这是一部非常优秀的电影原声作品，虽然单单听曲子使整张专辑显得有一些散，但作为一部动作影片的原声带，整体性并不是作曲家首要考虑的目标（并不象如《Brave heart》等史诗性的影片那样），如何配合影片的动作场面与剪辑才是首要的目的。这部电影在影片与音乐的配合方面做的非常突出，在欣赏电影的同时绝对不能忽视音乐的存在。这张电影原声带的作曲家有三人，分别为Nick Glennie Smith, Hans Zimmer与Harry Gregson Williams，这三位作曲家同在一家由Hans Zimmer创办的“媒体公司”（Media Venture）中工作，这家电影音乐公司在Hans Zimmer的带领下之做出了大量的电影音乐作品。上面所说的几部非常有名的影片音乐大部分都是以几人合作的形式出台的，但都带有比较明显的统一的风格。这也说明电影音乐在国外已走上产业化的道路，从而使其更完备、更有效率。提到Hans Zimmer，应该非常熟悉，说到《The Lion King》《Crimson Tide》;《Broken Arrow》;《The Preacher’s Wife》;《The Thin Red Line》;《As Good As It Gets》与《The Prince of Egypt》，我想大家应该能够明白Hans Zimmer在好莱坞的地位。是的，Hans Zimmer的名字与许多好莱坞的大片紧紧的联系在一起。应该说Hans Zimmer创造了一种电影音乐的风格，如同《The Rock》的导演Michael Bay一样，他的那种风格在很多部影片中都有很好的体现。这部影片也是秉承作曲家一贯的作风，为电影的成功奠定了基础。Hans Zimmer的配乐是一种充满现代气息的音乐，虽然他仍然运用管弦乐团作为音乐的主体构成，但是非常强调如架子鼓等打击乐器的作用，并把管弦乐与电子合成器结合起来，使得音乐自始至终被鲜明的节奏所充斥、包围，这样的音乐运用在动作片中烘托紧张的气氛是再合适不过了。另外，他善于表现铜管与弦乐气势恢宏、宽广壮阔的一面，善于表现宏大的电影场面。“The Rock”是全剧的总结与概括，作曲家充分运用了各种手段使其表现主题，其鲜明的个人风格也表露无疑。

Blake Neely is an American composer, arranger, orchestrator, conductor, and author.

This was quick. Even before the DVD to At World's End is out, this compilation of the Pirates of the Caribbean series has been released by Silva Records featuring their usual partners in crime, the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra & Choir. Since Hans Zimmer wrote the themes for all three movies, it makes sense that a focused album of suites would be an interesting listen.
The music of the series has been called everything along the lines of "McMusic" to "the best thing Hans Zimmer has done in years." Interestingly, both are right. Don't forget, the series started as an ill-fated theme park spin off. Who gives Johnny Depp an action franchise to star in, seriously?! I do find the main Pirates theme enjoyably rousing but it is very plastic and disposable. Once the movie became a phenomena did the series garnered serious musical attention and with Dead Man's Chest and At World's End, we got an assortment of really interesting themes (the revisedJack Sparrow cello theme, the melancholy Will/Elizabeth love theme, the rousing Pirates Brethren theme). In the final film, Zimmer finally showed off what he and his crew can do and uses a full orchestra. All past joking aside, it is a powerhouse of a score.
This gives The Prague Philharmonic a lot to chew on and while they are using a much smaller orchestra than The Hollywood Studio Symphony, they capture a lot of magic with impassioned performances. There's less of the uniform evenness from the Zimmer-produced recordings as the individual Prague musicians here have more European character and nuance. This is particularly in the Black Pearl highlights as the original film music used plenty of synth accompaniment. While they can't recreate the large chorus of the film, it is nice to be able to hear them clearly here ("What Shall We Die For") and when they can't recreate the amp sound of the "Kraken", their solution is creative.
There are some heavy drawbacks. Some of my favorite tracks from At World's End ("Up Is Down", "I Don't Think Now is The Best Time") are ambitiously staged but they are undone by poor mixing. With fewer instruments, they have to be extra careful how to record the separate sections. The percussion section is horribly recorded and mixed too loud (it ruins the last sections of "The Kraken" and "Jack Sparrow") while their very strong brass and string sections are way too low. This key mistake betrays the very thing they were trying to avoid: sounding small. Likewise, the accordion in "Drink Up Me Hearties" sounds stiff.
Overall, it is an enjoyable release. The selections are all well chosen and represent the series appropriately. Compilation albums of modern series are rare and when orchestras like this take big risks, I happy applaud their efforts.