The Music of the Lord of the Rings Films

 Interview:  Doug Adams |  Book Review  |  Rarities CD Review

Likely the most appreciated, analyzed, and awarded scores of the new millennium has been HOWARD SHORE'S epic, original score for Peter Jackson's LORD OF THE RINGS TRILOGY.  Years after the some of the most complete soundtrack releases ever, comes the lost awaited book and CD release, THE MUSIC OF THE LORD OF THE RINGS - A Comprehensive Account of Howard Shore's Scores.  This unique volume was researched, compiled and written by author DOUG ADAMS alongside Howard Shore and his creative team.  The result is an even more detailed look at, not only the music, but it's evolution. 

Tracksounds is proud to bring you this in-depth look "behind the score" of The Lord of the Rings. In this edition:

- SoundCast Interview with author Doug Adams
- Book review by Peter Nickalls
- Rarities CD review by Peter Nickalls
- Select photos from the Signature Session in London.

Interview:  Doug Adams: Chronicle of the Rings

CC: This time we're talking to DOUG ADAMS, who's an author and musicologist, and author of the upcoming and -might I add- highly-anticipated book titled: THE MUSIC OF THE LORD OF THE RINGS FILMS. The book is slated to be released by Carpentier and Alfred music publishing, first in the European Union, on September 28th, and for the rest of us poor suckers in the U.S. and elsewhere worldwide, on October 5th , 2010. DOUG, welcome to the SoundCast.

DOUG ADAMS: Thanks, CHRIS. I think that was my first official introduction as an author, so it was a little weird, but thanks.

CC: Well, I'll be in Wikipedia somewhere. [laughs] I'll be some trivia somewhere in your life, as I am in many people's lives. Let me just describe this book a little bit. It's a 416-page full color volume, that has a forward by HOWARD SHORE, an introduction by the LORD OF THE RINGS screenwriter and producer FRAN WALSH, original sketches by JOHN HOWE and ALAN LEE; it has lots of images from the films, an audio interview with you and HOWARD SHORE, and of course, it has that rarities archive, a CD that has 21 tracks of previously unreleased music created for the films. This is a pretty “epic” package, I would say.

DOUG ADAMS: [laughs] Well, it was an epic production, so I'm glad we ended up with something at the end, but it feels like all of our efforts were well spent.

CC: I understand that HOWARD SHORE himself picked you to do this project. How did that go, was it a phone call, out-of-the-blue email saying “Hey, can you do this mammoth project”?

DOUG ADAMS: My first exposure to the professional world of film music was kind of in your shoes, doing a lot of interviews with people. I was a writer and still do occasionally write for FILM SCORE MONTHLY magazine. I was sort of the go-to guy for the HOWARD SHORE pieces. HOWARD and I did our very first interview on COPLAND, the STALLONE film. We got along very well; it was one of those things where you do the interview and then sit and chat for another hour about this and that, and the state of the musical and film worlds. So he and I did a number of interviews over the years and I think it was in '01 that I did an interview with him on the FRANK OZ film, THE SCORE. This time, I did know that HOWARD SHORE was signed-up to do LORD OF THE RINGS, but you know, as an interviewer you try to keep it on target. You don't want to blurt out, “Are you doing LORD OF THE RINGS?!” [laughs]

 

CONTINUE THE INTERVIEW HERE
 

Review:  The Music of the Lord of the Rings - The Rarities Archive (CD)

Review by Peter Nickalls

THE LORD OF THE RINGS - RARITIES ARCHIVE CD is included with the newly released THE MUSIC OF THE LORD OF THE RINGS FILMS book (see my review here) and contains 21 unreleased music tracks, composed by HOWARD SHORE as well as a conversation between Shore and author DOUG ADAMS. The final chapter of the book provides fascinating commentary on the music found on this remarkable disc.

d theatrical versions and even trailer music, all of which provide a fantastic insight into the process of creating and developing the music for this epic trilogy. From the very first piece Shore wrote for the films (a synthesized mock-up of Shire material) through to a full nine minute alternative score for the Ring's destruction, this CD is a veritable treasure trove for fans of The Lord of the Rings music.

CONTINUE THE REVIEW HERE

Review:  The Music of the Lord of the Rings (Book)

Review by Peter Nickalls

The Music of The Lord of the Rings Films must be one of the most highly anticipated film music books ever written, and after years of us all following author Doug Adams' blog, it is finally here. The book is a tome of epic proportions and an outstanding achievement, intricately crafted and beautifully presented. This is almost certainly the first book of its kind: it examines the music of one film trilogy in painstaking detail through musical analysis, score extracts, pencil sketches and complete vocal texts.

Last night (September 27th) I had the pleasure of attending the worldwide launch of the book with Doug Adams, composer Howard Shore and designer and art director Gary Day-Ellison at Chappell of Bond Street in London. At the session Adams and Shore talked about the challenges they faced creating a book about music composed for a film, itself based on another book! They also discussed how the music has now taken on a life of its own, independent of the films, whilst Shore revealed that a study score might be "a while" coming and that he was looking forward to working on The Hobbit. Following a Q&A session, the three men signed copies of the books and two people won tickets to see the live musical performance of Return of the King at the Royal Albert Hall this week.

The book itself clocks in at an impressive 401 pages and is divided into three main sections: 'Themes', 'The Annotated Score' and 'The Recording Sessions'. However, those who have pored over the Complete Recordings booklets and the PDF Annotated Scores (and if you're reading this there's a strong chance you will have) will feel they have read much of it before. Whilst Adams does mention on his blog that the book contains these materials, I was surprised by how much content was already familiar to me.

CONTINUE THE REVIEW HERE

Listen to our  SoundCast interview w/ Doug Adams
(Use dropdown menu below)

Soundclips from
Music from the Lord of the Rings Films

1 - Prologue: One Ring to Rule Them All (Alternate)
2 - The Shire/The Hobbits (Mock-up)
3 - Flight to the Ford (Alternate)

Photos by Peter Nickalls