Track-by-Track: Soundtrack Discussion and Analysis

[Kitanna]

I love the contrast in this song. It starts out with the innocent music and feel of Hobbits and the Shire. Then it morphs into the evil music of the Wraiths.

[dancing spawn of ungoliant]

if you listen really closely, I think there's a flexatone in there, making eerie wavy noises underneath the strings and choir.

Wow! You are really skillful in recognizing different instruments! Do you play in an orchestra?
The Black Rider - In my opinion it's one of the pieces in FotR that are easiest to get into. Despite the dissonancing chords it's really pleasant to listen to. The middle part of the piece is very distressing. After the dominant brass and choir leave the listener gasping (2:25) the drum plays for a few seconds like imitating a heart beat. The pace of the "heart beat" is quite calm, especially for a hobbit who has been chased by a black rider. But I think it still somehow reflects the feeling that the hobbits managed to evade the danger and they don't have to worry for a while.

[Encaitare]

Wow! You are really skillful in recognizing different instruments! Do you play in an orchestra?

Thanks! I play in the school's wind ensemble and full orchestra, and also in an orchestra outside of school.

I watched the Creating the Lord of the Rings Symphony DVD and I would recommend it to anyone who is serious about music. It's mostly just the music being played by the orchestra/choir with a few short interview clips with Howard Shore, but it's fascinating to watch. I learned several things from it as well. Seems I was wrong about the Shire theme; it is a tin whistle in Track 2 after all. And where I've been saying oboe, it's often been an English horn. Ah, well. I was close.

Track six:

The very beginning (very as in just the first few notes) reminds me of the Mordor theme, a reminder that the Nazgul are still out there somewhere. At 0:24, it becomes distinctly hobbitish again, with a smidge of bounce to it.

Side note, not really LotR related: at 0:53, I was trying to figure out what theme that would be... I realized that for a few seconds it sounds similar to the music from Pirates of the Caribbean!

Around 1:15, the timpani slowly starts to make an appearance in the background, which as ungoliant said, is rather like a heartbeat. Then the pace really beings to pick up, and a gong enters, adding to the traces of Mordor which can already be detected. When the brass and choir are added, it is evident that things cannot be pleasant for our poor hobbits.

Suddenly things grow dangerously quiet. When we played Beethoven's Fifth in orchestra, there is a Grand Pause in which nobody plays, and it lasts a beat longer than anyone listening would expect it to. The conductor, who is a fascinatingly deep guy, told us that that one beat of silence should be the loudest thing in the entire symphony. While there is not total silence, it somehow feels even worse, making you feel uneasy, like you are in hiding while one of those black riders is about somewhere outside. Low brass, a soft gong, and some more of the discordant strings, so much like in Shelob's lair, break the silence and then we are back to the loud brass once more.

This transforms into the Isengard theme, at which I always get excited because it's in five. I always kind of move in time with the music when I hear it.... ONE two three FOUR five ONE two three FOUR five... It gives an impression that's slightly off kilter, and the accented beats are like strong hammer falls, giving the image of the orcs forging away in Isengard. As I learned from the LotR Symphony DVD, they actually had a guy banging with a mallet or hammer on a huge, suspended piece of metal.

Then it slows and becomes gentler. I am not sure what part of the movie this corresponds with; I'm thinking Gandalf on top of Orthanc, although I'm not sure.

And as a last note, this track is pi minutes long.

[Nuranar]

Ah! The Isengard theme is in 5/4 time? No wonder it kept throwing me off! Time is not my strong point by any means, but I know enough to get really confused. And that's really neat about how they added that metallic, unmusical clash.

Then it slows and becomes gentler. I am not sure what part of the movie this corresponds with; I'm thinking Gandalf on top of Orthanc, although I'm not sure.

You have me curious, so I just got out my extended DVD (only one I've got) and watched the Pony sequence. I think most parts in that track are there, but not connected together, understandably. However, I never heard the hobbity part at 0:24 at all, nor did I find the final bit. There's no scene at Orthanc until the hobbits and Strider are well into the wilderness, and then it opens with Saruman and the palantír.

Awesome thread, by the way. Although I definitely lack your orchestral background, Encaitare, I'm a reasonably proficient pianist. (Strong point memorization, not sight-reading. So although it takes me ages to learn a pieces well, once I do it's stuck for good. And I've always loved movie soundtracks. I guess that comes from growing up with a father who played his Star Wars, Superman, etc. records all the time.

And as a last note, this track is pi minutes long.

Ha!

Was that pun unintentional?

[Encaitare]

You have me curious, so I just got out my extended DVD (only one I've got) and watched the Pony sequence. I think most parts in that track are there, but not connected together, understandably. However, I never heard the hobbity part at 0:24 at all, nor did I find the final bit. There's no scene at Orthanc until the hobbits and Strider are well into the wilderness, and then it opens with Saruman and the palantír.

Yes, in the movies the music is not all connected, nor is all the music on the soundtrack in the movie, and vice versa. I haven't got the regular DVD of FotR either, so I'll take your word for it.

Was that pun unintentional?

Wow. Yes, it was. Heh.. that was pretty bad.

[Nuranar]

Yes, in the movies the music is not all connected, nor is all the music on the soundtrack in the movie, and vice versa.

That's what I figured. I don't know it well enough - "well enough" meaning I can sing an entire track - to know when the soundtrack and the movie sound correspond and diverge. I did think it was curious that those bits weren't anywhere near the Prancing Pony sequence. For all I know, of course, that may happen throughout all three movies.

I guess John Williams's style has spoiled me. I'm most familiar with his Indiana Jones scores; well, the 1st and the 3rd... I was entranced immediately by how tightly each track followed the movie. The best examples are the two long chase scenes: the truck in Raiders, and the tank in the Last Crusade. They're 8 and 5.5 minutes long, respectively, and each could be the same recording that's on the film. Except the Raiders one - there's an extra phrase added in the film. That really stuck out to me when I first saw it.

Not saying that one's style is better than the other, by any means! That's just where I'm coming from, and I was curious how closely the soundtrack followed the movie. My favorite pieces of music are those associated with things that I like: When I hear them, I think of "my favorite things." Always a plus!

[Kitanna]

After reading your post, Encaitare, I listened to the song to see if there really is the Hobbit theme in it. And sure enough, there it was. Only it wasn't the happy Hobbit music we heard at the beginning, it's a sadder, more serious version of the theme. Like the Hobbits are no longer living in a peaceful little world as they once had.