Music from The Lord of the Rings Trilogy [Soundtrack]

Howard Shore (Composer), Nic Raine (Conductor), Prague Philharmonic Orchestra (Orchestra) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Orchestra: Prague Philharmonic Orchestra
• Conductor: Nic Raine
• Composer: Howard Shore
• Audio CD (July 13, 2004)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Soundtrack
• Label: Silva America
• ASIN: B0002ABTM6
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #11,924 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

62 of 64 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great interpretations of soft passages, but ..., August 21, 2004

By 

G. Kroener (Bamberg, Bavaria Germany) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Music from The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (Audio CD)

I've already listened to Nic Raine's work in Bond Back In Action 1 and 2 and thought it was very well done.
This is another effort by him, this time on the Lord Of The Rings trilogy, and, no hard feelings for Bond, but Lord Of The Rings Is a different calibre; and it shows.
Howard Shore has without a doubt created something that can only be described as the most powerful and thematically complex movie score in history and everyone except the maestro himself would have a hard time capturing the same magic with a different orchestra.
Where this 2 disc set really scores is in soft passages like Evenstar, Twilight And Shadow, the instrumental parts of the title songs or The Return Of The King. The solo vocals are very haunting.
Unfortunately, where this recording really fails is at the majestic and powerful cues like The White Tree or Forth Eorlingas. Somehow it doesn't flow very well, like the musicians had hickups. Additionally, The White Tree, maybe the most powerful piece in the trilogy, can't pick up any speed because the tempo is so much lower than the original.
This huge difference between soft and action is especially painful in The Fields Of The Pelennor. It starts out REALLY well with the arrival of Rohan on the Pelennor, but as soon as the music rises and the low brass picks up, it becomes almost unbearable.

On the positive side, the strings and the horns in quiet cues radiate an aura of majesty that's unbelievable, especially in The Return Of The King.

The question is, should you buy it? On one hand, if you're not absolutely nuts about Howard Shore's LOTR scores, then I'd definitely skip this one and go straight for the original.
On the other hand, if you love Shore's scores and want to listen to a fresh interpretation, I definitely would give it a try.

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Worth It, March 29, 2006

By 

Anthony B. Tardiff (Post Falls, Idaho) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Music from The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (Audio CD)

Howard Shore's scores to the three Lord of the Rings movies are a classical masterpiece in their own right, and as such I don't mind hearing them played by a different orchestra. While I prefer the originals on the whole, this set has some very nice things to recommend it. The best part is that you get instrumental renditions of the end credits song from each film. My favorite is "Into the West," from The Return of the King, with a cello replacing Annie Lennox's vocal performance. I really disliked Lennox's ugly, popified performance of the song, but I thought that the melody and orchestration were beautiful, so I could not be more delighted to hear the song performed by a cello, with all original orchestration intact. That one track is worth $20 to me.

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I'm coming back to this review after five years to note that there is another track on this CD which I like better than the original: The Return of the King/Finale. Firstly, no Viggo Mortensen singing. If you're like me and think Mortensen's Aragorn didn't quite cut it, this is a plus. His thin voice is replaced here by a rich, deep, majestic voice, filled with gravitas. (I do prefer Renee Fleming's version of the Arwen Revealed theme that follows, but the singer here does a good job as well.) But what really grabs me about this track is when, after the whistle and flute play the pensive Shire theme, the fiddle comes in. I'm not sure if it's the mix, which puts the fiddle (and drums) more forward, or if its the playing, which seems to me to have more expression, more attack, but the version on this CD blows me away. The original is a wistful, short quote of the theme. This version remains wistful, but somehow also adds energy, so that it becomes almost a defiant ode to beauty in the face of change and destruction. The way it rises up and up into the theme . . . Somehow, for me, it captures Tolkien's ideas so well, that sense of weight, of depth in his work, that idea of fighting the "long defeat" and the sudden, unexpected reversal, the eucatastrophe, the happy ending whose sweetness springs in part from the pain of what had come before.

Pretty cool.

This is not to take away from the originals at all, nor, of course, from Howard Shore (who after all wrote the music that moves me so much). I own the Complete Recordings of all three films. But yeah, this particular track I, personally, like better than the original.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good interpretation, January 1, 2006

By 

J. Henson (Huntsville, AL USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Music from The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (Audio CD)

First and foremost, this recording is a re-recording of a few of the highlights from all three of Howard Shore's epic and truly fantastic scores. Shore's compositions are fascinatingly and exquisitly complex and simultaneoulsy beautifully simplistic. I believe the scores take their place atop the best film score series aside only John William's Star Wars scores. The highest recommendations for any classical or neo-classical music fan.

Now, having said all that, some of the other reviewers have based their displeasure at the recording on the mere obvious fact that these aren't the original recordings with Howard Shore conducting the London Philharmonic. Well, if you pay any attention to the packaging or advertising, you should know that these are not the originals; rather, it is Nic Raine conducting the City of Prague Philharmonic. This orchestra re-records many classic and major new scores and is probably now the premier ensemble doing this type of work.

If you get a chance, you should definately pick up the original recordings (and for that matter the Complete Recordings) for the true musical experience. However, this recording is excellently performed, though admittedly it does lack some of the majesty of the originals in a few places. The arrangements are almost completely unaltered (though slightly here and there), and the sound quality is superior in HDCD/Dolby Surround. The record producer also talks about how the decision was made to split the violin section to opposite sides of the orchestra in order to give an added sense of depth to the sound to better reflect Shore's complex orchestration techniques and the "wet" sound mix of the originals.

In short, go for the originals first. But, if you're not willing to fork up the ~$50 for all three scores, or if you're like me and appreciate the deeper understanding of the music a fresh interpretation and alternate performace can give after already hearing the originals, then definately spring for this recording.