Ringer Spy Silivren-Gul writes: I had the privilege today to go to see Howard Shore conduct LOTR music at the Royal Festival Hall today with the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
It was nothing short of spectacular! The music was performed in six movements, two for each film. The set up was as follows:
Fellowship Of The Ring
Movement 1:
The Prophecy-Concerning Hobbits – The Shadow Of The Past – A Short Cut To Mushrooms – The Old Forest – A Knife In The Dark
Movement 2:
Many Meetings – The Ring Goes South – A Journey In The Dark – The Bridge of Khazad-Dum – Lothlorien (which was incorrectly spelt in the program as Lothloriem!) – Gandalf’s Lament – Farewell To Lorien – The Great River – The Breaking Of The Fellowship (Including In Dreams but not May It Be 🙁 )
20 minute interval
The Two Towers
Movement 3:
Foundations Of Stone – The Taming Of Smeagol – The Riders Of Rohan – The Black Gate Is Closed – Evenstar – The White Rider – Treebeard – The Forbidden Pool
Movement 4:
The Hornburg – Forth Eorlingas – Isengard Unleashed – Gollum’s Song
The Return Of The King
Movement 5:
Hope And Memory – The White Tree – The Steward Of Gondor (No vocals 🙁 ) – Cirith Ungol – Anduril
Movement 6:
The End Of All Things – The Return Of The King – The Grey Havens – Into The West
Standing Ovation ( 🙂 )
Throughout the performance, artwork by John Howe and Alan Lee was shown on a screen above the orchestra, and not clips from the films. It made an excellent mix, putting together film music and book artwork, and proved very popular.
The Choirs present were “London Voices” (soloists : Susan Flannery and Lawrence Wallington) and the “London Oratory School (Schola Cantorum)” (soloist: Benedict Delmaestro). Also present, doing most of the solo vocals was an exquisitely talented Scandinavian woman by the name of “Sissel” (www.sissel.net) who did an amazing job singing many solo parts.
All this, combined with the energetic conducting from the amazing Howard Shore made up a very memorable concert, and for those who could not go, tickets are still on sale for the 22nd September (Royal Albert Hall) when there will be a similar performance, in honour of Frodo and Bilbo’s birthday! (www.royalalberthall.com) I am certainly going again, and I recommend it to you all!
