Fellowship of the Ring Score Symphony

[Folwren]

Has anyone ever had the opportunity to go see a symphony perform any of the scores from the LotR movies?

This last Sunday, my Mom, my two sisters, and I went to watch it be performed. It was really amazing. I did not expect to see what we saw. What I expected was the symphony to play, at most, the music heard in the soundtrack CD. My Mom hoped that Shore had completed some of his themes and had created a complete piece of music that an orchestra could play like a symphony or some piece of music that was not a film score. We were both wrong.

When we arrived and I looked towards the stage, I saw, of course, the orchestra seats arranged, the piano, the harp, the huge assortment of percussion instruments, and the seats for the choirs...but above the stage hung a huge screen with the title of the movie displayed upon it. 'Interesting,' I thought, and then focused on finding our seats.

When the lights dimmed, and the soloist had come in and bowed, and the conductor had come in and bowed, the performance began...the music started just as it does when one watches the movie...and the movie began to role.

They played the entire movie, with sound, taking out some of the sound effects (many slapping sounds and some creature's roaring - the troll was voiceless) and, of course, with the score removed. The orchestra played all the music exactly on time. (The conductor had a lap-top before him with all the cues and the meter and all that, it was neat to watch that sometimes instead of the big screen.)

The very beginning was so powerful that it shook the seats. I felt intense emotion rising and tears came to my eyes. Not because of the movie - I never cry at the beginning - but because of the intensity of the music. It was literally breathtaking.

As the movie progressed, there were several instances where the music would drown out the sounds and the dialogue in the movie. They had the subtitles running, which was helpful, because then one could glance briefly up, read what was being said and then continue studying the orchestra as it played.

In essence, it was watching the movie, but instead of the dialogue being the important aspect and the main story teller, it was the music.

It was aboslutely amazing.

I highly recommend it to anyone who can see it.

-- Folwren