One Score to Rule Them All

I'm listening to the Complete Fellowship of the Ring score. As with many Jackson Lord of the Rings things, I wish I liked the movies better, because the treatment is gorgeous. It's the kind of treatment that Star Wars fans wish we got. (THEY. Star Wars fans wish THEY got. Grrrrr. Sput!)

This is an interesting listening experience for me, because I saw Fellowship once. I listen to the original CD a lot. (Wow. Pre-iPod. Has it been so long?) So my biggest connection to this music comes from the novel and the previously released recording. It's not like listening to Star Wars where I can picture what's happening on screen note for note. (Even the music that was tracked to a scene and later dropped.) Lord of the Rings, even more than Star Wars, is very very VERY theme driven. This set has EXHAUSTIVE notes written by Film Score Monthly's Doug Adams. It comes with a nice little book that details EVERY SINGLE THEME from the score (did you know there is a Theme for Elvish Longing?), how it's used, why it's used, what different setting are meant to convey. It's a scholarly work. It's extensive enough that the actual track descriptions have to be included on-line as a PDF. I gather Adams will be including all of these notes in a book. Lucky Tolkien fans!

So it's like listening to a symphonic story. You are introduced to all of the cast, shown all the sets, and then listen to them wander around for three CDs. It's Peter and the Wolf on steroids.

What I just wanted to say when I started this was "Wow, dude, this is a really awesome score!" and that it's really nice to read the novel with. I don't like the movies much, but yowza what a score!

The Complete Two Towers will be out next month.