Filmtracks: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (Howard Shore)

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Written 12/30/13

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Buy it... if you appreciate the complexity and nuance that Howard Shore brings to all of his scores for Middle Earth, this entry no less intelligent than its predecessors.

Avoid it... if your interest in these scores lies in the accessibility of their most vibrant themes and grandiose statements of harmonic fantasy, both of these elements strikingly muted for the first time in this series of music.

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.

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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 3.33 (in 101,293 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.

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