The Bible

Posted by Jhoppster at 9:15 AM


The Bible Mini Series is a remake of well known bible stories starting with Noah and going through the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The 10 hour, 5 episode TV show unfortunately remains inaccurate in some places which was mostly due to the fact that most of the actors were allowed to ad lib most of the dialogue. Regardless, the show became the #1 most watched television show and set a big milestone for Christian television since it was broadcasted on none other than The History channel!
Jesus and His Followers
For the music, Hans Zimmer and Lorne Balfe teamed up once again to compose this massive project. The team brought along long-time collaborator  Lisa Gerrard to provide vocals for the score. The music in of itself, isn't much different from any other Zimmer-Balfe soundtrack. The music is heavy on the synth and doesn't have much thematic development. Most of the cues are nice to listen to, and Gerrard provides beautiful vocals as always, but nothing that stands

out as new or original.
Joshua
For the main theme, the composers relied heavily on Gerrards deep voice. It's an inspiring theme if not somewhat repetitive. The main theme is found in several of the cues including, Faith, The Nativity, and Rise Up In Faith. 

For some of the cues, the composers used the traditional method of scoring biblical epics with specialty middle eastern instruments. Other cues are atmospheric using subtle underscoring (Zedekiah's Son's for example is a cue that uses an atmospheric electric piano).
Two Angels
There are several amazing powerhouse cue that are just plain epic! The cue, Road To Jerusalem starts off very subtly but the percussion intensifies near the end. Pentecost is another epic/heavy percussion cue. There is an amazing part in which two flutes furiously play during an intense part.
Gerrard's haunting voice is also used in a wailing fashion for the cue, I Am. 
One of the highlights of the score for me is the cue, Creation Choral. Low strings/vocals/guitars start off the cue, then it suddenly crashes into an all-out epic choral theme. It's a really spectacular and classic Zimmer/Balfe piece!
The Crucifixion
So altogether, the soundtrack works, but isn't anything outstanding as the composers remained in their comfort zone of heavily relying on synth. Maybe I just had my hopes to high, but the score was somewhat disappointing. Like I have said before, synth doesn't seem to ever work for a period film. Check out the several cues I have posted above and let me know what you think. I will have one more entry coming soon to complete the Biblical epics genre!

Rating: ****

 

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2 Comments:

  1. Alicia Willis said...
    June 7, 2013 at 7:28 PM  
    Alrighty, retracting everything I said. It's fabulous! ;)
    Jhoppster said...
    June 7, 2013 at 9:43 PM  
    I thought the comment was on the TV show itself, not the score. Alrighty then. :)

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