Braveheart and More Music from Braveheart
James Horner

Review

This is the last of the Horner trilogy -- the three scores which I consider to be James Horner's finest to date. The first two are Willow and Legends of the Fall. Braveheart rounds off the trilogy with a Scottish flair. This is a great, big, epic soundtrack with a number of nice themes running through it (especially the love theme). It is a very dramatic score for a very dramatic film.

The soundtrack isn't overly Scottish, and could be used in a number of operatic fantasy adventures. The track lengths vary, so some of the music will be best for events and descriptions while other will be better as background music. The latter is especially true of the longer action cues that are best used as background music for epic battles.

The second disc from the movie, More Music from Braveheart, is less useful as a lot of the tracks contain dialogue or are just dialogue. Also include are a number of tracks containing bagpipe music which isn't useful unless you are running a Scottish campaign. However, there are a few beautiful tracks on the second disc missing from the first.

I can highly recommend the first CD from the movie. It is a moving score that can be well used in roleplaying adventures. The second CD is less useful.

Track Listing and Notes

Braveheart

  1. Main Title (2:51) - opening cantos
  2. A Gift of a Thistle (1:37) - sadness, loss
  3. Wallace Courts Murron (4:25) - celebration (market or fair music) ~ sweeping plains
  4. The Secret Wedding (6:33) - love (melody)
  5. Attack on Murron (3:00) - danger or ambush
  6. Revenge (6:23) - viscous attack, revenge, hate
  7. Murron's Burial (2:13) - the loss of something special
  8. Making Plans/Gathering the Clans (1:51) - rumblings of war ~ celebration/discovery
  9. "Sons of Scotland" (6:20) - stirring words ~ aftermath
  10. The Battle of Stirling (5:57) - into battle ~ sad victories
  11. For the Love of a Princess (4:07) - sad melody
  12. Falkirk (4:04) - sad ~ march of honour
  13. Betrayal & Desolation (7:48) - death, loss and memory
  14. Mornay's Dream (1:15) - storm
  15. The Legend Spreads (1:09) - celebration and hope
  16. The Princess Pleads for Wallace's Life (3:37) - quietness or good for tales by the fire
  17. "Freedom"/The Execution/Bannockburn (7:24) - glory ~ sad ~ glory
  18. End Credits (7:12) - end title (mixture of the other seventeen tracks)

Total Running Time: 77:53

More Music from Braveheart

  1. Prologue: "I shall tell you of William Wallace" (3:34)
  2. Outlawed Tunes on Outlawed Pipes (2:03) - honour
  3. The Royal Wedding (2:12)
  4. "The trouble with Scotland" (0:40)
  5. Scottish Wedding Music (1:14) - jig
  6. Prima Noctes (1:46) - mystical
  7. The Proposal (6:31)
  8. "Scotland is free!" (0:17)
  9. Point of War/Johnny Cope/Up in the Morning Early + (2:59)
  10. Conversing with the Almighty (1:20)
  11. The Road to the Isles/Glendaural Highlanders/The Old Rustic Bridge by the Mill + (3:52)
  12. "Sons of Scotland" (12:09)
  13. Vision of Murron (1:45) - sad
  14. "Unite the clans!" (0:23)
  15. The Legend Spreads (1:07)
  16. "Why do you help me?" (0:37)
  17. For the Love of a Princess (4:05) - sad
  18. "Not every man really lives" (4:10)
  19. "The prisoner wishes to say a word" (3:42)
  20. "After the beheading" (1:48)
  21. "You have bled with Wallace!" (1:22)
  22. Warrior Poets (0:28)
  23. Scotland the Brave + (2:47)
  24. Leaving Glenhurqhart + (3:32)
  25. Kirkhill + (4:08)

+ Traditional Bagpipe Music

Total Running Time: 68:45

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© 1997 - 2002 David Schibeci

Braveheart © 1995 The Decca Record Company Limited, London. More Music from Braveheart © 1997 The Decca Record Company Limited, London.