Film Score Friday: ‘The Lord of the Rings Symphony’ by Howard Shore by Jonathan Weilbaecher, Sep 16 2011

There are a few quintessential film scores in every generation. Amongst the first of the new century is the music from The Fellowship of the Ring, Howard Shore’s epic, sweeping and moving first score in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. At the end of the day, all three scores work together to tell the single story of the Lord of the Rings, weaving in and out of complex themes and structures more like an opera than a traditional film score.  

This epic master work has recently found new life with the release of The Lord of the Rings Symphony, a six movement piece that spans the entire trilogy. The music is structured into two movements per movie, emulating the two books in each volume of the trilogy. Each movie getting between twenty and forty minutes of their best musical moments, woven together like a single cohesive musical experience. 

So the first question on my mind as I hear about this release is how it sounds. Many times when there is a re-recording of a release, it doesn’t have that certain spark of the original recording, the music is all there, but it is just not quite the same. Thankfully, for this release the music is almost perfection, and several cases I even prefer the new recorded cues to the originals I have listened to for years.  

So yes, the music translates wonderfully to this new arrangement, and the heavy inclusion of choirs and vocalists is a big reason for it. The film’s music had the luxury of finding the most talented singers and musicians for the original recordings, and the people who played and sang on this release stands toe to toe with them. Even the end credits songs, which each have iconic and different singular sounds are covered with skill. I can easily see my self lightening to this album when I want a quick Lord of the Rings fix, it is that good.  

Normally I do my three favorite tracks, and my least favorite. With only six tracks on this release and none worth pointing out as a worst, I am instead going to just go over each movement: 

Movement One - The beginning, the mood setter, and the track with the most heavy lifting to do. One of, if not the, most iconic themes of the trilogy is that of the Hobbits. In the movies this theme is introduced very quickly as Bilbo explains Hobbits to the audience. When you start movement one, you are not yet sure how good the whole thing will sound. The music from the prologue is presented well, but it isn’t until the Hobbit music that you realize that you are in good hands. The best part is that it isn’t just a carbon copy, this version even has some of it’s own texture, which really brings it to life in this setting.  

Movement Two - This is the longest single movement from the album, and it is almost entirely brilliant. It starts with the elves and the etherial sounds of Rivendell, moves triumphantly to the Fellowship theme, and continues to wow as the second half of the first film is played out beautifully. There are two moments in this movement I want to focus on, the first being the single best version of the Fellowship theme I have ever heard.  

It is big, heroic and never fails to give me goosebumps. The second moment is a smaller moment that never stood out to me before on any soundtrack release. When the fellowship passes by the Argonath, statues honoring the kings of old, the music is just stunning. I know I picked up on it in the movies, but never on a soundtrack release, until now.  

Movement Three - Moving on to the second film now, movement three has some more amazing music. When you first hear the theme for the people of Rohan I almost lose it every time. The way it builds from the pieces of the fellowship theme, and a great version of the orcs music is just perfect. In context of the symphony I think it actually plays better, in fact I think it sounds better too. This movement also has some really great Isengard themes as well, really selling the point that this moment in the symphony represents the lowest, most hopeless point in the journey.  

Movement Four – This music represents the turning of the tide, when hope rode back into story. It begins with the elves marching to be at the side of man one last time and then transitions into my favorite moment in the entire symphony. The music that accompanies Theoden’s ride out to the Uruk-hi and Gandalf’s epic return is easily the most moving music Shore has ever written.  

Again it is the context of what music plays around this cue that elevates it even more. Also of note in this movement is a wonderful version of Gollum’s Song, the original version has much more of a nordic vide to it, and this version is sung a little more traditionally. I think this actually improves the song.  

Movement Five - We have finally come to music from the last of the films. There is a lot going on in this movie, and on the soundtrack the score does kind of jump around a bit. More so than either of the other two films, and the rearrangement of the music into this symphonic package really brings out the best of it. My favorite moment in this movement is the music for the lighting of the beacons, a thrilling, if a little hooky, moment from the movies that plays beautifully in this movement. Also a tiny moment from Faramir’s ride to Osgiliath is buried in here and is a perfect counter to all of the battle music that populates the rest of the track. 

Movement Six - The film might have twenty five endings, but the music for the last portion of The Return of the King is so good that I would have sat through twenty five more. The movement starts with the music from the final confrontation of good vs. evil. Frodo and Sam are on mount doom, Aragorn is leading the men of the west to the gates of Mordor, basically sh*t is about to go down. Seamlessly the music lays of the final battle, hitting on most of the iconic musical moments for the perfect amount of time.  

From this epic finale it then plays off with almost the entire music from the prolonged end of the trilogy, even the song Aragorn sings at his coronation is here. It is beautiful, every note, all the way to the very end with a version of Into the West and a wonderful cue that lives at the very end of the credits, fittingly closing the book on one of the greatest musical achievements in modern history.  

So yeah, I loved this symphony. It is perfect, amazing, beautiful, or just about any adjective you can use to describe something great. Even if you own the original soundtracks and the complete recordings (as I do) you will want to make sure to pick this up.  

Final Score The Lord of the Rigs Symphony: 5 out of 5