Fellowship of the Ring

Track Listing

01 - The Prophecy (3:54)

02 - Concerning Hobbits (2:55)

03 - The Shadow of the Past (3:33)

04 - The Treason of Isengard (4:01)

05 - The Black Rider (2:48)

06 - At The Sign of the Prancing Pony (3:14)

07 - A Knife in the Dark (3:34)

08 - Flight to the Ford (4:15)

09 - Many Meetings (3:05)

10 - The Council of Elrond (Enya) (3:49)

11 - The Ring Goes South (2:03)

12 - A Journey in the Dark (4:20)

13 - The Bridge of Khazad Dum (5:57)

14 - Lothlorien (4:34)

15 - The Great River (2:43)

16 - Amon Hen (5:02)

17 - The Breaking of the Fellowship (7:21)

18 - "May It Be" (Enya) (4:16)

Orchestrated and Conducted by Howard Shore

Performed by The London Philharmonic Orchestra,

The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra,

The London Voices, and

The London Oratory School Schola

Produced by Howard Shore and Suzana Peric

Released by Reprise Records on November 20th, 2001

Total Running Time: 71:24

Having not been familiar with the literary works of J.R.R. Tolkien, I was initially unmoved by the news that New Line had put the series of three films based on Lord of the Rings into production. To my mind at the time, there were far more interesting projects that would be coming out than some fantasy based film of which I had only the slightest knowledge of. As the release date of the film drew near however, my interest started to become piqued. I met several people who had read the books and were excitedly waiting for the film adaptations to be released. Such fervor led me to read the first book in the series, The Hobbit, and I was hooked. From there, I finished up the first section of LOTR, Fellowship of the Ring (of which the first film is based) before the movie came out. And rather than spoil the film for me, the book instead caused me to become really excited about seeing it transferred to the big screen. While the film differs in several points from the novel, I pretty much agree with all the changes Peter Jackson had to make to allow it to fit into a three-hour running time. Needless to say, I found the film version to be quite excellent.

The selection of a composer for the film was a decision that was closely watched by fans of the series. James Horner, given his work on such films as Krull and Willow, was generally looked to as being perfectly suited for the job (funny given how much complaining one hears about him on the Internet). The decision to tap Howard Shore for the composing job became quite controversial for a while. Not being a very big name, those looking at his previous scores as a way of guessing what his work for this fantasy film would turn into were highly disappointed. Still, there were those who had faith that Shore was a talented enough composer to provide exactly what the film required. Not yet having caught the Tolkien bug at this point, I really didn’t care much for the controversy, except to be disappointed that no larger name composer had been attached, which I felt would lead to a lackluster soundtrack album that I would have to review one day. In addition, since all three films are being shot more or less simultaneously, whatever Shore composed for the first film would be the foundation for the next two. Thankfully, much to the joy of those who supported the hiring of Shore (and especially to me as the reviewer), he has proven that he did indeed know exactly what this film required musically, and the foundation he has laid for the entire series is perfect.

Basically, Shore approached the film from an operatic point of view. This gives the music an incredibly epic feel. And although the typical large orchestra and forceful choir are all here, the music sounds like nothing I have heard before. It is truly one of the freshest and most exciting film scores that have been composed in quite a long time. It harkens back to the glory days of the late 70s and early 80s when Williams and Goldsmith reigned supreme. But rather than just throw a huge assortment of orchestration at the listener, Shore weaves plenty of themes in and out to bring much-needed cohesion to the score (especially when considering the immense size that it will eventually encompass). The themes are all excellent and fit the characters that they accompany quite well. My personal favorite is Shore's theme for Frodo and the Hobbits, which first appears in full in the second track. This theme pops up often and Shore does an excellent job of maturing it as the score moves along, perfectly fitting the action on screen. There are even moments where Shore twists the theme along into a much darker version as Frodo experiences the Temptation of the Ring. Another theme that receives similar care is the one for Strider. His theme is bolder and more heroic, thought it doesn't receive much of its due until the last half of the score.

The choral moments are very well done and the large chorus (which tends to be pretty much all-male) brings out an intensity to their respective cues that works especially well in bringing out the urgency and alarm of the scenes they accompany. This is especially true in "The Bridge of Khazad Dum" (one of the best tracks in the score as well as one of the best sequences in the film). The solo work by Enya and others, performed in a way that I have not experienced since Goldsmith's Legend, are very well done and used to great effect to musically represent the Elvish culture, though some of the more fuller choral moments (such as in "Lothlorien") tend to remind me of the chorus sections of the Gungan civilization that John Williams wrote for The Phantom Menace. Shore's typical excellent string work is also here, and put to great effect. Shore also makes use of some powerful percussion segments that come into play mostly later in the score near the end, which lend a terrifying charge to the march of the Orcs.

The tracks are arranged chronologically and most of them take on the titles of the chapters from the corresponding sections in the film that they accompany. The CD is pretty much packed out, and from viewing the film I wasn't aware of any major cues that were left out. Overall, the soundtrack album does a good job of presenting the score. Still I do have a few issues with the release. While the album cover is essentially the same as the picture of the four Hobbits crowded together, there are sleeve covers of different characters that cover the front of the case. So don't worry if you had to pick just one. There is also a different release altogether that is simply the same CD in much nicer packaging. I haven't seen this particular one, but I've heard it is quite nice looking, just more expensive and the CD doesn’t contain any additional or different material. While I don't have any major problem with this, it could be confusing to some. Also, the CD insists on popping up Internet Explorer (or whatever you have configured as your primary browser), and for those of you who like to listen to CDs on the computer, this can be a rather annoying little "feature."

This is an excellent score and I am very pleased that Shore was hired to compose for the film. This is exactly what one would expect from a Lord of the Rings score and I am greatly interested in hearing the next two installments.