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04-04-2011, 10:23 PM | #1 |
Messenger of Hope
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: In a tiny, insignificant little town in one of the many States.
Posts: 5,076
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Fellowship of the Ring Score Symphony
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
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04-05-2011, 05:24 PM | #2 |
Blossom of Dwimordene
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: The realm of forgotten words
Posts: 10,411
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It sounds even more than that!
I always said that the music was very well done, but I think it is nothing compared to that concert!
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You passed from under darkened dome, you enter now the secret land. - Take me to Finrod's fabled home!... ~ Finrod: The Rock Opera |
05-05-2011, 04:47 AM | #3 |
Pile O'Bones
Join Date: May 2011
Posts: 16
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LotR Live Symphony performances
I've been lucky enough to attend all three performances of the film scores live at the Royal Albert Hall and totally agree with Folwren as to how wonderful the experience was. The score comes alive compared to listening to a studio recorded version normally heard as the soundtrack. You just get so much more emotion from a live performance, and it was incredible seeing the different instruments being used to make those iconic sounds recognizable from the films. Though at times it was easy to forget that there was a live orchestra playing away below the screen, since the storyline is still so compelling after repeated viewings!
I should mention that when we went to FotR live we were also lucky enough to have a talk by Howard Shore and Doug Adams before the performance and they told us about some of the more unusual instruments. And of course we also had the London Oratory Schola boys choir and London Voices - original soundtrack artists - perform the vocals, which was incredible, too! I do agree that the fortes drowned out the dialogue a little bit, but on the whole it was better than in the threatre! My only minor criticism would be to do with the acoustics of RAH, which caused the dialogue track to be far more echoey than a normal movie theatre would.
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