Music from The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (Compilation)

Review by Thomas Glorieux:

Legendary, already today the LOTR movies by Peter Jackson are legendary. They are the perfect creation a fan could wish for, and it captures everything right. So basically someone doing it differently would never match what has been done perfectly so why bother to begin? Of course in musical cases, re recordings or performances by different orchestras are almost a certainty, especially in classical music. For film music things stand a little differently yet The City of Prague Philharmonic and the Crouch End Festival Chorus have been doing it all their lives. Now, they tackled the legendary music by Howard Shore. Basically hearing the music again from part 1 confirms that Shore has without doubt created film music of epic proportions but even more, of status now it rivals easily Star Wars the day it knocked down your pants with its 3 movies. I don't want to diminish the effort of Shore any less then that, he doesn't deserve that. Of course after the 3 scores (2 of which were heralded as best motion picture score by the Oscar board) Shore went on to show the world what was so special now about the music, by basically composing suites from The United States even to little old Belgium. Showing already then different orchestras could bring special compiled suites. Exactly what the City of Prague Philharmonic has been doing when Silva asked them to re perform the music of LOTR. No small task but they are becoming pro's at handling these scenario's. Now, just one question you need to ask yourself, do you want the exact power, finesse, speed, versions or do you want a different take on it, altering at specific times the tempo, orchestrations or vocals? The answer is that it will depend on that alone to enjoy it or to really enjoy it. Frankly I expected more of the choir because they could take supreme efforts as Saving Private Ryan to be even better then the original. Here they lack a bit the scope of the original. The orchestra is doing fine, but at times the tempo is changed for whatever reason. But altogether, you love it because it brings still honest to god fine performances.

The Fellowship of the Ring has the track already heard on the Fantasy Album by Silva, but continues with 'The Prophecy', mixing 2 tracks together and the choir is used at specific times where it wasn't used in the original version, but the mood setting is perfect and the choir epic so no problems here. 'Concerning Hobbits' actually has the fact that it forgets to play several notes of the theme, but the ambience is just like the original. 'The Shadow of the Past / A Knife in the Dark' again mixes 2 tracks together and while Sauron's theme doesn't capture that raw energy, its the choir here that sounds stunning and the vocals (solo) spot on the money, even the louder as usual Uruk-hai theme (which makes no sense here) is enjoyable. I was really looking forward to 'The Bridge of Khazad Dum', my favorite track of the first and while the strings sound different and they add choir to even the middle part, that same choir can not bring the exact power the original brought. This is why I liked so much the film version, the power of the choir creating a scope unheard of and here it just doesn't reach that scope. But no need to worry since the choir still makes you think twice of hitting that next to play button! The non vocal version of 'May it Be' loses strength because of its flutes but listens altogether lovely. Then the best score of the 3 takes center stage, yet is presented with the least amount of material. Still, 'The Riders of Rohan' brings the big theme powerfully to the forefront and the mixed 2 track 'Forth Eorlingas / Isengard Unleashed' is bringing again great pieces, with choir that sounds great while just not reaching that same scope. Even though the real fault of this track is the emotional solo vocal (in Forth Eorlingas) but especially its backing orchestral touch that made the film version so mesmerizing. But again, while all these quibbles makes you think back of the original, its finale galore alone by the choir makes you full of joy nonetheless. Sadly its big choral piece 'Foundations of Stone' is not presented, and I wanted to hear what the Crouch End Festival Chorus could do with that!

The third score, The Return of the King then takes us to the second disc of this compilation. 'Hope and Memory / Minas Tirith' is actually very good, at times taking the tempo a little slower or faster, the theme sounds excellent and powerful nonetheless, matching the scope of the white city. 'The White Tree' is equally changing the pace at times but again the new little takes on the orchestrations pay off and it sounds strong as we expected it to be. 'Twilight and Shadow' unfortunately makes the fantasy sounding vocal of the original feel like a classical soprano. The trumpets ablaze 'The Field of Pelennor' and create further power while 'The Return of the King / Finale' adds for whatever reason the theme of Rohan and the first track of this compilation (CD 1) repeating its beauty. The vocal normally done by Viggo Mortensen is much darker and could detract those female fans who don't alone like him for his looks. The version of 'Into the West' is lovely but I wished they pushed the envelope here like Shore handled the orchestral version in the score itself. All 3 songs are brought newly covered by different singers, Helen Hobson performs 'Gollum's Song' and 'Into the West' and the last is indeed the best of 3 songs, because it matches the strength of the original the most, 'Gollum's Song' is not bringing that Bjork magic which made that song so intriguing. 'May it Be' is absolutely not Enya and again, that fantasy ethereal tone in Enya's voice is far from to be found. So you would think, a lot of remarks. That is when you want to compare the good with the supreme. Indeed LOTR will always sound the best on their original CD's but that is when you want the exact same score. A different take on things makes us realize that the City of Prague Philharmonic and the Crouch End Festival Chorus wanted to do small variations and light changes, to give the non experienced listener a sampling of Shore's massive work. And it works to please a lot, because its strong, and tries to create new ideas for a recording that doesn't match the original, but still succeeds a lot in bringing LOTR perfection in scope alone.

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Tracks

Double Disc

Disk One: 54.09

Suite from The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

1. The Fellowship (5.52) Excellent Track

2. The Prophecy (5.01) Excellent Track

3. Concerning Hobbits (2.44)

4. The Shadow Of The Past / A Knife In The Dark (7.26) Excellent Track

5. The Bridge Of Khazad Dum (5.57) Excellent Track

6. May It Be (5.19)

Suite from The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

7. The Riders Of Rohan (3.52) Excellent Track

8. Evenstar (3.38)

9. Forth Eorlingas / Isengard Unleashed (8.30) Excellent Track

10. Gollum's Song (5.48)

Disk Two: 48.00

Suite from The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

1. Hope And Memory / Minas Tirith (2.38) Excellent Track

2. The White Tree (3.47) Excellent Track

3. Twilight And Shadow (3.53)

4. The Field Of Pelennor (3.11) Excellent Track

5. The Return Of The King / Finale (16.16) Excellent Track

6. Into The West (4.39)

Bonus Tracks

7. Gollum's Song: Helen Hobson (4.05)

8. May It Be: Tara Scammell (4.46)

9. Into The West: Helen Hobson (4.40) Excellent Track

The use of artwork or photos is posted for non profitable reasons

=== Link to Composer Site: Howard Shore ===