Hans Zimmer: Homeland
Context
Homeland, composed by Hans Zimmer, is the title music for the 2002 DreamWorks film, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron. The soundtrack was made in collaboration with Bryan Adams, who sang on many of the tracks in the album. The orchestral underscore, however, was down to Zimmer. Homeland opens the film, with the camera following an eagle flying over different terrains.
The Music
Opening with fade in to the galloping string and percussion theme, fragments of theme are echoed by the trumpets and horns. Zimmer takes the music down the Wild West theme, thus the horns take over the bold theme as the strings keep the ‘hooves’ galloping. As Zimmer layers more voices in to play the theme, the texture becomes richer and fully-realised by the end. The use of a piano adds a different dimension to the music as the timbre of the piano sits neatly on top of the orchestra.
Bearing in mind at this point on screen we are flying over various landscapes, the music accentuates just how grand and vast these lands are. The big key change near the end signals for the whole orchestra to unite for the final play of the main theme. Now much louder in dynamic, this makes it all the more effective at the end when the music slowly fades into silence as the film begins.
Ⓒ Alex Burns
Happy Reading!
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