Lord of the Rings score

[cutshaw]

I don't know if many of you have had the great pleasure of hearing Howard Shore's score to LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING, but it is a masterful work and everything I hoped it would be. As someone with a serious interest in film music (I review soundtracks for Film Music on the Web (UK)) I think this is a tremendously powerful and evocative score and would wholeheartedly recommend it to you. More importantly though is the simple fact that it will go a very long way to enhancing both the visuals and the performances, not least of Mr. Lee himself. Three cheers for Howard Shore!

[John Farrell]

I'll look for it. What else has Shore scored? Is it a full orchestra score (I hope)? I read on lotr.net that Enya has a song in the film somewhere as well. She's okay, but mostly synthesized. I hope the film's incidental music is more elabortate than that...

[saruman12]

here is a list of his other scores :

Spider (2002)
Panic Room, The (2002)
Score, The (2001)
Camera (2000/I)
Cell, The (2000)
Esther Kahn (2000)
... aka eSTheR KaHN (2000) (France: poster title)
Yards, The (2000)
High Fidelity (2000)
Dogma (1999)
Analyze This (1999)
eXistenZ (1999)
... aka eXistenZ (1999) (France)
Gloria (1999)
Game, The (1997)
Cop Land (1997)
That Thing You Do! (1996)
Looking for Richard (1996)
Striptease (1996)
Crash (1996)
... aka Crash (1996) (France)
Truth About Cats & Dogs, The (1996)
Before and After (1996)
White Man's Burden (1995)
Moonlight and Valentino (1995)
Se7en (1995)
Client, The (1994)
Nobody's Fool (1994)
Ed Wood (1994)
Philadelphia (1993)
Mrs. Doubtfire (1993)
"Late Night with Conan O'Brien" (1993) TV Series (main title theme)
M. Butterfly (1993)
Guilty as Sin (1993)
Sliver (1993)
... aka Sliver - Gier der Augen (1993)
Prelude to a Kiss (1992)
Single White Female (1992)
Naked Lunch (1991)
Kiss Before Dying, A (1991)
Silence of the Lambs, The (1991)
"Scales of Justice" (1990) TV Series (episodes "Regina vs Logan (1990)", "Regina vs Horvath (1990)")
Made in Milan (1990)
Lemon Sisters, The (1990)
Local Stigmatic, The (1989)
Signs of Life (1989)
... aka One for Sorrow, Two for Joy (1989)
She-Devil (1989)
Innocent Man, An (1989)
Moving (1988)
Dead Ringers (1988)
Big (1988)
Heaven (1987)
Nadine (1987)
Fire with Fire (1986)
... aka Captive Hearts (1986)
Fly, The (1986)
After Hours (1985)
Nothing Lasts Forever (1984)
Videodrome (1983)
Scanners (1981)
... aka Telepathy 2000 (1981)
Brood, The (1979)
... aka Clinique de la terreur, La (1979) (Canada: French title)
I Miss You, Hugs and Kisses (1978)
... aka Drop Dead, Dearest (1978) (UK)
... aka Left for Dead (1978)

[cutshaw]

Have no fear, the score is a major orchestral work with a strong choral element (lots of it in fact!) and the Enya pieces are relatively subtle and in keeping with the tone of the work. I think everyone will be very happy with Mr. Shore's contribution!

[John Farrell]

Well, I got it on Saturday night and have listened to it three times. Now, it may be because I'm spoiled on other composers like Michael Kamen (Adventures of Baron Munchausen), Danny Elfman (Batman), Ennio Morricone (Good the Bad and the Ugly and the Untouchables), Jerry Goldsmith (Patton, The Omen), Georges Delerue (Man for All Seasons), Miklos Roza (Golden Voyage of Sinbad, Eye of the Needle), Ron Grainer (Where Eagles Dare), the incomparable James Bernard, and even going back to Dimitri Tiomkin (Guns of Navarone) and Max Steiner (Gone with the Wind) and Eric Wolfgang Korngold (Adventures of Robin Hood)---but I found the LOTR to be a bit of a let down. There's really only one main theme. I was expecting individual themes for several of the characters--certainly for Frodo and Gandalf and Gollum--being woven together throughout the incidental pieces, as is often done.

For that reason, much as I liked the orchestration and some of the chorus (although they got to be a bit too Wagnerish for me), the music became quickly predictable for me, just after listening to the CD 3 times.

Don't get me wrong. It's nice music. But it didn't really blow me away. (Of course, it's much better than the Leonard Rosenman score for the 1979 Ralph Bakshi version!)

Best,

John F

[Grace]

I bought the LOTR cd last week and it's great music in my opinion I would say 16 cheers for Howard Shore and I hope he wins the Oscar for best score even Enya's May it Be is a great song like all the other songs on the Soundtrack .

Best Regards

Amy Maloney

[Domenick Fraumeni]

if anyone is still wondering how good the score is, go to the official site, where you can listen to the whole score via a live stream. Or, if you have Winamp, a free audio player, there is a LOTR "skin" for it that allows you to listen to about 3/4ths of the selections on the album. Good way to determine, if you ask me.



http://www.lordoftherings.net

http://www.winamp.com