Composed by Hans Zimmer
The score Hans Zimmer created for the 2009 film Sherlock Holmes vibrates with considerable fresh sound and energy. The first notable thing about it is its avoidance of sweeping string sections and fanfares of horns. There are strings, to be sure, but used mostly for a rawer “street level” type of sound. With the violins this is important, because the scratchier and plucked sounds feel more consistent with the way the Great Detective might have played his own instrument while cogitating over mysteries.
Jude Law as Watson & Robert Downey Jr. as Holmes in “Sherlock Holmes”
The percussive sound of dulcimer gives a metalic ping to many of the tracks, which suits the London setting and period of the film. It moves away from the Romantic period and toward the 20th Century (but definitely has not arrived there yet).
In an interview, Zimmer noted that he had used the chime tune of the Big Ben Clock as the basis for one of the primary musical lines. I think that adds a satisfying subconscious urgency to the support the score gives to the film 0 the detective is working against the clock. Musically, the variations are entertaining.
I thoroughly enjoy the energy of this score. Even its more pensive moments have a forward movement for me.
