"The Da Vinci Code" - Hans Zimmer

The Da Vinci Code

Composed by: Hans Zimmer

Release date: May 9, 2006

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Amazon users rating: 4,5/5 stars.

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All About Soundtracks Review:
In the first film adaptation of a Dan Brown novel, Ron Howard got Hans Zimmer to score The Da Vinci Code, a story so extraordinairly famous that introduce it is needless.
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The first reaction to the score is of surprise. To a story dominated by chases and murders, Zimmer composed a score that focuses on the religious themes that are implicit in the movie. For example, the strong choral presence (specially the feminine one) could be interpreted as a theme to Mary Magdalene or the Sacred Feminine. The most notable presence of ethereal feminine chorus is on track 7, Salvete Virgines, a track that the movie didn't feature.
However, the tematic development of the score is ambiguous. There are, in fact, some motifs that are repeated throughout the album, but in the movie they're actually not associated with any character, location or organization.
Zimmer delivers a 68-minute running score, that with the proeminent use of strings and choir, as well as some synthetizers (and surprisingly almost absent of percursion, as the movie is a thriller), reminds you that, more than a thriller, this movie deals with religious matters. Maybe the score has been made to make you feel like the protagonist of the movie, Robert Langdon, surrounded by all this secret societies, fanatic people, codes and riddles.
Nonetheless, the score fails in creativity, as the instrumentation is very predictable, and you've heard stuff similar to this in Zimmer's Crimson Tide, Hannibal, or even Batman Begins. There is a fast moment, in the later part of Fructus Gravis (reprised in the later cue Beneath Alrischa), where an interesting use of solo strings feels fresh compared to the rest of the score.
Like if it was afraid of being noted, the score stands mostly low-profile and as few moments of real interest, maybe because of its significant slow-pace. It makes this rather unmemorable.
Actually the most exciting cues are at the last portion of the score.
The Citrine Cross stands out, with a choral presence that is very strong: sometimes gives an ethereal feeling, sometimes injects into dramatic action sequences.
Chevaliers de Sangreal, it's a definite highlight, both in the album and in Hans Zimmer's carrer. It presents the discovery theme (firstly introduced in track 1, Dies Mercurii I Martius) orchestrated in all its magnificience, and in a crescendo that it's both uplifting and a tearjerker.
The score ends with a composition by Richard Harvey, Kyrie for the Magdalene, that features the most outstanding presence of feminine chorus.
Overall, this score it's not much of an entertaining listening experience; it's actually a track-skipper. Most of the cues are not interesting to listen to, neither are they memorable. In fact, this could be a score to avoid in Zimmer's career, but the definite highlight of the album, Chevaliers de Sangreal, is too outstanding to not save the whole score.

Noteworthy tracks: Fructus Gravis, Salvete Virgines, The Citrine Cross, Chevaliers de Sangreal, Kyrie for the Magdalene.

Score note: 6/10


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