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Music from The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
U.S. Cover

U.K. Cover


Performed by:
The City of Prague Philharmonic

Crouch End Festival Courus
Album Produced by:
James Fitzpatrick


Label:
Silva Screen Records
Release Date:
July 13th, 2004


Also See:

The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring


The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers


The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King


Audio Clips:

CD1: 1. The Fellowship (0:32), 156K prague_lord1.ra

CD1: 10. Gollum's Song (0:33), 165K prague_lord10.ra

CD2: 2. The White Tree (0:29), 146K prague_lord2.ra

CD2: 9. Into the West (Vocal Version) (0:31), 159K prague_lord9.ra



Availability:

  Regular U.S. release.


Awards:

  The original scores won several Academy Awards.










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Music from The Lord of the Rings Trilogy

Audio | Availability | Viewer Ratings | Tracks | Viewer Comments | Notes & Quotes
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Filmtracks Recommends:

Buy it... if you wish to hear a professional and distinguished ensemble perform excerpts from Howard Shore's trilogy better than, perhaps, any other ensemble.

Avoid it... if the originals, and only the originals, of this classic music will suffice for you.



Filmtracks Editorial Review:

Shore
Music from The Lord of the Rings Trilogy: (Compilation) It was only a matter of time before Howard Shore's three magnificent The Lord of the Rings scores would be re-interpreted by conductors, re-recorded by ensembles, and re-released on labels other than the original. In the case of Silva and The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, the opportunity came quickly after the release of The Return of the King at the end of 2003. The ensemble/label collaboration has yielded a significant wealth of film music re-recordings over the years, with some hit-and-miss recordings in the early 1990's maturing into some outstanding efforts in the late 1990's and early 2000's. With much of the most famous film music already recorded by the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra and the Crouch End Festival Chorus, it is not often that a project involving as much soundtrack re-recording as this one is undertaken by that group these days. Silva producer James Fitzpatrick was already prepared with arrangements of Shore's trilogy of music just a month after The Return of the King opened in theatres, allowing Silva the opportunity to take advantage of the scores at their continued height in 2004. The truly daunting task for anyone attempting to assemble suites of music from Shore's trilogy is the massive quantity of quality cues to select from. Certainly, as anyone who as been enticed by Shore's score knows, the three scores contain enough enchanting material to fill out at least two full albums. For the purposes of Silva's The Lord of the Rings recordings, Fitzpatrick narrowed the recordings down to 90 minutes and provided the orchestral mixes of the songs without their vocals (and sometimes with a featured solo instrument) as an extra bonus.

All of the cues except "The Fellowship" from the first score and "Gollum's Song" from the second featured a deviation from the classical arrangement of the orchestra, spreading the violins out between the two sides of the orchestra for additional depth in the recording. Shore's music is, of course, very layered and thick, so this arrangement, along with the usual wet (natural echoing) atmospheric mixing of all of Prague's recordings causes Shore's compositions to rattle the walls with the powerful ambience they demand. The ensemble for this set would include 87 orchestral musicians, 100 voices in the choir, and several male and female vocalists. The selection of cues is strong throughout, with no notable omissions, although some liberty has been taken with the edits and arrangements of the cues. So if you've got the cue sheets for the trilogy memorized, you might encounter two or three changes in direction to allow Prague the opportunity to round out the album a bit better. Perhaps the only substantial weakness of the 2-CD set is the short representation of The Two Towers, which is arguably the best original composition of the three. From Fellowship of the Ring, "The Fellowship" takes the finale cue and edits it down into a very strong suite. Other cues from the first score mostly represent the opening sections of the film, but remain intact. From The Two Towers, the major themes are accompanied by the two battle highlights from the end of the film. From The Return of the King, the two cues of the "Minas Tirith"/Gondor theme are followed by "Twilight and Shadow" and one battle cue before tackling the lengthy finale sequence. That final score cue from The Return of the King (featuring an outstanding baritone voice for the king's brief vocals) is cut short, however, and its end includes an abbreviated performance of "The Fellowship" from the opening track on the first album. Worthy of a reprise, Prague handles the "Breaking of the Fellowship" cue well, particularly in the motivating, drum-backed string performance of that theme.

The songs are perhaps the most fascinating aspect of the set, with instrumental versions of all three accompanying their appropriate sections of the album. In the case of "Gollum's Song," the track seems to be simply the instrumental backing of the vocal version (minus the vocals), with the rotation of solo duties beginning with (and returning to) a tragic violin and featuring a beefy performance by brass in the middle section. A flute replaces the voice in the first rendition of "May it Be" and a very elegant cello serves as the soloist in "Into the West." On the vocal side, Tara Scammell's performance of "May It Be" is remarkably Enya-like, perhaps due to the overlay of the voice several times in mixing (a normal Enya technique). Helen Hobson's performance of "Gollum's Song" is impressive given the difficulty of merging the dialogue and singing in that piece, and her performance of "Into the West" gives us the opportunity to hear someone less harsh than Annie Lennox provide a fairy-tale ending (though Hobson does border on getting carried away with herself in her "popified" twists of note). Overall, you have to applaud all of the efforts that went into this album, because in order to attain the same depth of Shore's original compositions, the orchestra, choir, vocal solos, and extensive flute solos had to all be recorded separately over two months and carefully edited to the same end as the originals. For any fan of Shore's The Lord of the Rings albums --even if you're one of those sorts itching for the release of expanded albums of the scores-- this Silva/City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra is a very entertaining listen. With attention to precision that is rarely heard in re-recordings these days, this set even eclipses Silva's own previous recordings of famous trilogies. Don't expect recordings identical to the originals, but ones certainly worthy of your attention. ****

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   Viewer Ratings and Comments:



   Track Listings:
Total Time: 102:10

    CD1: (54:09)

    The Fellowship of the Ring:
    • 1. The Fellowship (5:52)
    • 2. The Prophecy (5:01)
    • 3. Concerning Hobbits (2:44)
    • 4. The Shadow of the Past/A Knife in the Dark (7:26)
    • 5. The Bridge of Khazad Dum (5:57)
    • 6. May It Be (5:19)

    The Two Towers:
    • 7. The Riders of Rohan (3:52)
    • 8. Evenstar (3:38)
    • 9. Forth Eorlungas/Isengard Unleashed (8:30)
    • 10. Gollum's Song (5:47)


    CD2: (48:01)

    The Return of the King:
    • 1. Hope and Memory/Minas Tirith (2:38)
    • 2. The White Tree (3:47)
    • 3. Twilight and Shadow (3:53)
    • 4. The Fields of Pelennor (3:11)
    • 5. The Return of the King/Finale (16:16)
    • 6. Into the West (4:39)

    Bonus Tracks:
    • 7. Gollum's Song (Vocal Version) - performed by Helen Hobson (4:05)
    • 8. May It Be (Vocal Version) - performed by Tara Scammell (4:46)
    • 9. Into the West (Vocal Version) - performed by Helen Hobson (4:40)




   Notes and Quotes:

    The insert includes extensive information about the films and a note from the album producer about the recording.







All artwork and sound clips from Music from The Lord of the Rings Trilogy are Copyright © 2004, Silva Screen Records. The reviews and notes contained on the filmtracks.com site may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Filmtracks Publications. Audio clips can be heard using RealPlayer but cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 9/17/04, updated 9/18/04. Review Version 4.2 - PHP (Filmtracks Publications). Copyright © 2004-2008, Christian Clemmensen. All rights reserved.