The Fellowship Of The Ring Soundtrack

[Comic Book Guy]

I bought my copy of the soundtrack today, and I can honestly say it was a beautiful piece of work. It was brilliant, I cannot put it into words how good it was, Howard Shore should now get reconition as a great composer. My favourite tracks were Concerning Hobbits, The Treason Of Isengard, Many Meetings and the Breaking of the Fellowship.

I recommend it.

[Aragorn]

Hehe, I'm getting them off Morpheus for free. Gandalf and The Treason Of Isengard are good, but I haven't heard them all yet.

[IronParrot]

I've listened to it on streaming a couple hundred times already, but I bought the CD today... and I'm listening to it on my beautiful sound system right now, for the second time today.

My favourite track is Many Meetings...

Man. No doubt about it, this is the Oscar frontrunner for Original Score this year.

[Darth Tater]

That was quite an experiance! Truely a brilliant soundtrack. However, just because it plays like the best soundtrack ever on its own doesn't mean it'll be a work of pure brilliance with the film.

Cases in point: The Gladiator soundtrack is absolutely brilliant on its own, but somehow it doesn't have the same impact with the movie. The Crouching Tiger soundtrack is the reverse. However, neither are nearly as good as FOTR, so my hopes are high.

Which brings me to another interesting point. Everything we've seen so far in regards to the movie has just been so incredibly awesome. There's just no way a movie can be that good though! I think we're being set up for a big let down, but oh well, I'm enjoying it now

[ArwenEvenstar]

The chances of finding it here are so NOT good

Oh well maybe my Aunt and Uncle will get it for me- or my boyfriend will burn it for me

[Darth Tater]

BTW Aragorn, there's no such track as "Gandalf" though treason of Isengard is great. First person to find the three or four typos I've already found in the sountrack booklet wins absolutely nothing! CBG you're disqualified, I've already told ya most of them

[Aragorn]

Hmmm....damn Morpheus! Sometimes the titles aren't the real titles, just what the people that downloaded them think they should be called...

[IronParrot]

Typos in the booklet? Um, the one that sticks out for me is how they credited "Howard Weaving"...

[Darth Tater]

Yeah, that one's pretty obvious, but there's one that's even easier to spot!

Tristan has suggested the unthinkable to me: that the Harry Potter soundtrack is better then this one!!! His reasoning behind this? He doesn't have any of the themes from FOTR stuck in his head. Well I'll address that here and now, in the hopes of getting a lively debate going, which is always fun.

The first time listening to the soundtrack I immediately recognized three of the themes: the Hobbit theme, the Fellowship theme, and the Dark Riders theme. I've since discovered many others, the most obvious of them being the Ring theme.

The only reason I can think of that someone wouldn't notice these is that they're used to John William's oversimplefied (sp) works, the most obvious being Harry Potter. He uses one theme for almost every moment in this film! Over and over and over again, ad nausium! It's clear evidence that he's lost his musical maturity. However, listening to some of his older works, I've discovered that he never reached the level of maturity Howard Shore has!

The first time we here the Fellowship theme is towards the end of "The Prophecy". I doubt anyone actually notices it the first time around, because it foreshadows something we haven't heard yet. The theme continues to build every time we meet a member of the Fellowship, till we arive in Rivendell. Then it shines in all its glory, in a truely moving piece of music.

I can't remember Williams ever doing something like this. He starts all his soundtracks off with the themes as clear as day. Shore, however, has obviously realized he can create a prolonged sense of mystery with musical foreshadowing (I don't know if there's an actual term for it, I really know nothing about music.)

The Hobbit theme starts off sweet and innocent. It's a bit of a shock to hear after the first two tracks on the soundtrack, which are quite dark. Yet it sets up Frodo and Sam as innocent creatures, unawair of the world they're about to be thrown into. Their theme matures throughout the soundtrack (and I'm sure this is even clearer in the movie, considering there's about 2:30 of music in it, and the soundtrack's only 72 mins long), till "This Is My Father's World", er, I mean, "In Dreams", when it becomes a sad lament at innocence lost, at the same time looking towards the journey ahead. I can't wait to here how this theme matures throughout the quest to destroy the ring.

It would have been incredibly easy to make the Dark Riders theme a sudden thing, shocking everyone, and aiding in the sense of horror that the director is trying to create with them. However, this wouldn't have been true to Tolkien's vision. In book one of LOTR the Dark Riders are a menace that builds slowly and mysteriously in the background. Our first encounter with them in the soundtrack mirrors this superbly. We're strolling along a peacefull Hobbiton lane, just a bunch of happy go-lucky hobbits. But something's not right; our situation isn't as sunny as it appears. There's something in this music that isn't the way it's supposed to be, and it creates the sense that a dark power is building. It continues this way, till they appear in all their evil, searching, searching, just missing us, but now we know what to expect when their full power comes on Weathertop.

Weathertop continues a small, almost unnoticable theme that began in "The Prophecy", continued in "Shadow of the Past", and tried desperately to take over in the Dark Riders theme: the Ring theme. It's very closely connected with the Dark Riders, and that's why it's almost indecernable during the first listen. But it's there, and it becomes clear when a young, innocent voice (Edward Ross?) appears in the midst of the wraith world, singing the same theme, but at the same time trying to fight against the forces of darkness. It becomes clearer still on Amon Hen, where the ring's true power is shown for the first time.

There are a bunch of other themes of course, and other interesting things in this soundtrack, such as the use of chorals, that I'm sure I'll address in future posts. But I think I've bored you all enough for now

[potyondi]

I wouldn't trivialize John William's works, especially with IP and I around . Besides, you can't say he's an "immature" composer based on the Harry Potter track. That's like saying Napoleon was a crappy general based on Waterloo.

I can't comment on what research you might have done into his previous works, but he doesn't have the same style as the FoTR composer and therefore they are not easily compared. John William's soundtracks are not listened to or interpreted as stories or have much semblance of continuity. Rather, he takes input from the director about what they are attempting to achieve in a scene and how music can enhance that effect. That's why you get stuff like The Imperial March. Through his aggressiveness, his brashness and his clarity, he accentuates an important theme or idea.

In addition, you mentioned that he never allows his works to begin subtly and then rise to a dramatic crescendo at the end? Ahem. Please listen to Hymn to the Fallen or Cadillac of the Skies. Then please reconsider your "learned" opinion .

Again, I've no idea how well you've studied his works but if you listen carefully, his orchestrating is extremely controlled. Delicately woven subtleties such as string of the Imperial March in Anakin's Theme essentially contradict your statement that he does not use "music foreshadowing".

In short, I don't care if, and in fact I encourage you to support your favorite composer, but not at the expense of mine. At least not without proof.

Just one more thing,

John William's oversimplefied (sp) works, the most obvious being Harry Potter. He uses one theme for almost every moment in this film! Over and over and over again, ad nausium! It's clear evidence that he's lost his musical maturity. However, listening to some of his older works, I've discovered that he never reached the level of maturity Howard Shore has!

but...

I really know nothing about music.

Err.. yeah.

[IronParrot]

It's all about context.

I'd say that the Philosopher's Stone score by itself was one of the better JW ones in recent years, but it was incredibly overplayed during the film. Now, stylistically, it fits the overall mood of Harry Potter quite well, but not necessarily so with the individual scenes.

The FOTR score is far more diverse in style, but that's a necessity considering the breadth of contrasting cultures that Tolkien's work deals with. Fortunately, it is a necessity that is achieved. While the Potter score confines itself to the whimsical, the FOTR score delves into everything from the Celtic to the Gothic to the decidedly Wagnerian.

In essence, I think the HP score would make quite the concert suite - it has a terrific title theme, but leaves much to be desired in terms of underscoring, simply because of its singular, uniform style. It is not unlike the case with Ennio Morricone's brilliant scoring of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, which primarily makes use of a stringy Civil War chorale and a spaghetti western theme looped over and over. Thematically memorable. Similar case in point, Rota's score to The Godfather. In all of these cases, the epic scale does not lie in diversity of setting or atmosphere, and the score conforms to that.

The FOTR score, on the other hand, is more akin to Jarre's score to Lawrence of Arabia. Lawrence had the big sweeping desert theme, the strict British marching theme, and the rumbling and percussive Arab theme. The diversity and scope of the score complements the scale of the film.

Whether or not the FOTR score will work as edited into the final product remains to be seen, but right now things are definitely looking up.

[Darth Tater]

I used to be a huge fan of Williams' work. As a Star Wars geek I was first introduced to the concept of character themes through his music, as I'm sure a number of people here were. I do love his music, and I'm not suggesting his work is immature, just that Shore seems, from what I've heard of his work, to have a superior sense of mood and theme.

I am well aware of the Anakin "foreshadowing". But when you know the theme already, when it's a part of movie culture, it's really nothing special. It doesn't have the same impact as the foreshadowing that Shore does.

IP, I get what you're saying about Lawrence of Arabia, and you're the musical expert, I'm the one who couldn't read music if his life depended on it (ok that's not true, I'd do better then that girl in Goonies, but you get the idea). However, I must dissagree because, well, I don't agree with you, though chances are I'm wrong. There are many styles of music in that film, but it all feels the same. That's one of my major problems with that movie, and one of the reasons I think Bridge on the River Kwai is so much better: for all the differences of setting and landscape, the film is static. You always know where it's going and it doesn't take you very far to get there. The emotions are cookey cutter, just like the score.

I'm bracing myself for the flames.

[IronParrot]

Oh, I can flame you about Lawrence elsewhere.

About Williams: I've listened to my Classic Trilogy scores again - my favourite film scores ever - and yes, his work doesn't have the same kind of flair he did then. The thing about the scores to the Star Wars and Indiana Jones films is that they consist of both powerful thematic statements and appropriate underscore. The first canonizes the score as legendary; the second is what really holds the movie up.

Since about The Last Crusade, Williams' scores have shown an increasing tendency away from complex underscore that never repeats itself. With scores like The Empire Strikes Back, the score varies itself and supplements the tone of the film so well that just by listening to the music, you can point out the exact moments when certain events happen, or picture certain shots in your mind, when a given cue comes up. This is no longer the case with recent scores like Philosopher's Stone, The Patriot or A.I. - powerful works in terms of presenting themes that allow one to identify the film instantly, but not to a level of variance and detail so that one can identify specific scenes recently just from the music.

Essentially, John Williams has maintained his ability to compose themes. But it's no longer a case where all the music he writes takes on a life of its own, and almost becomes half the movie - the visuals being the other half.

For example, the score to The Phantom Menace - my favourite track is actually "The Flag Parade". It is not a recurring motif, but is a powerful statement on its own that is a good listen both stand-alone and within the context of the film. I actually think "Duel of the Fates" is highly overrated - its rigid structure makes it a good piece in its own right, and it certainly steps up the excitement level in the film's climactic sequence, but it does not match the film well enough on a scene-for-scene, shot-for-shot basis to work really well.

Then you have oddities like Saving Private Ryan - at first, not too thematic, though "Hymn to the Fallen" has, upon a listen, become synonymous with the film. However, it was probably a wise directorial choice to in fact limit the use of underscore, especially considering the tone of the film. Schindler's List - great theme, and again, an appropriate absence of underscore where it would not fit the film.

Philosopher's Stone we've discussed. Great title theme, but overused incidental music.

Now, let's get back on topic and talk about Shore's score to Fellowship again.

Outside the context of the film, it makes a great listen. And from this listen, one can already almost interpolate where certain things are probably going to happen in the film. Take the "The Black Rider" track for example. The changes in pace, the changes in tonality - they imply that there will be sudden changes in pace, changes in mood within the film.

If the tension-release cycles in the film match up to the tension-release in the score, then things are going to work beautifully, and this will truly be one of the great scores.

Essentially, the score has to be memorable, yet stay relatively out of the way where its role is to merely support the action, and in certain films - not this one, considering it's been confirmed that most of the film was scored - the music shouldn't be there at all.

With the scale of Tolkien's work, that almost demands an incredibly diverse and variant score.

I think Shore's score to Fellowship will work well simply on the basis that from what we hear on the CD, we can tell that the score doesn't overly repeat itself. Even some of the leitmotifs that will likely not be repeated - the Moria sequence, for example - have a certain memorability of their own.

The implementation of Tolkien's environmental descriptions right into the music already bodes well. Note tracks "Journey in the Dark" and "The Bridge of Khazad-dum" in particular. Take a look at the novel, and the descriptions of the approaching war drums of the orcs.

You get the idea.

[Lord Xanthyz]

Okay, I have been "dead" at Entmoot lately, and apparently in the real world lol
Is the soundtrack available in stores? Or do I have to special order it? I never knew it came out...

[Darth Tater]

Great post IP.

The soundtrack's out in the stores, and if you don't have it already I recommend running out right now to get it!

[Gorhiriel]

THe Soundtrack rules!! I love The Bridge of K-D. It rules!!

[anduin]

Yes, The Bridge of Khazad-dum is definitely one of my favorites, especially the ending. It always takes me away from what I am doing or thinking and puts me in a totally different state of mind. So sad....so sad.

[eowyn144]

i absolutely love the soundtrack! i play it everyday and there's always a different track to match my mood.
my favourites are: concerning hobbits, many meetings, bridge of khazad Dum(i cried when i first heard the ending), lothlorien, the great river, the breaking of the fellowship and may it be. so basically most of them!!!!
does any one know about the soundtracks for the next two films?

[Comic Book Guy]

does any one know about the soundtracks for the next two films?

Well I'm not sure about the next two films, but Howard shore is planning to compose music for the Extended version of the Fellowship of the Ring, for the DVD. Apparently this hasn't been done before.

[eowyn144]

u know how every1 always says that the extra stuff will be on the dvd, what about on the video?will it have it all too?some of us still don't have dvd players ya know!