Go to the mobile version of this Web site.

Login | Contact Us | Site Map | Paid archives | Electronic edition | Subscription Questions | Extras

Score keepers

'Lord of the Rings' music lives on in symphony performances

Marc Shulgold, Rocky Mountain News

Published May 16, 2006 at midnight

Text size  

More Music

More stories »

As you might expect of anything connected to The Lord of the Rings, the numbers behind Howard Shore's score for the Peter Jackson film trilogy are mighty impressive:

• Four months of solid research.

• Nearly four years to compose.

• A total of 11 hours of music.

• More than 50 leitmotifs (individual themes).

"It was pretty daunting at first," Shore admitted of the task. "Writing film scores is always difficult to do - but the funny thing was, I didn't want to stop when it was over."

Shore has since moved on to other projects: He's preparing a staged version of The Fly for L.A. Opera with film director David Cronenberg and author David Henry Hwang (M. Butterfly).

Yet, the Rings saga continues for Shore, though it's been almost three years since the release of the final film, The Return of the King.

At the suggestion of conductor John Mauceri, the composer boiled down his score to a two-hour, six-movement version.

Since its premiere in New Zealand 2 1/2 years ago, Lord of the Rings Symphony has been played in concert more than 100 times - 40 of those personally led by Shore.

This weekend, Markus Huber will lead the Colorado Symphony, CSO Chorus, Colorado Children's Chorale, soprano Kaitlyn Lusk and other guest soloists in the Symphony's Colorado premiere.

The composer stressed that the coming together of all those musicians continues the sense of community that marked the creation of the movie trilogy.

"It was like a dream - an ideal collaboration," Shore said of his work with Jackson, the screenwriters, artist Alan Lee and untold others involved with the project.

"You need a lot of imagery in creating the music - particularly Alan's beautiful conceptual drawings.

"And Tolkien is a wonderful describer," Shore noted.

"I felt an amazing responsibility to do (the book) well. I knew I had to be true to Tolkien's story."

Most concert performances of Shore's adaptation have included giant-screen projections of Lee's drawings - though the roundness of Boettcher will preclude that. Not a problem, Shore suggested.

"It works without the visuals. Most people know the story and the music. Even if you didn't know anything, you could feel the arc of the story (in the music)."

The lack of the striking visuals of Lee's drawings - not to mention Jackson's films - has scarcely bothered audiences, who've flocked to these concerts around the world. Shore is not surprised.

"John (Mauceri) framed the idea (for the Symphony) to me this way: He said, 'If you don't do this, the music will die.' And he's right. Music only has a life if it's performed.

"What he presented was such an obvious notion. Sometimes, the best ideas are so simple."

Lord of the Rings Symphony

• When and where: 7:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Boettcher Hall, 14th and Curtis streets

• Cost: $17.50 to $75

• Information: 303-623-7876

• Of note: Markus Huber conducts the Colorado premiere of the adaptation of Howard Shore's Oscar-winning film score.

Marc Shulgold is the music and dance writer. or 303-892-5296