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