Howard Shore Nic Raine Prague Philharmonic Orchestra - Music from The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (19 tracks) +Album Reviews

Great interpretations of soft passages, but ...

G. Kroener | Bamberg, Bavaria Germany | 08/21/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I've already listened to Nic Raine's work in Bond Back In Action 1 and 2 and thought it was very well done.

This is another effort by him, this time on the Lord Of The Rings trilogy, and, no hard feelings for Bond, but Lord Of The Rings Is a different calibre; and it shows.

Howard Shore has without a doubt created something that can only be described as the most powerful and thematically complex movie score in history and everyone except the maestro himself would have a hard time capturing the same magic with a different orchestra.

Where this 2 disc set really scores is in soft passages like Evenstar, Twilight And Shadow, the instrumental parts of the title songs or The Return Of The King. The solo vocals are very haunting.

Unfortunately, where this recording really fails is at the majestic and powerful cues like The White Tree or Forth Eorlingas. Somehow it doesn't flow very well, like the musicians had hickups. Additionally, The White Tree, maybe the most powerful piece in the trilogy, can't pick up any speed because the tempo is so much lower than the original.

This huge difference between soft and action is especially painful in The Fields Of The Pelennor. It starts out REALLY well with the arrival of Rohan on the Pelennor, but as soon as the music rises and the low brass picks up, it becomes almost unbearable.

On the positive side, the strings and the horns in quiet cues radiate an aura of majesty that's unbelievable, especially in The Return Of The King.

The question is, should you buy it? On one hand, if you're not absolutely nuts about Howard Shore's LOTR scores, then I'd definitely skip this one and go straight for the original.

On the other hand, if you love Shore's scores and want to listen to a fresh interpretation, I definitely would give it a try."

Not Even Close

The Otaku | Middle Eastern Seaboard | 06/15/2005

(1 out of 5 stars)

"As several people before have said, this is NOT the soundtrack to the epic trilogy, The Lord of the Rings. I myself own all three soundtracks and they make for one incredible 3.5+hrs of listening. THIS, however, is not even close to being the entire soundtrack. I love the packaging (I suggest they rerelease all the original soundtracks with that), but packaging alone doesn't make a CD.

Firstly, this "collection" removed the entire stock of work done by Enya in The Fellowship of the Ring (the entire second half of the soundtrack, from the Council of Elrond to May it Be [Ending Theme]). I found Enya's work extremely good and still wonder why they removed it. The rendition of May It Be (on CD 1) they have on this one seems devoid of vocals while the second one isn't done by Enya (again, I ask why).

Secondly, they remove immense chunks from the other two movies. The soaring pieces of The Return of the King (The End of All Things [the reclaiming of the Ring by Gollum] and Andúril [Aragon's receiving of the Sword of Kings] for examples) are condenced into four pieces.

Finally, they REDO all the work. What I hate about the constant rerecording of classical pieces such as Beethoven's 9th and Für Elise and other great works is they change the tones, depths, and emotions from the previous recording (sometimes, even adding or subtacting entire instruments). They do this to great effect (in a bad way) throughout this CD. Forth Eorlings, a magnificant piece from The Two Towers, is played as the riders of Rohan escape Helm's Deep, crushing the Uruk-Hai in their path while Gandalf and other riders charge from above. In this CD, they add a kettle drum and by doing so, slow the tempo of this uplifting piece while making it bombastic rather than majestic.

Overall, don't waste your money with this so-called "soundtrack". If you want each of the Lord of the Rings soundtracks, you'll either have to find another collection or buy each individually. But above all things, DO NOT buy this and expect the same wonderful pieces from the original score."

NOT the official soundtrack

B. George | 06/15/2005

(1 out of 5 stars)

"I picked up this CD on a recent trip to New York, assuming that it was a repackaging of the original soundtrack scores, done by Howard Shore. Come to find out, this is another orchestra and conductor's "interpretation" of the original film scores. To me, it is truly inferior quality to the original soundtrack composed and conducted by Howard Shore. Very disappointed with the quality and the little changes that have been made. Even the hobbit theme has been changed. Not impressed at all. If you love the original soundtrack score, steer clear of this one."

Worth It

Anthony B. Tardiff | Post Falls, Idaho | 03/29/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Howard Shore's scores to the three Lord of the Rings movies are a classical masterpiece in their own right, and as such I don't mind hearing them played by a different orchestra. While I prefer the originals on the whole, this set has some very nice things to recommend it. The best part is that you get instrumental renditions of the end credits song from each film. My favorite is "Into the West," from The Return of the King, with a cello replacing Annie Lennox's vocal performance. I really disliked Lennox's ugly, popified performance of the song, but I thought that the melody and orchestration were gorgeous, so I could not be more delighted to hear the song performed by a cello, with all original orchestration intact. That one track is worth $20 to me."

Good interpretation

J. Henson | Huntsville, AL USA | 01/02/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"First and foremost, this recording is a re-recording of a few of the highlights from all three of Howard Shore's epic and truly fantastic scores. Shore's compositions are fascinatingly and exquisitly complex and simultaneoulsy beautifully simplistic. I believe the scores take their place atop the best film score series aside only John William's Star Wars scores. The highest recommendations for any classical or neo-classical music fan.

Now, having said all that, some of the other reviewers have based their displeasure at the recording on the mere obvious fact that these aren't the original recordings with Howard Shore conducting the London Philharmonic. Well, if you pay any attention to the packaging or advertising, you should know that these are not the originals; rather, it is Nic Raine conducting the City of Prague Philharmonic. This orchestra re-records many classic and major new scores and is probably now the premier ensemble doing this type of work.

If you get a chance, you should definately pick up the original recordings (and for that matter the Complete Recordings) for the true musical experience. However, this recording is excellently performed, though admittedly it does lack some of the majesty of the originals in a few places. The arrangements are almost completely unaltered (though slightly here and there), and the sound quality is superior in HDCD/Dolby Surround. The record producer also talks about how the decision was made to split the violin section to opposite sides of the orchestra in order to give an added sense of depth to the sound to better reflect Shore's complex orchestration techniques and the "wet" sound mix of the originals.

In short, go for the originals first. But, if you're not willing to fork up the ~$50 for all three scores, or if you're like me and appreciate the deeper understanding of the music a fresh interpretation and alternate performace can give after already hearing the originals, then definately spring for this recording."

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