The original score was composed by John Debney and conducted by Nick Ingman, with additional music by Jack Lenz.
[1] Mel Gibson first chose Canadian composer Jack Lenz to write the film's score, who began working on the project from September 2002.
While the film was in production, Lenz toured the Middle East to gather field recordings from different musicians in search of the "organic" sound that Gibson desired.
Instruments such as a duduk, double violin, bamboo flute, cello, Spanish dulzaina, oud and erhu are used occasionally in “The Olive Garden”, “Judas Hangs Himself”, “Pilate's Truth” and “Song of Complaint”.
[2] Thom Jurek from Allmusic.com, who gave the score 4 out of 5, described the album as "a stunner, one that will offer those who choose to encounter it a far-reaching and deeply affective listening experience that is as aesthetically beautiful and unsettling as it is evocatively familiar.
"[6] James Southall from Movie-Wave.net praised the composer and the album, giving it 4 and a half stars out of 5, stating, "I would refute any allegation of the music being dreary or depressing: it clearly has to convey a certain atmosphere, but it does so with beauty and, well, passion", where he concludes, "Shades of Gladiator and The Last Temptation of Christ there may be, but this is quite obviously music coming straight from Debney's heart, and The Passion of the Christ is a wonderful album.
"[8] Filmtracks critiqued, "there are parts of The Passion of the Christ that sound like they were inspired by The Prince of Egypt in instrumentation, although the pounding action cues seem better compared to Hans Zimmer's Gladiator", before adding "when awe is necessary, Debney's score is immense, even during dialogue-respecting underscore that often features a distant, powerfully beating drum and a rumbling cymbal to accentuate each pivotal statement by Jesus himself."
The review then concluded that the music "is the king of religious cliché, utilizing the exact bloated sound that even Gibson had originally attempted to avoid.