Composing Greatness: #5. James Horner - "Braveheart" (1995)

Scene from Braveheart

Welcome to Composing Greatness: a column dedicated to exploring the work of film composers. This will specifically focus on the films that earned them Oscar nominations while exploring what makes it so special. This will be broken down into a look at the overall style, interesting moments within the composition, and what made the score worth nominating in the first place. This will also include various subcategories where I will rank the themes of each film along with any time that the composer actually wins. This is a column meant to explore a side of film that doesn't get enough credit while hopefully introducing audiences to an enriched view of more prolific composers' work. This will only cover scores/songs that are compiled in an easily accessible format (so no extended scores will be considered). Join me every Sunday as I cover these talents that if you don't know by name, you recognize by sound.

Series Composer: James Horner

Entry: Braveheart (1995)

Collaborators (If Available): N/A

Nomination: Best Original Score

Did He Win: No

Other Nominees:
-The Postman (Luis Bacalov)*winner
- Apollo 13(James Horner)
-Nixon (John Williams)
-The Shawshank Redemption (Thomas Newman)

Additional Information

This is to help provide perspective of where each composer is in their Oscar-nominated life as it related to the current entry.

Oscar Nomination: 5

Oscar Wins: 0

Track List

1. "Main Title"
2. "A Gift of a Thistle"
3. "Wallace Courts Murron"
4. "The Secret Wedding"
5. "Attack on Murron"
6. "Revenge"
7. "Murron's Burial"
8. "Making Plans Gathering Clans"
9. "Sons of Scotland"
10. "The Battle of Stirling"
11. "For the Love of a Princess"
12. "Falkirk"
13. "Betrayal & Desolation"
14. "Mornay's Dream"

15. "The Legend Spreads"
16. "The Princess Pleads for Wallace's"
17. "Freedom The Execution Bannoburn"
18. "End Credits"

Note: Listen to here.

Exploring the Music

The area of the column where I will explore the music in as much detail as I see fit for each entry.

Theme Exploration:

"Main Title"

In the career of James Horner, few scores feel as essential as the Braveheart one. It's for good reason, as it helps to add a deeper emotion to the Scottish instrumentation that plays throughout the album. The bagpipes are accompanied by classical strings, capturing the violence of war with the peace and romanticism of a culture that has rarely been represented on screen as this complex. It's a beautiful, epic score that manages to capture an emotion, and it opens in all of the ways that Horner knows best. It's a slow build that slowly gets the audience ready for the journey ahead. It feels ominous, hiding mystery just out of sight. It's a beautiful piece of music and the perfect way to kick the album off.

Interesting Standout:
"Revenge"

As mentioned before, part of Braveheart's big appeal is that it is a war film. What is incredible about this piece of music is how James Horner feels like he's hiding in the bushes, waiting to ambush the audience with violent strings as a flute plays nervously, as if running away from danger. There's an intensity to this track that carries through some of the more aggressive music, but here it manages to feel like a personal attack in the best ways. Not only that, but it manages to convey it while making another melodically complex and interesting piece of music that gets the heart racing. 

Best Moment:
"Sons of Scotland"

Towards the end of the album, the music returns to its more sentimental phase. What makes it rather interesting is how it manages to tone down the violence without fully losing it. The instruments are level-headed now, once again mixing the quiet build with the classical strings and bagpipes, creating a sense of what beautiful land Scotland could be. The longer songs on this soundtrack generally have the best overall work, and this is easily among the best that James Horner has done at this point. It manages to raise the sentimentality without ever leaving the thematic resonance. Horner's melodies are to die for on this soundtrack, and this is a prime example of why.

Did This Deserve an Oscar Nomination?:
Yes

There have been five James Horner nominations so far, and it's been fascinating to see how different each of them has been. Even in 1995, he had the space opera of Apollo 13 and the war epic of Braveheart. They feel like polar opposites on one hand, managing to convey the idea of "ominous" in different ways. However, it also proves his versatility that both reflect a composer at the top of his game. If he wasn't one of the best before this, these two scores more than suggest that he has a lot to say. He has grown into a more melodic composer but still manages to mix in atmosphere and ambiance whenever he gets the chance. While I detest the film, Horner manages to make a score that transcends the film and is easily among the most Scottish soundtracks ever released by a major American studio. It's just so perfectly executed that you'd be mistaken for thinking that it was the real thing.


Up Next: Best Original Score - Titanic (1995) and Best Original Song - "My Heart Will Go On" (Titanic)

Best Theme

A ranking of all themes composed by James Horner.

1. "Main Title" - Apollo 13 (1995)
2. "Main Title" - Braveheart (1995)
3. "The Cornfield" - Field of Dreams (1989)
4. "Main Title" - Aliens (1986)

Best Song

A ranking of all songs composed by James Horner.

1. "Somewhere Out There" - An American Tail (1986)