Hans Zimmer: I Don’t Think Now is the Best Time, from the film soundtrack, Pirates of the Caribbean 3
Anna Lapwood is a British organist, choir director, social media phenomenon and an exclusive Sony Classical recording artist.
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My favorite piece actually changes every week… I have two answers, my ‘I’m a serious musician’ answer, and my honest answer. My ‘I’m a serious musician’ answer is the overture to Engelbert Humperdinck’s opera, Hansel and Gretal. It’s a piece I played when I was starting out in orchestras. Whenever I hear it, I feel that excitement you get when you’re making music with a big group of people.
But my honest answer is a track from The Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End called, I Don’t Think Now is the Best Time by Hans Zimmer. There is something about it that just gives me energy every time I hear it, which is daily.
When I was a teenager, I remember listening to it walking to school. It was film music so I thought, that’s cool. There’s a lovely marrying of on-screen action and the music itself, so when the characters swirl around, the music goes whirrrll with it. There’s such a drive to it and it is so well orchestrated. That’s why Hans Zimmer is one of my favourite film composers.
“He’s done so much to bring attention to the organ and make people realise it’s more than just a loud machine but an instrument with so much sensitivity.“
I love the fact he put the organ front and centre in another piece he wrote called Cornfield Chase from the film Interstellar. He’s done so much to bring attention to the organ and make people realise it’s more than just a loud machine but an instrument with so much sensitivity. I’m very grateful to him for doing that.
Not so long ago, I played a couple of his pieces at these massive shows in Amsterdam in front of 15,000 people. The weirdest thing about being a musician is that you’re on this treadmill, which is going faster and faster and you almost don’t have time to think, take stock and realise what’s happening to you. And then, as I walked onto the stage, I had a little moment and I thought, this is so far beyond anything you dreamed you’d be doing. You thought you might be a musician, but not like this. And I feel so lucky, and so proud I guess for the sake of little me walking to school listening to I Don’t Think Now is the Best Time, and I say to myself, yeah, this is pretty good!
