The Lord of the Rings Soundtrack Anyone???

[wayfriend]

Once Halloween goes by and Thanksgiving looms, I'm inevitably in a Tolkienish mood. It began, I think, by looking forward to The Hobbit every Thanksgiving Day at my grandparents' house, who had cable. Peter Jackson, of course, made Christmas and Tolkien synonymous.

Now, it's a heretofore unrevealed fact, but I, Wayfriend, 42, like to listen to music a lot. I spend about 6 hours a day listening. I just don't have much to say about it. And my taste in music would probably be considered insipid if anyone cared to examine it. Dire Straits, Van Halen, Blues Traveler, Aerosmith, Rush, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Pink Floyd -- alongside such weirdness as Jeff Healy, Queen, Alanis Morrisette, Enya, Johnny Lang, Queens Ryche, etc. Like I said, nothing to brag about. You can't even call it eclectic because eclecticism requires taste.

( If your from Mass: I like WAAF, and listen all the time. )

Now, I know what it is on earth that posessed me to buy each Lord of the Rings soundtrack as soon as they were available. What I don't understand is why I enjoy it so much. I have no taste for classical music. (You can laugh and say, that explains it, but I don't care!)

I enjoy the Fellowship the most. For some reason, I can instantly identify any piece of the music to the movie; for some reason, when I cannot, it frustrates me. But you cannot say that I enjoy Howard Shore's soundtrack because of the movie - it goes way beyond that. Each soundtrack has two or three really beautiful and moving -- to me, essential - pieces.

Flight to the Ford
Amon Hen
Foundations of Stone
Forth Eorlingas
Isengard Unleashed
The End of All Things

Are there any other LOTR soundtrack fans out there? Or am I a pitiable person who should shun daylight and nice people?

Also: I bought each and all of them about three weeks before the move came out, and listened to them repeatly. I have to say, it greatly increases your movie experience when you recognize the music - everything becomes much more emotional and moving, you respond more. This happened by accident once, when I saw Power of One after listening to the soundtrack a lot, and so I did this quite intentionally for LOTR. Did anyone ever try that?

[drew]

I heard an interview with Howard Stone, who also did Philadelphia, and Saturday Night Live--when approached to do the soundtrack, he said that he wrote music for the books, rather than the movie.

[Worm of Despite]

I bought the FOTR soundtrack before the movie came out, because I was nuts to have any slice of the movie I could get my hands on. Don't know what happened to that CD, anymore. I think I like the ROTK soundtrack best, anyway.

Only soundtrack I currently own is the Blade Runner soundtrack. Vangelis owns me!

[Alynna Lis Eachann]

I'm a big fan of the LOTR soundtracks, but there's one bit in the TT soundtrack that really makes me mad - or rather, a bit that isn't in the TT soundtrack: When the elves enter Helm's Deep, there's a variation of the later battle music that sounds a lot like something from Lothlorien. It's in the movie, but not on the soundtrack, and I am very dissapointed by that. Would the extra 30 seconds have killed them? I mean, really?

TTT is my favorite cd of the three, though, probably because the movie was my favorite, too.

[wayfriend]

Yay for fellow fans!

Alynna, yes, the soundtrack is not identical to the movie. It's much shorter, of course, so much was cut. In the TT and ROTK the tracks are not even in the right order - one thing that makes it hard, as I mentioned above, to correlate the soundtrack and the move while you listen.

You'd be pleased to note that a 3 CD per movie version of the soundtrack is coming out! Hopefully it will add all the missing bits and put them in order to boot. FOTR has been released already.

» The Complete Recordings review on Soundtrack.Net

I link the above article because it describes what was added in this version of the soundtrack.

[Alynna Lis Eachann]

Wow, that sounds awesome. I think I'd definitely shell out the money for TTT if they added that elven music bit. Heh, how sad is that? Paying an extra $44 for 30 seconds of music?

[matrixman]

I loved the music for Fellowship, but I felt cheated by the single CD soundtrack release. If I want to hear the marvelous score, I just play the movie now. I'm glad to hear that the full score has been released on a 3CD package, but the price scares me away. Well, I hope you guys enjoy it, anyway.

Unfortunately, TTT and ROTK -- as movies -- left me cold, so I subsequently didn't pay much attention to their music scores. The more I like a movie, the more its music has an impact on me.

Wayfriend, your post reminds me of my own obssession with movie soundtracks back in the early '80s, particulary the scores of John Williams. I would re-live The Empire Strikes Back through the double LP soundtrack, savoring all the film's great themes and following the drama of the music as I correlated each track with its accompanying scene in the movie. Ah, what a blissfully fun time that was for me.

[Zarathustra]

I love the LOTR soundtracks! I, too, bought them before the movies came out, and I agree that this added a whole new dimension to the viewing experience. It was definitely a unique experience to hear a soundtrack you know when seeing a movie that you've never viewed before. A strange mix of the familiar and unfamiliar. It made both the movie and the music that much more powerful. And it was nice to see the visuals the music was supposed to compliment.

The new soundtracks are much more than unabridged versions. They are Super Audio CD mixes of the complete soundtrack. This means that they will be both high resolution and surround sound. I don't know if any of you have dabbled in high rez music, but believe me, it makes a tremendous difference--analogous to HDTV vs standard definition TV. But you will have to have a SACD compatible player to hear the full resolution of the music. I can't wait to get my hands on this release!

[wayfriend]

This is apparently going to be quite a popular show. I've seen the score performed live (sans movie and, alas, sans Shore), and I would definitely be in line to see this if I could.

And if anyone hasn't heard, there's a "Rarities" CD coming out, along with a book about the Score, and it's release is somehow tied to this performance. "Rarities" being pieces performed which didn't make it into the movie (and hence didn't make it into the Complete Recordings). [link] That, at least, I can obtain!

[High Lord Tolkien]

[shaking my head at the pic of the perpetually constipated Frodo]

I haven't listen to much of the LotR soundtrack yet.

Although from what I've heard if you all like it you might also enjoy the Princess Bride (Mark Knopfler has other stuff as well that's fantastic) and the Pirates of the Caribbean soundtracks.

[wayfriend]

The complete recordings has some very beautiful passages that aren't in the earlier soundtrack.

For example, the first 1:20 of this clip was a gem to discover. (Sorry, could not find a music-only link, you have to concentrate on the score I'm afraid.)

Or in this clip, from 0:40 to 0:60.

[Zarathustra]

I got the complete recordings of Fellowship, but I still haven't purchased the other two. The Super Audio version is all on one disc--and it's as beautiful as I was hoping.

I love the little booklet, too. It has *very* detailed explanation of how all the leitmotifs relate to each other. I had no idea how complex this composition was. Not for the casual fan, for sure.

I love to listen to this music while writing. It definitely puts me in a fantasy frame of mind. The only problem is that it's now so familiar to me, that I associate each second of music to its visual counterpart.

I wish I could go back in time and listen to these like I did when they first came out: completely blind, with only vague guesses of how the music would portray the story. I remember, specifically, the thrill when I realized the exact Lothlorien music that portrayed the massive trees of that forest (deep, slowly rising horn notes). I could *hear* towering trees, and then realized I had guessed correctly once the film came out.

One of my favorite bits is the music when Gandalf goes all scary says, "Bilbo Baggins! I'm not trying to rob you! I'm trying to help you." And then the music goes gentle and and he asks Bilbo to trust him, as he once did. To let it go. And Bilbo responds, "You're right. The ring must go to Frodo. And then it switches to The Road Goes Ever On music. Classic.

[wayfriend]

I know you're heavily into good sound systems, so you're enjoying an aspect of the Complete Recordings that I have not yet had the opportunity to behold.

I enjoy them for the passages not available in the earlier soundtrack.

For example, you get to here the future Gondor theme in The Great Eye +0:00.

And what people suspect will be the future Hobbit Movie theme, planted like an easter egg by Shore, in Very Old Friends +1:11, where Gandalf gazes at Bilbo's map of the Lonely mountain.)

(I suspect another theme from the Hobbit movie appears at Balins tomb: Balin's Tomb +1:20).

My only regret is that one of my favorite passages, the opening to Flight to the Ford in the soundtrack, was futzed with as it appears in the opening of Give Up the Halfling in the CR. I much prefer the original soundtrack version there.

So anyway ... you'll find the other two CRs pleasing in exactly the same way - the Dolby sound, and the extra passages, of which some are worth having and some are mere filler music.

Some memorable additions are Eowyn singing the dirge for her brother, Merry and Pippin's song in Edoras, Liv Tyler's song in the Houses of Healing, etc.

[Zarathustra]

I know you're heavily into good sound systems, so you're enjoying an aspect of the Complete Recordings that I have not yet had the opportunity to behold.

I'm into them, but I don't really have one. The difference in resolution is evident even on my cheap speakers. I've got less than $1000 invested in my whole system (not counting the TV), cobbled together over nearly a decade. Doesn't hurt that my sub and mains were given to me. Everything else, besides the Blu-ray player, were purchased used online, or as an open-box special at Best Buy. I say this to make it clear that I'm by no means bragging when I mention these aspects of recordings, but merely to express my enthusiasm for lovingly rendered art in its purest form.

I enjoy them for the passages not available in the earlier soundtrack.

Absolutely. I love the rustic party music--which, if I'm not mistaken, is even longer than film version.

For example, you get to here the future Gondor theme in The Great Eye +0:00.

That's a great example. And it shows how far ahead Shore was planning.

And what people suspect will be the future Hobbit Movie theme, planted like an easter egg by Shore, in Very Old Friends +1:11, where Gandalf gazes at Bilbo's map of the Lonely mountain.)

I've got to check that out! I bet you're right.

[wayfriend]

If anyone is interested in the LOTR soundtrack, as I am, then you may quite enjoy a little thing coming out this fall.

It's a book called "The Music of the Lord of the Rings Films". It includes a CD of "rarities", which are pieces that didn't make it into the film, alternate versions of some passages, etc.

I've been anticipating this oft-delayed project for quite some time.

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[Relayer]

Nice, thanks for the update. I do like classical, although it's very rare that I listen to it. But I love the LOTR soundtracks and they always manage to get voted onto staying on my ipod.

I'll have to check this out.

[wayfriend]

It seems the book about the soundtrack is going to be very good.

ScoreKeeper Has Been Seduced by the New "The Music of THE LORD OF THE RINGS Films" Book by Doug Adams!

[hue of fuzzpaws]

I hadn't realised that there had been various releases of the music of LOTR until I read this post