Braveheart was the movie that won Mel Gibson two Oscars for himself and it should have won James Horner an Oscar for his score as well. This soundtrack was released soon after the release of the Apollo 13 soundtrack, and even though there was little time between them, there was a definite difference between them. While Apollo 13 kept us in suspense with it's modern sound and vocals by Annie Lennox, Braveheart was a step back into the more traditional instruments of the Scots and Celts. And Horner interlaced them with a full orchestra in a way that can only be described as mesmerizing.
From the opening titles, where mysterious and haunting bag pipes take us back through time, to the fury of the battlefields at Stirling and Falkirk, Horner keeps up the same basic theme but introduces it to us in different manners to reflect the mood of the scene. His use of choir and strings has been heard before but if one chooses to ignore that fact, it is easy to enjoy the piece that Horner has composed. Some of the stand-out pieces on the soundtrack are "Sons of Scotland" (which is just as inspiring with or without Mel Gibson's speech), The Battle of Stirling, and "Freedom"/The Execution/Bannockburn. And one thing which I appreciated was the fact that the love theme was not always played by one instrument, but presented to the listener by a variety of different instruments (such as a flute or even the bag pipes). Such things can make a particular piece of music more appealing to listeners.
Even though I enjoy the Apollo 13 soundtrack as much as the Braveheart soundtrack, I still think that this one was the better of the two and it deserved the Oscar. Be that as it may, I hope that James Horner takes some satisfaction in the fact that fans such as myself appreciate the efforts he put in and hope that he continues to produce such finely crafted music.
Total time: 77:00
1: Main Title (2:51)
2: A Gift of a Thistle (1:37)
3: Wallace Courts Murron (4:25)
4: The Secret Wedding (6:33)
5: Attack on Murron (3:00)
6: Revenge (6:23)
7: Murron's Burial (2:13)
8: Making Plans/Gathering the Clans (2:05)
9: "Sons of Scotland" (6:19)
10: The Battle of Stirling (6:07)
11: For the Love of a Princess (4:07)
12: Falkirk (4:04)
13: Betrayal & Desolation (7:48)
14: Mornay's Dream (1:18)
15: The Legend Spreads (1:09)
16: The Princess Pleads for Wallace's Life (3:38)
17: "Freedom"/The Execution/Bannockburn (7:24)
18: End Credits (7:12)