Gladiator [Original Soundtrack]

The self-consciously epic scale of Ridley Scott’s smash hit sword-and-sandals throwback practically required an equivalent soundtrack, and the debut collaboration effort of Hans Zimmer and Lisa Gerrard, with the music primarily performed by the Lyndhurst Orchestra, delivered. Remarkably dynamic in feeling throughout — compositions such as the lengthy “The Battle” shift between almost beautiful tension and sweeping orchestrations — it’s Gerrard’s soaring, rich vocals adding the next level, almost creating 21st-century film music cliches out of whole cloth.