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FrogmortonJustice65
Lorien
Dec 17 2014, 3:34pm
Post #1 of 14
(790 views)
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Howard Shore is brilliant. (spoilers)
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Saw the film last night, I liked it very much, but I just wanted to note a few awesome features of the soundtrack. I haven't listened to the soundtrack on its own yet, but noticed a few things as I watched:
- Smaug's theme lingers. Even after the dragon's death, his theme music maintains a presence in the film's score. The motif shifts from being directly linked to Smaug, and becomes symbolic of greed/dragon sickness generally. I thought this was a brilliant touch, so smart, and I didn't predict that this would happen, but a very good move.
- The scene where Thorin gives Bilbo the mithril shirt recalls the music that played in FOTR's score when Bilbo gives the mithril shirt to Frodo. Very subtle, but very rewarding for people who know the score inside and out.
- The fellowship theme appears! Aside from the Shire theme, in my opinion Shore's finest work is likely the Fellowship theme, which up until this point hadn't appeared in the Hobbit films. It doesn't last long, and there isn't even a full statement of the theme, but I thought it was a nice touch.
Anybody else have good moments they want to share?
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priell3
Lorien
Dec 17 2014, 4:08pm
Post #2 of 14
(390 views)
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...these films wouldn't be anywhere near as successful as they have been. Just my opinion of course.
This review on Amazon is the most complete and informative.
MikeP
(This post was edited by priell3 on Dec 17 2014, 4:11pm)
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FlyingSerkis
Rivendell
Dec 17 2014, 4:18pm
Post #3 of 14
(311 views)
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Lots of fantastic moments from Shore apu
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I loved the bits where Shore supplemented the dwarven music (esp. House of Durin) with deep grunts, a la Khazad-Dum. Great drama and a good bit of continuity. I think the Moria sequence will have a lot more musical significance to me now, with the backdrop of the Hobbit stuff.
And the way the Laketown theme grew in this film was beautiful, heartbreaking and uplifting in equal measures. Really captured the fall from peaceful (if slightly troubled) town to lost and homeless community, and then the forced transition to battle mode. Super cool.
Then there was the almost martial Rivendell music for badass!Elrond. 
Like you, I immediately noticed the mithril shirt motif and was mighty pleased!  I also agree with you about the Smaug material.
To be honest, the way the Aragorn reference was dragged out made me kind of ambivalent about the appearance of the Fellowship theme... maybe I would have preferred it if the dialogue didn't make it at all clear that Thranders was talking about Aragorn, and we just had the music as a little reference/forshadowing!
I haven't got the soundtrack on CD yet (waiting for Christmas!) but watching the film, I found a great deal to love, being a complete fanboy of the other Middle-earth scores. Can't wait to really absorb this score with all the others. 
PS: Bring on the Complete Recordings! (And bring back the LOTR Complete Recordings!)
Then Manwė and Yavanna parted for that time, and Yavanna returned to Aulė; and he was in his smithy, pouring molten metal into a mould. 'Eru is bountiful,' she said. 'Now let thy children beware! For there shall walk a power in the forests whose wrath they will arouse at their peril.'
'Nonetheless they will have need of wood,' said Aulė, and he went on with his smith-work.
(This post was edited by FlyingSerkis on Dec 17 2014, 4:19pm)
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tiamy
Rivendell
Dec 17 2014, 4:41pm
Post #4 of 14
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That mithril thing is a nice touch. I was half expecting it to appear and it did so I was very pleased.
I now had the chance to listen to the soundtrack on its own and I noticed subtle nods to the track "Elanor" and "Bilbo's Song" in 2:29-2:45 of "The Return Journey" which i think is brilliant.
What i find interesting also is the fact that the beginning of the track "To the Death" sounds similar to the Moria mockup found in the Rarities CD.
You can hear it here:http://youtu.be/LqGoo675W7E
It's as if Shore went back to his early Moria material and finally decided to use it :)
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Magpie
Immortal
Dec 17 2014, 4:59pm
Post #5 of 14
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just fyi for those who might not know...
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that reviewer is one of my soundtrack friends from way back in the day. :-)
I even got to meet him in NYC for the FOTR RCMH concert.
per your comment, "these films wouldn't be anywhere near as successful as they have been"
I wrote perhaps a decade ago, "I've emerged the other side of my obsession (for the soundtracks) liking HS's score quite a bit more than I like PJ's movie."
LOTR soundtrack website ~ magpie avatar gallery
TORn History Mathom-house ~ Torn Image Posting Guide
(This post was edited by entmaiden on Dec 17 2014, 5:59pm)
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Magpie
Immortal
Dec 17 2014, 5:06pm
Post #6 of 14
(263 views)
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I haven't seen the movie but I've listened to the soundtrack one and a half times
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For all the obsessive listening I did of the LOTR soundtracks, I've mostly just put the Hobbit soundtracks on while working and just enjoy them as background music.*
That said, quite a few moments percolated up into my conscious attention because they were musically interesting or even emotionally moving - even without seeing them attached to the visuals.
I'm really looking forward to listening to them more and with a bit more attention. Or perhaps a bit less distraction. :-)
*before someone extrapolates that simple comment into 'she admits that Shore is a slacker who was phoning it in with TH' or whatever sorts of disparaging nonsense some folks seem predisposed to get up to ... NO! how I relate to this music is almost entirely a change in me. I was frickin obsessed with the LOTR score and it was a glorious obsession. But I made a decision not to start down that road with the Hobbit score. I am just a casual fan this time around.
LOTR soundtrack website ~ magpie avatar gallery
TORn History Mathom-house ~ Torn Image Posting Guide
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FrogmortonJustice65
Lorien
Dec 17 2014, 5:10pm
Post #7 of 14
(247 views)
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thanks for sharing! Also, very interesting that you have met the reviewer Magpie.
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priell3
Lorien
Dec 17 2014, 5:48pm
Post #10 of 14
(203 views)
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I'll will check it out when I'm not supposed to be working!
Thanks.
MikeP
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peterLF
Rivendell
Dec 17 2014, 7:54pm
Post #11 of 14
(181 views)
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The LotR scores are brilliant, the Hobbit ones? Not so much....
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I've been pretty disappointed with the hobbit soundtracks, and still am. Other than the Misty Mountains-song, there really isn't much to talk about. And that wasn't even Shore's work.
He still manages proper arches in designing the emotion of the scenes, but I miss two or three iconic themes to carry them. Like the rest of the production on these Hobbit movies, it seems rushed and a bit shallow.
And that's without talking about the credits-songs. Boyds is very nice, but the other two has me shaking my head. I know it wouldn't be appropriate to do elven style ballads like there were in LotR, but Neill Finnan? Ed Sheeran? I would think baritone dwarven songs would be appropriate, but these seem just whiney and like something only Alfrid would like :-)
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Lindele
Gondor
Dec 18 2014, 2:48am
Post #12 of 14
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Be mistaking 'catchy' for 'worth talking about'... There is an enormous amount to talk about in these scores.
'Catchy' music belongs on top 40 charts by one hit wonders, not in Howard Shores scores.
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peterLF
Rivendell
Dec 22 2014, 1:19am
Post #13 of 14
(31 views)
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I'm not comparing Shore to a one-hit wonder. I'm comparing him to Howard Shore. Are you saying you don't like the LotR scores...?
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Dipling
Lorien
Dec 22 2014, 2:59pm
Post #14 of 14
(26 views)
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is really great. But where was it in the movie?
"Mithrill" or "Bred for war" should be bombastic in cinema, but wasn't used. Don't understand why?
And so forth...
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