Visceral.

It is, perhaps, the best way to summarize the experience of hearing the entire soundtrack to The Fellowship of the Rings performed live to a big screen presentation of the theatrical release of the film as part of the Lord of the Rings at Radio City Music Hall concert series. The evening was filled with music and, yes, magic. You almost have to be there to understand just how powerful the music to The Lord of the Rings can be, when performed live. That isn’t to say you cannot appreciate and be moved by the score on CD or mp3. Rather, it’s a testament to how music takes on a life of its own when performed live. And the union of live music to the classic film was, if nothing else, visceral.

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Being released concurrently with The Music of The Lord of the Rings at Radio City Music Hall event on October 9 & 10 is a book, aptly titled, The Music of The Lord of the Rings, written by Doug Adams.  For those who may not know, Mr. Adams has long been associated with Lord of the Rings music, writing the detailed book inserts for all three Complete Recordings releases.  He’s taken much of what he has learned through that process and compiled it into a book that will also include a nearly 80-minute CD of music called The Rarities.  The book will also include everything that was written for the Complete Recordings.  The book’s cover art has just been released (seen above).  It’s clear that this will be a must-have for avid LOTR music fans.

Mr. Adams has long been active within the internet community, keeping fans updated on Complete Recording releases and you can visit his blog HERE.

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Overview

The Hunt For Gollum is first, and foremost, a fan film. It’s an important detail because the fact is, this is one incredible production – immediately more compelling, entertaining and well-crafted than the early Lord of the Rings films from Rankin-Bass and Ralph Bakshi. Indeed, the film is only surpassed by Peter Jackson’s vision of Middle Earth – and, at that, only because of the budgetary limitations of a fan film as opposed to a major motion picture. The Hunt For Gollum is a full-fledged movie, one that takes an important part of the Middle Earth saga and sets it to film. Impressive is, merely, the beginning of the conversation.

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The following is a video presentation I originally created for my middle school Language Arts students.  It’s a nine-minute compilation of video and audio from The Lord of The Rings Trilogy to accompany an overview of The Hero’s Journey as presented by Joseph Campbell in The Hero With A Thousand Faces.  Before you proceed, I feel compelled to provide a few disclaimers:

First, this was intended for middle school, so some of the definitions and details from Campbell’s original book have been slightly modified and adapted.  Also, because I was aiming for a younger audience, this video is, admittedly, a bit silly (I just don’t want anyone thinking that I believe I’m doing anything close to real art here).  And finally, the piece was compiled using the simplest and easiest tool I have available: Windows Movie Maker.  As such, the quality is, shall we say, a bit suspect.

If you’re still interested (even morbidly) I invite you to continue and, hopefully, enjoy:

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“It’s done.” – Frodo Baggins, on the slopes of Mount Doom

Perhaps my own quest wasn’t nearly so arduous as that of Frodo, Sam and their Fellowship.  But nonetheless, I have finally completed the Lord of the Rings Ultimate Soundtrack.  This soundtrack represents a mix of all 10 CDs of the Complete Recordings from The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King.  In total, there are 18 tracks, focused primarily on a single musical theme, comprising of over 170 separate cues.

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Overview

The Return of the King is Epic. In size and scope, the film far surpasses both of its predecessors. And in terms of quality, only Fellowship of the Ring fares any better thanks to its much more streamlined narrative. But of the three Lord of the Rings films, it’s little wonder that The Return of the King is often listed as a favorite. Just about every aspect of this movie operates at an exceptionally high level. And the final thematic point, driven home by Frodo’s ultimate fate, is both truly profound and a natural evolution of thought from The Two Towers.

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Overview

The Two Towers is a grittier film than its predecessor. But like its main characters it’s also fraught with flaws which, despite the best of intentions, leads it astray. That doesn’t mean that The Two Towers isn’t an incredible film – by all rights it’s far superior to many films. But when compared to The Fellowship of the Ring, and even Return of the King, it is clearly the weakest of the three. While the acting, visuals and music all continue at an exceptionally high level, the writing and, in particular the pacing, weight down the film through its middle sections. The rest of the film, however, is still extraordinarily beautiful, powerful, and profound.

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Overview

It is a rare moment when a film captures not only the imagination, but the spirit and passions within us all. The Fellowship of the Ring is one such film – weaving a timeless tale with such inspiration that there are very few films which, from start to finish, are crafted so impeccably. Every bit of praise this film receives, it has earned. And while some of the visual effects may be slightly showing their age, the impact of this on the film as a whole is very minor. Instead, director Peter Jackson has forged a film that faithfully adapts the spirit and message of the original book by J.R.R. Tolkien.

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Ralph Bakshi’s 1978 adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings novels is a daring attempt to present a faithful interpretation of the story. In many respects, Bakshi’s attempt seems to be a direct rebuttal of the Rankin/Bass version of Middle Earth. Whereas Ranking/Bass created a colorful, juvenile style, Bakshi’s is darker, grittier and (usually) more mature. But while Bakshi’s effort is darker and more ambitious, it is also more uneven and more flawed. The end result is that, when compared to The Hobbit (1977), Bakshi’s film pales in comparison. And it’s only slightly better than The Return of the King (1980).

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The Return of King score, much like the film itself is vast, epic and powerful – and yet sublimely beautiful. Opening with a tender renditions of Ring themes, as Sméagol and his cousin Déagol discover the Ring, the score quickly turns dark and sinister as murder is done and the Ring claims a new Master. It is as if Howard Shore were really there when these events unfolded, establishing a nuanced, purposeful score for to the epic events of Middle Earth. The result is a soundtrack that many will consider to be their favorite of the trilogy – and rightly so.

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The following list is a cue-by-cue breakdown for all three CDs of The Return of the King: The Complete Recordings. You can also download the list in a spreadsheet format.

The Return of the King: The Complete Recordings

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The Two Towers opens with a flashback to a fateful crossroads in The Fellowship of the Ring: Gandalf’s confrontation with the Balrog on the Bridge of Khazad-Dum. Musically, composer Howard Shore reacquaints the audience to Middle Earth by way of a sweeping string rendition of the History of the Ring theme. In doing so, Shore reminds us that this moment is just one of many in the long, twisted journey of the Ring. As the action picks up, following Gandalf’s descent and battle with the Balrog, Shore hearkens back to the Dwarven themes. It’s a riveting musical opening that is a deliberate counterpoint to the somber and mystic Lothlorien and History of the Ring cues that began The Fellowship of the Ring.

But The Two Towers is not a triumphant movie. The loud bombast of battle will give way to the splintered Fellowship: the treacherous journey of Frodo and Sam, with Gollum as their guide; and an epic chase across the realm of Rohan as Argorn, Gimli and Legolas try and save Merry and Pippin from the Uruk-Hai. Shore’s score reflects the growing darkness and threat to Frodo and Sam, the tension and urgency of the chase, and the somber decay of the once proud kingdom of Rohan. But because the story itself is fractured and splintered, the score is not as immediate or as iconic as Fellowship of the Ring. This doesn’t mean the quality of Shore’s work has suffered, rather his efforts are much more subtle.

As a result, the score for The Two Towers strains to be recognizable and to be heard. For most of the film, it isn’t memorable in the sense that you can find yourself humming along – at least, not as often as in The Fellowship of the Ring. But as the film draws to its conclusion, the Rohan theme finally reaches its maturity and majesty, the Lothlorien theme gets an unexpected variation, and Nature’s Reclamation explodes in some of the most compelling musical moments of the entire trilogy.

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The following list is a cue-by-cue breakdown for all three CDs of The Two Towers: The Complete Recordings. You can also download the list in a spreadsheet format.

The Two Towers: The Complete Recordings

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If I had to choose one Complete Recording as my favorite, it would have to be The Fellowship of the Ring. Note-for-note, I think it provides the richest, most immediately enjoyable music of the saga. While The Two Towers and The Return of the King will add themes and provide some highly complex musical structures, much of that music isn’t as accessible for someone (like me) whose ears aren’t trained to hear the subtle variations, layers and constructs that Shore employs.

Much of this happens out of necessity. Because The Fellowship of the Ring is the introduction into the world of Middle Earth, Shore needed to establish a recognizable musical tapestry – one that would be instantly associated with the story. And so the themes tend to be a bit more simplistic and straightforward than what we will see in the later films. This fits the overall narrative as well. The Fellowship of the Ring is, by way of comparison to The Two Towers and Return of the King, a “simple” story. And so Shore’s compositions follow suit.

The result is that the Fellowship of the Ring score presents themes that are bold, prominent and easily recognizable. That isn’t to say that Shore isn’t subtle, or that he isn’t laying the groundwork for the later films. But these moments tend to be carefully placed between the full renditions of themes such as The Fellowship, The Shire, Isengard or Rivendell themes. Even so, the subtle hints, such as the Gondor theme, or Nature’s Reclamation, are presented in identifiable forms.

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The following list is a cue-by-cue breakdown for all three CDs of the Fellowship of the Ring: The Complete Recordings. You can also download the list in a spreadsheet format.

The Fellowship of the Ring: The Complete Recordings

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