Overview
The full title of this book is The Music of The Lord of The Rings Films: A Comprehensive Account of Howard Shore’s Scores With CD. It’s the subtitle that tells the real story - a comprehensive account of Howard Shore’s Scores. For film composers and students of film composition, there hasn’t been a book of this caliber and depth since Henry Mancini’s Case Study of a Film Score: The Thorn Birds. I would place the work done by Doug Adams on Howard Shore’s work, the film music equivalent of what Donald Francis Tovey did for Beethoven. The book is that rich.
Doug Adams organized the book in three clear sections: Themes, The Annotated Score, and The Recording Sessions.
Section 1: The Themes, taking up 124 pages, are organized by 13 sections and each theme is examined compositionally, harmonically, and where appropriate by reduced orchestral score. The Table of Themes, found on pages 12-13, cover The One Ring, The Shire and The Hobbits, Gollum, The Elves, The Dwarves, Rohan, Gondor, The Fellowship of The Ring, The Monsters of Middle-Earth, Isengard, The Orcs, Mordor, The Ents, Nature, and Middle-Earth. Within this organization, 91 individual themes are studied.
In the introductory section, we’re greeted by Howard Shore’s approach to orchestration, which is worth quoting.
”Orchestration is, in essence, about range,” explains Shore. “People think it’s color, but actually it’s range.” This range-based orchestration divided the orchestra into degrees of low, medium, and high sounds, regardless of instrument type. Each layer of range could include any combination of instruments, resulting in an interconnected sense of ensemble unity. A high-range chord would underscore a tender moment, but within that single shape of sound resided a multitude of aural details: flutes in octaves, oboes emphasizing inner harmonies, violins clustered six ways, shimmering harp tones, and female voices.”
Don’t be fooled by the coffee table look and feel of the book. This is a serious work. And the story line/compositional analysis of each theme is more than you’d ever get in a film scoring class.
Section 2: The Annotated Score, is organized by the three films, The Fellowship of The Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of The King. Adams gives illumination on the cues with story background, theme scoring insights, and some full page/full score excerpts.
Section 3: The Recording Sessions, discusses Shore’s music production company, Eventone Editorial, his process from going to score to MIDI mockup, working with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and other performance groups.
CD
The CD contents, called The Rarities Archive, presents music never before released, including MIDI mock-ups.
Track 01: Prologue: One Ring to Rule Them All (alternate)
Track 02: The Shire/The Hobbits (MIDI Mock-up)
Track 03: Out From Bree (Theatrical Version and Alternate)
Track 04: Flight to the Ford (Alternate)
Track 05: Moria (Mock-up)
Track 06: The Fighting Uruk-hai (Alternate)
Track 07: The Argonath (Alternate)
Track 08: Gwenwin in in (Arwen’s Song - Alternate/Mock-up)
Track 09: Arwen’s Song (Complete)
Track 10: Emyn Muil (Alternate)
Track 11: The Rohan Fanfare (Mock-up)
Track 12: The Eaves of Fangorn (Alternate)
Track 13: The Ent Theme (Mock-up)
Track 14: The Return of the King Trailer
Track 15: The Gondor Theme (Mock-up)
Track 16: The Muster of Rohan (Alternate)
Track 17: The Siege of Gondor (Alternate)
Track 18: Shieldmaiden of Rohan (Theatrical Version)
Track 19: Sammath Naur (Alternate)
Track 20: Frodo’s Song (Into the West - Alternate/Mock-up)
Track 21: Elanor (Alternate)
Track 22: Howard Shore in Conversation Part 1 (themes, collaboration, creative process)
Track 23: Howard Shore in Conversation Part 2 (the conversation continues)