Conan the Barbarian Soundtrack

We rate the Conan the Barbarian soundtrack S tier, the only S on this viki, and we think it is the best thing in the film: take the music away and half the picture is people walking. It is S under our rule because it has been recorded complete a second time, by 96 players and 100 singers in Prague in 2010, and is still played in concert halls, most recently in a suite at Walt Disney Concert Hall on Jul 22, 2022.

0:00 This is Riddle of Steel / Riders of Doom as the City of Prague Philharmonic and the Crouch End Festival Chorus recorded it in 1997. The original 1982 recording, which Poledouris conducted in Rome, has no upload from its label on YouTube, and in the US Apple Music store only two of the original album's 12 tracks could be played on Nov 10, 2026. So the tables below play the score from the 27-part upload a listener, saurenteku, posted in 2011, which follows the film from the studio fanfare to the end titles. A new film, King Conan, was confirmed on Mar 9, 2026 with no composer named; what we expect of its music is on Predictions.

Who recorded it

Poledouris composed, conducted and produced the score, played by members of the Orchestra and Chorus of Santa Cecilia and the Radio Symphony of Rome and orchestrated by Greig McRitchie (Filmtracks). The main title, Anvil of Crom, is written for timpani and 24 French horns. The chorus sings in Latin; AllMusic's credits name Teresa Cortey for the text translation and International Recording Studios in Rome as the place (AllMusic).

The director John Milius, who had met Poledouris when both were students at USC (BMI), suggested the sound of Carl Orff's Carmina Burana and the Gregorian Dies Irae, and the producer Dino De Laurentiis had first favored a pop score (Filmtracks). In an interview recorded in Ubeda, Spain, on Jul 22, 2006, Poledouris said he had the main themes before filming began, that Milius played them on set to pace the Mountain of Power procession, and that he had about twelve months on the score (UnderScores). The Orgy grew from a tune by his young daughter Zoe, who is credited on the track (Qobuz).

That July he conducted a large part of the score at a concert in Ubeda (Variety). He died in Los Angeles on Nov 8, 2006, aged 61.

Highlights

Fourteen moments inside the tracks, measured by Vi.ki from the uploads below on Nov 10, 2026, not picked by ear; the home page says how. The choir is where the record says it should be, in Riders of Doom and the battle music, and nowhere in the love theme. Here the Play column is the time inside the track.

All tracks

The score in film order, in 27 parts with the titles of the upload, each its own video, so every Play link starts at 0:00 and the Length column says how long the part runs. Together they run 1 hour 39 minutes 40 seconds by YouTube Music's listing. Parts 2 and 27 carry Mako's narration from the film. YouTube Music grays out parts 13 and 21; both play on YouTube itself and here.

What each piece plays under

From Craig Lysy's scene-by-scene review for MovieMusicUK (Aug 13, 2018):

Filmtracks adds that Anvil of Crom, often taken for Conan's own theme, stands for the age he lives in; his theme is in its string interlude and in Riddle of Steel.

Editions

The 1982 album and Intrada's set are as Intrada lists them, the Milan disc as the New York Public Library catalogs it, the expanded CD as FilmMusic.com does, and the Prague set as Tadlow Music and Filmtracks do. Intrada's was the first complete release and the first mixed from Universal's own session tapes; it was announced on Nov 26, 2012.

The 1982 album

The 1992 Varese Sarabande CD keeps tracks 1 to 7, lengthens track 8 to The Leaving / The Search (5:59) and track 9 to The Kitchen / The Orgy (6:30), and adds Mountain of Power Procession (3:21), The Tree of Woe (3:31), Recovery (2:11) and Death of Rexor (5:34).

What critics made of it

The American Film Institute put it on its ballot of 250 nominees for 100 Years of Film Scores in 2005, entry 56 and the only Poledouris score there; it was not among the 25 chosen (AFI). Filmtracks gives it five stars, and Jonathan Broxton's obituary of the composer called it "one of the landmarks of fantasy film music" (MovieMusicUK, Nov 8, 2006). The sequel's score is on Conan the Destroyer Soundtrack.

Sources

• Conan the Barbarian, MAF 7123, Intrada, 2012
• Conan the Barbarian, Filmtracks, revised Dec 2, 2012
• Conan the Barbarian, 1982 original motion picture soundtrack: credits, AllMusic, retrieved Nov 10, 2026
• Conan the Barbarian, MovieMusicUK (Craig Lysy), Aug 13, 2018
• Basil Poledouris, 1945 to 2006, MovieMusicUK (Jonathan Broxton), Nov 8, 2006
• Basil Poledouris interview, UnderScores, recorded Jul 22, 2006, published Jul 3, 2008
• Emmy-winning BMI composer Basil Poledouris dies, BMI, Nov 9, 2006
• Basil Poledouris, Variety (Jon Burlingame), Nov 12, 2006
• Basil Poledouris: The Music and the Movies, International Film Music Critics Association (Jon Broxton), Jul 23, 2022
• AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores, American Film Institute, 2005
• Conan the Barbarian, FilmMusic.com, retrieved Nov 10, 2026
• Conan the Barbarian: Prometheus re-recording, Tadlow Music, retrieved Nov 10, 2026
• Basil Poledouris' Complete Conan the Barbarian Soundtrack Announced, Film Music Reporter, Nov 26, 2012
• Conan the Barbarian (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack), Apple Music, read Nov 10, 2026
• Conan the Barbarian, Qobuz, retrieved Nov 10, 2026
• Conan the barbarian: original motion picture soundtrack, New York Public Library Research Catalog
• Conan 3: Arnold Schwarzenegger to Star in Christopher McQuarrie Sequel, The Hollywood Reporter, Mar 9, 2026
• The Riddle of Steel / Riders of Doom (From "Conan the Barbarian"), The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, provided to YouTube by Universal Music Group (video)
• Conan the Barbarian - OST, saurenteku, 2011 (videos)