 |
| Shore |
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug: (Howard Shore)
The adventures from Middle Earth march forward into their fifth
installment from Peter Jackson, 2013's
The Hobbit: The Desolation of
Smaug the middle chapter of an elongated adaptation of J. R. R.
Tolkien's 1937 novel "The Hobbit." Much criticism has been aimed at
the film from concept loyalists who cannot see the justification in the
expanding of the plotline, sometimes quite awkwardly, to fill three
feature films. Pacing issues seem to be the primary concern regarding
these movies, at times dragging while during others moving at too
frenzied a speed. Added characters and action sequences may seem
unnecessary, but for the purposes of tying in to Jackson's
The Lord
of the Rings trilogy, they are understandable from the viewpoint of
the entertainment industry. In
The Desolation of Smaug, the
company of thirteen dwarves and a hobbit continue in their aim to
retrieve the mystical Arkenstone from the lair of Smaug, the last dragon
of the Earth, while the wizard, Gandalf, investigates the uprising of
evil forces that would establish the confrontation in
The Lord of the
Rings. Meanwhile, the hobbit, Bilbo, continues to discover the power
of the ring he possesses while on his fantastic journey, this time
leading him through several new exciting locations. Not surprisingly, a
catchy cliffhanger of an ending is befitting this entry, which features
really no resolute opening or closing in and of itself. The reception to
these
Hobbit films has not been as spectacular as that received
by those
The Lord of the Rings classics from the early 2000's,
however, and such qualms extend to the music for the franchise. One of
the benefits of having three films dedicated to "The Hobbit" is the
consequent amount of output required from concept veteran Howard Shore,
whose music for Middle Earth represents some of the best material
written for the big screen in the digital era. While the score for
2012's
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey was a return to very
familiar territory, both in the recording elements and the ultimate
product on the screen,
The Desolation of Smaug represents a shift
in strategy. In its creation process, this project differed from its
predecessors in that it was recorded in New Zealand (where
early-produced parts of
The Fellowship of the Ring were recorded)
rather than in London, though the choral portions of the mix remained in
the latter city. Also, Shore turned over orchestrating and conducting
duties to frequent John Williams collaborator Conrad Pope, perhaps due
to the stress of the production process at his age.
There are a number of different ways one could look at the
music for
The Desolation of Smaug. There's always the perspective
that results when placing the combined mass of the music for
The
Hobbit against the equivalent for
The Lord of the Rings, and,
in such a case, the earlier trilogy is simply superior. Shore has,
through the first two entries in
The Hobbit, been unable to match
his prior music in its lyrical accessibility and epic grandeur, despite
utilizing all the same basic ingredients. Then, of course, you could
compare
The Desolation of Smaug to
An Unexpected Journey,
which would be somewhat unfair given that Shore's score for the prior
entry was absolutely butchered by the filmmakers in the process of
placing it to the film. Fortunately, Shore's music for
The Desolation
of Smaug doesn't suffer from the same issues, a handful of cues
dialed out but none outright replaced to yield awkward results. The
familiarity that brought solace to some listeners in
An Unexpected
Journey is largely gone from
The Desolation of Smaug, which
Shore uses as a true transitional work to guide the listener to the
payoff in
There and Back Again in 2014. There is a more tightly
tuned organization to
The Desolation of Smaug that will please
listeners ready for the intellectual challenge of examining all of
Shore's thematic and instrumental evolution for the concept. It is, in
short, a more intelligent work of art. It also is, on the downside, a
less memorable one for listeners in search of that payoff up front, that
aforementioned lyrical accessibility that made the prior trilogy's music
so overwhelmingly engaging. Of course, one final way to evaluate
The
Desolation of Smaug is to combine it with all of the Shore's
predecessors for Middle Earth and remember the clear fact that this
music is more sophisticated than damn near anything else being produced
from the major studios in this era, so quibbling over the details of a
particular theme's elimination here or there is a bit pointless. This
final perspective reminds of Williams' forays back into the
Star
Wars universe in the early 2000's, the prequel scores not the
classics that were the originals but still very well written and
enjoyable works that placed highly amongst the top scores each of their
respective years. When you listen to
The Desolation of Smaug, you
have to remember this perspective. It's a difficult score to grasp, in
many ways, and most listeners won't appreciate it as often as those that
came before. But it is an excellent composition that is, rather than
better or worse than
An Unexpected Journey, simply
different.
One of the subtle changes that listeners will notice in
The Desolation of Smaug is its ambient sound quality. Diminished
in this entry is some of the larger-than-life reverberation that graced
the prior four scores, this one a little more confined despite being
recorded in a supposedly more open space. Some of the feeling of
grandiose fantasy that resulted from the older scores is thus reduced
here. The quality of the orchestrations is no less impressive, however,
Pope stepping in well for Shore in this task. The use of gamelan gongs
and other percussion elements is really well-conceived for the dragon,
offering an Eastern sound (and thankfully not a Celtic one!) that is
refreshing to hear in this franchise. As the cimbalom gave
The Two
Towers and Gollum a unique atmosphere, so do the chimes and gongs in
for the villain in
The Desolation of Smaug. The role for voices
is not as dominant in these scores for
The Hobbit, the number of
ensemble and solo applications not as prevalent. Perhaps not
surprisingly, though, Shore's highlights for
The Desolation of
Smaug involve the soothing Tauriel-related tones that do return to
the harmonic bliss resulting from such singing. Another point of
contention some may have with this score is its relatively infrequent
bursts into outright action of an accessible form, most of the full
ensemble performances in the score steering towards the dissonant,
suspenseful end of the spectrum. When you look back at the momentous
action cues of the last "middle child" of a Middle Earth trilogy, you
can't help but admire what Shore accomplished in
The Two Towers.
There are only two or three truly accessible action cues in
The
Desolation of Smaug, and without an excess of the cooing or
otherwise orchestrally pleasant character themes in this work, one is
left with a long series of cues dedicated to the maintenance of gravity.
The new character identities, including those simply hinted at in
An
Unexpected Journey, are intriguing and very well executed, but not
particularly enjoyable as rendered. Shore seems to have handled this
film as each scene required, not really utilizing any themes or devices
(outside of the two main themes for Smaug) to carry the entire score's
narrative forward. There is no distinct beginning and end to this
score's flow, in other words, leaving the listener grasping at
individual moments of interest along the way. The composer compensates
for this meandering spirit by maintaining excellent continuity in the
themes he chooses to reprise, develop, or introduce, nary a moment
passing by in the work without a phrase from something in progress. In
some regards, the sheer complication of the painted canvass has become
the highlight in and of itself.
Shore utilizes his orchestral ensemble with the same
general style as before in the franchise (though dropping the slammed
metallic elements as necessary), woodwind solos and muscular deep brass
often times the lead attraction. His choice of rhythms is also
remarkably consistent, the Rohan theme's underlying movement, for
instance, informing multiple identities in this work. Because of this
similarity of sound, listeners will try to latch on to the themes and
their development, and in
The Desolation of Smaug, that's where
the picture gets really muddy. Endless arguments can be made about the
purposes of the various themes conjured by Shore (and others) for these
films, and there is evolutionary overlap between many of them that allow
a single idea to serve multiple purposes. Complicating matters is the
continued insistence by Jackson that there be a pop-artist contributor
to the score, last time Plan 9 offering a major theme that became the
basis for the song. In
The Desolation of Smaug, the Ed Sheeran
song returns to the procedural choices made in
The Fellowship of the
Ring, the song's melody not informing the score just as Enya's
contribution remained structurally separate. The franchise has reached
the point where you have to examine the non-original themes by placing
them in one of four different categories: those from
The Lord of the
Rings that have returned in both
Hobbit scores, those from
The Lord of the Rings that returned in
An Unexpected
Journey but are now absent in
The Desolation of Smaug, those
that debuted in
An Unexpected Journey that continue in its
sequel, and those that debuted in
An Unexpected Journey that are
absent from
The Desolation of Smaug. Most of the fuss regarding
this score seems to involve that last group of themes, because Shore's
arguably three best remembered or prettiest identities from
An
Unexpected Journey are nearly gone from its successor. Another thing
to contend with in
The Desolation of Smaug is the evolving nature
of the themes of evil in the franchise, a handful of ideas maturing in
ways that are combining their various facets into the themes of evil
that were heard in
The Lord of the Rings. Since so much of the
secondary storyline in
The Desolation of Smaug is related to the
rise of the forces of Sauron, expect for there to be significant time
dedicated to that development. Most importantly, however, no matter how
you look at this franchise's music, one definite area ripe for debate in
regards to
The Desolation of Smaug is Shore's seeming inability
to give it any overarching primary theme (or set of a couple of themes)
whatsoever, a trait that might carry over to all three
Hobbit
scores as a whole.
What follows in this review of
The Desolation of
Smaug is a survey of the four types of thematic choices described
above (as well as all-new themes), beginning with themes from
The
Lord of the Rings that have returned in both
Hobbit scores.
Perhaps the identities that glue all of these six films together the
best are those for the "one" ring and the hobbits, but even these
ideas are only sparsely included in
The Desolation of Smaug. The
primary Shire theme makes an appearance at 0:49 into "The Quest for
Erebor" and at start of "The Courage of Hobbits," neither of which
lengthy. Two performances are also allowed for the "history of the
ring" theme, first in its familiar solo violin form at 6:44 into
"Flies and Spiders" and then on high strings at 2:20 in "Feast of
Starlight." Two different identities for Sauron are referenced quite
frequently, not surprisingly, the first for Sauron himself at 1:28 into
"A Necromancer" (albeit somewhat tweaked) and then at 3:50 into "The
House of Beorn" and at 2:35 into "A Spell of Concealment." A separate
theme for the Necromancer evolves toward Sauron's direction, its initial
descending four-note phrases one of this score's most memorable thematic
applications. Heard twice in "A Necromancer" (0:54, 2:08), the idea
continues twice again in "The House of Beorn" before actively
participating throughout "A Spell of Concealment," "A Liar and a
Thief," "The Hunters," and "Smaug." The only other themes from the
previous franchise to survive here are minor: a very brief but obvious
nod to the Bree theme at 1:04 into "The Quest for Erebor," the
pulsating bass pairs forming the "doom" motif in "The Nature of
Evil," and secondary elf motifs in "Kingsfoil" and "The Hunters"
(the latter seemingly for Legolas' odd presence in this film). The
majority of the themes from
The Lord of the Rings that were heard
in
An Unexpected Journey have been discarded in
The Desolation
of Smaug, bad news for listeners who sought comfort in them during
that previous score but a pleasant surprise for those who desire new
musical frontiers in Middle Earth. The ideas no longer heard in this
score are all the secondary Shire themes, the pair of Gollum themes, and
those for Lothlorien, Rivendell, Isengard, and Nature's Reclamation. On
the other hand, there was a plethora of new material introduced in
An
Unexpected Journey that does carry over to
The Desolation of
Smaug, the irony being that they are the less memorable of the
themes Shore provided to that film. The diminishment of the musical
presence for Bilbo is perhaps the most interesting change in direction
for this series, his themes largely marginalized despite his continued
position in the plot (and title of the film), an odd choice by Shore
given the hobbits' thematic consistency in the prior trilogy.
The most beautiful new idea in
An Unexpected
Journey was the pensive, pastoral theme for Bilbo himself, and this
idea is unfortunately only hinted during an 8-second interlude at 2:44
into "Thrice Welcome." His adventure theme and "fussy" theme are
heard back to back at the start of "Barrels Out of Bond" and the
latter continues for an extended performance at 3:00 into "Thrice
Welcome." Enthusiasts of the theme for Gandalf the Grey will hear it
reprised at 2:30 into "The Quest for Erebor" and hidden in the middle
of "A Spell of Concealment." The Erebor theme (the melody, not the
idea heard in the "Erebor" bonus track on the previous score's
expanded album; more on that later) is utilized throughout the score,
especially the rising brass pairs. It is best defined in "Durin's
Folk" and "On the Doorstep." The compellingly hopeful Thorin theme
mingles with the Erebor theme throughout those two cues as well, both
included in six or seven cues in sum. A secondary theme for Thorin is
sparingly used in either score, but it is best heard in "The Woodland
Realm" here. The mystical Arkenstone idea makes four appearances in the
score, naturally concentrated in latter half of the story during scenes
involving Smaug. The dragon himself has two main themes, both previewed
in the prior score and used extensively in
The Desolation of
Smaug. The primary theme is a two-phrase, six note descending motif
of huge menace, sparingly used in first half of this score before its
major presence begins in "Inside Information." It is a constant force
from "A Liar and a Thief" to "My Armor is Iron" at the end. The
secondary Smaug theme is a more mysterious, insidious fantasy identity,
with a beautiful choral end of "My Armor is Iron" giving it an
ascendance duty. This theme matches the usage of the primary one for
Smaug in almost every cue (minus "The Hunters"). The theme for Azog
returns as well, but it is not as prevalent this time; it accompanies
the Necromancer motif in a few cues but little more. Other minor
returning themes include those for the Mirkwood Spiders, Warg Riders,
High Fells, and a creepy but entertaining nighttime motif. Most of the
controversy surrounding
The Desolation of Smaug involves
An
Unexpected Journey themes that are simply gone, often with no
explanation. Most obvious is the dwarves' Misty Mountains theme, perhaps
a casualty of its originals outside of Howard's tapestry of ideas. While
the location of that theme had passed, its usage as a bonding agent for
the dwarves might leave some listeners confused. In fact, every theme
for the company of dwarves is now gone, including the outstanding
adventure theme summarized in the aforementioned bonus track "Erebor"
from the previous score. Also gone are the original Mirkwood theme (the
downbeat version), Radagast's identity (senselessly), and other
story-specific ideas such as those for the goblins.
While some listeners will be highly disappointed in the
lack of the dwarf and Radagast themes continuing in
The Desolation of
Smaug (not to mention the odd diminishment of the majority of
Bilbo's character material), others may be impressed by Shore's new
material for the sequel. Two themes not technically new but only
previewed briefly in
An Unexpected Journey are those now dominant
for Durin and the Woodland Realm. The Durin theme, which was heard only
in tandem with the "history of the ring" theme in the previous score,
is introduced in choral humming late in "Girion, Lord of Dale" before
opening "In the Shadow of the Mountain." A deeper choir takes the
melody at 1:11 into "A Spell of Concealment" before a longing cello
expresses it at 5:50 into "The Hunters." Finally, the theme is forced
into action mode in "My Armor is Iron" a few times, albeit obscured by
other overlapping ideas. The theme for the Woodland Realm is a
mysterious, somewhat unwieldy one, reminiscent of John Williams' style
in places. Heard only once in
An Unexpected Journey, this
identity appears in seven or eight cues in
The Desolation of
Smaug, including an intriguingly placed positioning as an interlude
at 1:46 into "Beyond the Forest," its fullest performance. Its
remaining best usage is confined to "The Woodland Realm," "The Forest
River," "Girion, Lord of Dale," and "The Hunters," with many
renditions in each of those cues. As for the completely new themes,
those that do not seem to be foreshadowed in the previous entry, look
for ten or more of them in
The Desolation of Smaug. The dragon
receives a third identity, one that accompanies his stewing demeanor.
The rising pairs of despair in this motif are previewed in "In the
Shadow of the Mountain" but full usage exists throughout "A Liar and a
Thief" (including the very start of the cue) and grows in "Smaug" and
"My Armor is Iron." It eventually becomes a rhythmic device under the
dragon's other themes. The most notable new presence in this score,
however, belongs to Tauriel, with her two themes the closest thing to
the bliss of
The Lord of the Rings. Her main theme has some of
the rhythmic flair of the Rohan theme, a two part construct often
expressed in succession. Its large introduction comes at 7:51 into
"Flies and Spiders" and it is reprised at 1:10 into "The Forest
River." Much of this theme's main phrase anchors the lyricism of that
latter action cue, in fact, despite the frenzied movement Shore
expresses in those minutes. The second section of the theme is
introduced at the end of "The Woodland Realm" on woodwinds. Only a few
brief references exist for this theme in the middle of the score, but it
brilliantly carries the entire second half of the end credits suite,
"Beyond the Forest," from delicate tones to full snare-ripping battle
mode worthy of
The Two Towers.
Arguably more alluring than the main theme for Tauriel
in
The Desolation of Smaug is her love theme involving Kili, an
unexpected emphasis in the plotline but one that reveals Shore's knack
for lovely grace. Another two-part theme, this identity is heard first
in its primary phrase at 1:26 from solo voice in "Feast of Starlight"
before the lesser interlude sequence takes over at 2:04 into that cue.
Both parts of the theme are presented for upwards of a minute each at
start of "Beyond the Forest." The theme for Beorn is Shore's ode to
John Barry in some ways, its slowly rising chords heard throughout
"Wilderland" and at the beginning and conclusion of "The House of
Beorn" before departing from the score. The Mirkwood theme is a
dominant presence, not surprisingly, in "Mirkwood," and mingles often
with the "history of the ring" theme. Its performances become fainter
as the cue progresses, yielding eventually to creepy whispers. Echoes of
the idea continue through the subsequent two tracks but these, too,
disappear. The choral mystery motif for "The Nine," as Shore deems it,
is best heard in "The High Fells," though its introduction comes at
3:23 into "The House of Beorn." Like the main theme for Tauriel, the
one for Bard is another pulsating identity with Rohan connections, a
dance between the major and minor key that is introduced near start of
"Bard, A Man of Lake-Town" and opens "Protector of the Common Folk"
as well. In the latter half of the score, this theme is mostly
understated, a subdued secondary phrase of the theme at 2:00 into "The
Hunters" featuring much unrealized promise. There are two themes
involving Lake-town, the first its official overarching identity that is
something of an extension of the Bard theme. It is introduced at 1:50
into "Protector of the Common Folk" and reprised in "Thrice
Welcome." The Lake-town politicians motif is better enunciated,
however, heard with fleetingly rising hope at 2:56 in "Bard, A Man of
Lake-Town" before its downbeat, ominous presence late in "Protector of
the Common Folk" and stuffy harpsichord style in "Thrice Welcome"
squash its personality. Finally, a relatively uninteresting theme for
Girion is heard first early in "Girion, Lord of Dale" and reprised at
0:45 into "The Hunters." As in some of the prior scores in this
franchise from Shore, the melody of the song by Ed Sheeran, "I See
Fire," is not incorporated into the score, nary even the surrounding
sequences. That song, while not hideous in its own right, is a terrible
fit for the style of Shore's score, completely unrelated to everything
else heard on screen. Its instrumentation and progressions hint
obnoxiously at Eric Clapton's "Layla" and the lyrics, while
appropriate to the tale, make the song sound like inspirational rock.
It's easily the least appropriate of the five songs thus far in the
franchise, proof that being a fan of the concept shouldn't be a reason
to get you hired for the job.
Overall, Shore's handling of the themes he chooses to
incorporate into
The Desolation of Smaug is as intelligent as in
any of his prior works for this franchise. Especially as the action
becomes taut in the final two or three cues, and earlier in "The Forest
River," the composer literally forces the themes into overlapping
battles against each other, yielding an intelligent listening
experience. The troubling, nagging issue with Shore's placements,
however, concerns his ability to give each of his scores a dominant
thematic identity (or two). For the "middle child" of the prior
trilogy,
The Two Towers was led by the memorable Rohan material,
for instance. The entirety of the three
The Lord of the Rings
scores were held together with continuity supplied by the themes for the
fellowship (action), the hobbits (characters), and the history of the
ring (story). Not only does
The Desolation of Smaug feature no
theme that will send audiences out of the theatre humming, but the two
Hobbit films together are not forming the overarching melodic
continuity one would expect to hear from Shore, the three most dominant
ideas from
An Unexpected Journey all functionally absent from
The Desolation of Smaug. There is a sense of wayward movement in
the second entry, one that fails to address larger narrative issues
while focusing solely on the needs of the moment. The failed song, of
course, does not help the equation. On album, the score for
The
Desolation of Smaug was thankfully not the mess that was
An
Unexpected Journey, for what viewers hear on the screen will mostly
match what is on album and the various versions of the album releases
don't contain totally separate, alternate performances of the same cue.
The longer set, the "special edition," adds significant Necromancer
material and elongates several cues to fully express Shore's thematic
ideas, though the shorter CD version does contain all of the score's
necessary highlights. Any listener will wish to take "The Forest
River" and "Beyond the Forest" as the best representatives of action
and awe from this score, both incredibly entertaining cues of solid
length. It is awfully tempting to give this score a 4-star rating,
because it does not compare in thematic integrity to its predecessors,
but, ultimately, you have to view this endeavor from a number of
different standpoints. Even though the listening experience on album is
somewhat disappointing in its accessibility and, to a lesser degree,
diminished sound quality, the score is still leagues beyond most efforts
for the big screen during its era. Like
The Return of the King
and
An Unexpected Journey, therefore,
The Desolation of
Smaug merits a split rating. You have to keep your perspective when
approaching this work, tempering your expectations and accepting the
benefits along with the drawbacks.
@Amazon.com: CD or
Download
- Music as Written for the Film: *****
- Music as Heard on the 2013 Albums: ****
- Overall: *****
| Bias Check: |
For Howard Shore reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.56
(in 25 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.32
(in 100,303 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
|
The insert of the "Special Edition" contains more information than that of
the "Regular Edition," including a note from the director and extended notes about
the score's themes from author Doug Adams. The packaging of the "Special Edition"
varies depending on whether you purchase the American or international release. The
"Special Edition" contains a fold-out "interactive sheet music" poster as well.
