Life in Shades of F-Major: The Lord of the Rings: Symphony: The Black Riders

The Lord of the Rings: Symphony: The Black Riders

>> Wednesday, October 7, 2009

I don't know about you, but when I read Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings series when I was a teenager, the mere description of the Ringwraiths or Black Riders sent me hiding under my bed covers, but when I saw the movie, they scared the caa-caa out of me! I'm convinced that a great deal of that terrifying effect came from Howard Shore's amazing film score.

6 comments:

Unknown October 7, 2009 at 11:05 AM: Hi Lynette,

I haven't read Tolkien and, although one of the films was on TV just the other night, I haven't watched those either because I have no idea of the characters or storyline. It does all seem dark and foreboding! A good score can make a movie.
Lynette October 7, 2009 at 11:29 AM: I'm surprised you haven't read Tolkien, Derrick. But then again, he's not everyone's cup of tea. He was brilliant--even creating an Elvin language that has its own grammer, alphabet, and various dialects.
Raph G. Neckmann October 7, 2009 at 5:22 PM: I read Lord of the Rings many years ago and was totally captivated. So much so that I daren't watch the films in case they 'spoil' the book for me!

Listening to the film score for the Black Riders, it reminds me very much of Carl Orff's Carmina Burana.
Lynette October 7, 2009 at 5:46 PM: Hello Raph,

I was afraid of the films spoiling the books, too, but Tolkien was such a fabulous writer--describing his characters and scenes in such detail, that I think everyone saw them the same way. It was amazing how they captured everything that I pictured in my head in the films. And I've heard others say the very same thing. And Gollum--he was amazing!

Thanks so much for sharing your comment!
Kelly Sedinger October 10, 2009 at 9:42 AM: Howard Shore's music for those films is just SO staggeringly great. Seriously, I am in awe of what Shore did there.

There's a book coming out sometime soon about the scores for those films, which I can't wait to read.
Jasper October 29, 2009 at 9:09 PM: Wow! At 1:20+ my heart started racing.

Saw the LotR, but I guess some of its musical power had been lost on me, 'cause I would not have recognized this at all.

Like Raph G.N., I find this very Orffish, and would imagine the netherworldly, unsouled black wraiths to evoke something more like Penderecki (i.e., 2001 monolith music) or George Crumb. But as Orffish music goes, this is terrifically well done. And terrifyingly well done.

Thanks for posting!