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for himself creating blistering music to accompany such highly charged action films as "The Rock" and "Black Hawk Down" it was obvious that he is capable of delivering the highly charged rousing end to the score but this film was not in the same genre as those I've mentioned although there are a number of exciting moments. The Da Vinci code is altogether more cerebral but when you recall the work done by Zimmer for "Gladiator" which is essentially the thinking mans epic, then you know you are in the hands of someone capable of cutting the cloth to fit all requirements. Given the nature of the film the brief would have been obvious from the start. The film is woven from very religious and thought inducing subjects and with a backdrop of churches, libraries, museums and the night you would expect imposing choral pieces and rich, languorous orchestral passages to be the choice of approach.

The focal theme, first heard in 'Dies Mercurii I Martius', is a sublime blend of sepulchral string work and soaring vocals that effortlessly captures the gothic essence of the piece, building like distant thunder brooding and rolling menacingly before delivering a sharp awakening. This opening salvo sets the framework for what follows. The first three tracks can almost be seen as one piece creating the melancholy tension that is a subtext to the film and correspondingly the music as well. To list all of the tracks would be pointless as sound tracks tend to fulfil a different roll that a lot of music. Created to be an accompaniment to the visual action of the film before you, when listened to for its own sake it is best used as a background, more so in this case given the subdued nature of the music found here. Often the music is very quiet, relying on a single instrument to hold your attention and it is this unobtrusive nature that makes it able to move from a multi-million pound movie to the background music of a relaxing dinner party. There are moments of excitement found amongst the score; "Fructus Gravis" slowly builds into crescendo, reflecting the screen action before dropping us back into the gentle violins and cellos that make up "Ad Arcana". There is a great deal of choral work woven alongside the instrumentation and this is most apparent in "Salvente Virgines" a piece that matches soaring female voices with the masculine bass vocals that it uses as a platform. Imagine if you will a slow rendition of "O Fortuna" and you will have some idea how this sounds. Oddly enough

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