........ I still find myself listening to this on a regular basis. It is amazing. Like the movie it has staying power...and has mangaed to stay in my top 10 rotation in my cd player. I really am fond of "The Breaking Of The Fellowship" Anyone else still hyped about it?
Yes absolutely. I've been playing it a lot recently for unknown reasons, I guess I am slowly but surely beginning to get hyped for the DVD every day now. It is such a perfect score, it really is... Shore is one of my favourite composers, and I rank this up there as one of his best by far. In the first cue, The Prophecy, there is an instrument layer I didn't touch on before until fairly recently. At around the 2:10 mark you have Gollum's theme, but I never took real notice of the presence of what seems to be a harp. Forgive my ignorance if it is not a harp, but it's certainly of that ilk. The brushes are elegant, then it at about 3:05 there is a specific plucking of notes which I REALLY like... Dan
I'm with you Jeff. This soundtrack has grown into one of my favourites! I guess it's the mix of brass and the chorale vocals that does it. Plus I have now married the images of the movie to the music. Listening to track 8 I can see the Nazgul chasing Arwen and Frodo. Listening to track 16 I can see the long tracking shot at Amon Hen as the Orcs battle and search for the Halflings and see the moment when the music quiets down and Boromir gets hit by the first arrow. There are many more moments but man I love this disc!
I truly know what I deem to be a good score when I can spin the CD, hum along and realise I actually know every bloody note off by heart. Shore's FOTR score is no exception.
Fellowship of the Ring has become my favorite soundtrack and I own about 350 score CDs. Never been fan of Howard Shore but boy, this score rocks! I can't wait to get a hold of The Two Towers! Hopefully we'll get a November release or something.
Oh yes! This soundtrack just strikes an emotional chord with me. It is by far and wide in my top 5 soundtracks/scores of all time. For me it has to be track 13 "The Bridge of Khazad Dum". When the music quiets signaling the falling of Gandalf into darkness I swear I can hear Frodo scream "NOOOO!". Its one of the most moving pieces of music I have ever heard. Second to that is Track 12 "A Journey in the Dark". In the movie when Gandalf uses his staff to light the pillars that lay in the mines. The music swells higher and higher until they finally reveal the scope and beauty of it all. Again, its just plain fantastic.
I've been buying film scores since the mid-70s. I haven't listened to a score this much since I bought the original Star Wars score album back in 1977. What I love about this music is discovering new things going on as I listen to it more. It's a wonderfully complex & layered piece of work. My favorite track is still "The Breaking Of The Fellowship", but there's not a bad piece on the whole album. I have to admit, I felt a little trepidation when it was announced that Howard Shore would be scoring the LotR films. In my mind he was a competent and sometime inventive composer, but based on his other work I wasn't sure he had it in him to write music with the sweep and grandeur required for these movies. I am so glad I was wrong about this one. I am really looking forward to hearing what he comes up with for TTT and RotK!
