|
 Tracksounds
speaks with composer
HOWARD SHORE just
after the release of
the second installment
of his mammoth LORD OF
THE RINGS music
project: THE TWO
TOWERS COMPLETE
RECORDINGS.
Howard Shore shares
about his experience
in putting the
complete releases
together, his work on
the Lord of the Rings
Symphony, his foree
into the video game
genre, SOUL OF THE
ULTIMATE NATION, and
his possible
involvement in THE
HOBBIT!
CC: How do you feel
about the end product
of THE FELLOWSHIP OF
THE RING AND THE TWO
TOWERS COMPLETE
RECORDINGS?
HS: Well, we work on
them for about a year
each release and so
I'm really happy to be
putting out the
recordings thus far.
Now, we're starting on
RETURN OF THE KING.
Doug Adam's notes make
good connections
between Tolkien's
writings, Peter
Jackson's film and
even to my connection
through the music.
CC: Would you say that
these complete
recording releases are
as much for you
personally as they
might be for the fans?
HS: We always talked
about putting out all
the recordings. We
were talking about it
when we were
originally working on
the THE TWO TOWERS, so
the idea has been
around for a while.
When we were putting
out the initial
releases, we could
only do the one-disc
release at the time. I
always had in my mind
the hope that I would
put everything out and
now we have the time
to spend on it. There
is a group of us who
work on the project
very specifically
throughout most of the
year.
CC: So you've
completed two and
you're diving into THE
RETURN OF THE KING,
which probably has
more unreleased music
than the other two.
How will you handle
that?
HS: Oh yes. RETURN OF
THE KING will be four
compact discs. In
total there will be 10
compact discs...close
to 11 hours of music!
CC: Now THE LORD OF
THE RINGS SYMPHONY
you've been working
on, has that
experience provided
you an additional
opportunity to fine
tune your work?
HS: Well, the symphony
is a six movement
piece that runs two
hours and ten minutes,
so it is an edited
version of the
complete work. But
yes, I did do that.
Actually, I'm still
doing little tweaks to
the music to this day.
I'm always working on
some new edition of
it. I'm still doing
little things to the
symphony.
It wasn't practical to
play 11 hours of
music, but it was
practical to play two
hours in a concert
hall with an
intermission. In the
symphony, you are only
hearing about 1/5th of
all of the music. The
complete recordings is
a way to hear the
piece as it was
created. It has a form
and a shape to it that
I don't think anyone
has ever really heard.
CC: Do you think you
will release the
symphonic version as a
live recording
someday?
HS: I think I will,
but not until all of
the complete
recordings have been
released. I feel that
it's best to have the
music as it was
composed first, then
you could do a live
recording.
CC: Is there a
definitive version of
the music of THE LORD
OF THE RINGS?
HS: I think the
complete recordings
are definitive.
CC: Now, I've listened
to THE TWO TOWERS
COMPLETE RECORDINGS
a couple times
through, and just as
other have remarked,
there is so much new
music that it feels
like a completely new
score. Was this your
hope or intention?
HS: I knew something
would happen when I
started assembling it.
You have to realize
that I never got to
listen to it. We were
so busy making the
films. When I was
recording THE TWO
TOWERS, we recorded it
section by section. I
never heard the music
in total until I saw
the finished film. But
even the film doesn't
have the complete
score in it. The
original soundtrack we
put out was only an
hour or seventy
minutes, so that
wasn't complete
either. It wasn't
until I put all the
music together and
took the time to
listen to those three
hours of music that I
began to understand
how it was really
shaped, what the form
was. It started to
make more sense to me
the more I listened to
it. Now, having
listened to it all
many, many times, I
have begun to
understand it in a
different way. Even
though I had created
it and wrote it...it
was like writing
chapters but not
reading the whole
book.
CC: Now Doug Adams
notes on the score
reveals a level of
depth that even those
who have listened to
film music for a long
time might not pick up
on...not at least
until they read the
notes and listen to
complete recordings.
Now you must have had
this intricacy in mind
as you were writing
the music for the
films all along.
HS: Yes. This is
because the
composition is based
on Tolkien and the
intricacy, the
complexity of it is
due to the complexity
of the book. Even I
didn't really see it
all because it was
like I was looking at
in very small pieces.
It wasn't until I
assembled it all that
I began to understand
how it all related,
which is what Doug's
book is about. It's
like we are
discovering it now
more than when I was
actually writing it!
It wasn't that it was
perfectly planned.
It's because the
composition is
describing Tolkien's
world. It's
inherent, then, that
the music has the same
complexity that
Tolkien put into the
book. It wouldn't be
written correctly to
his book if it were
otherwise.
CC: This is an
interesting
thought-line because
one can think of some
other film-trilogies
that feature some
surface connections of
musical themes and
motifs, but nothing
near the level found
in THE LORD OF THE
RINGS. Are you saying
that some of that
detail was intentional
yet some of it was
unintentional but
still happened because
you were following
what Tolkien had
already established?
HS: Exactly. It
becomes more
intentional in THE TWO
TOWERS and it becomes
even more intentional
in THE RETURN OF KING.
At the beginning of
the project, the level
of Tolkien's
complexity seemed
daunting, but after
two years of writing
it became interesting.
So I wrote my way into
it and around it and
through it. THE RETURN
OF THE KING, being the
end, is really the
culmination of all of
the work that came
before. You'll see
that in Doug's writing
and in his notes.
CC: Now you have had
projects since THE
LORD OF THE RINGS, how
do those projects
compare, in your own
mind, when you can't
go to that level of
depth and detail? Is
it freeing for you or
constraining?
HS: There is only one
LORD OF THE RINGS!
Actually, I want
to go to that level.
I'm doing an opera now
because I need to
create some music like
that. You build up a
certain type of
thinking and you need
the creative space to
exercise. Films are
great and fun and I
love doing them...but
as I said there really
is only one LORD OF
THE RINGS. There was
only that one book and
I would love to find
another subject that
allow me to do that
kind of work for.
CC: Now that you say
that, there has been
quite a bit of talk
about THE HOBBIT being
made into one or two
movies...possibly by
Peter Jackson. If that
happens, do you see
that as another
opportunity to dive
back into that world
and detail?
HS: Yes. Definitely.
Peter and I both want
to make the movie.
We've talked about it.
We really want to do
it, so we're hoping it
all works out. I would
love to return to
Middle Earth and write
more music for that
world.
CC: In the back of
your mind, have
already begun that
process?
HS: Yes.
CC: Sort of difficult
not to, I'd think!
HR. Yes.
CC: You did a score
for a video game, SOUL
OF THE ULTIMATE
NATION, which has has
a lot of similarities
to THE LORD OF THE
RINGS. Firstly, how
did you get involved
with that project?
HS: Well, that is a
fantasy world that I
composed a piece for
based on drawings and
beautiful sketches of
cultures, civilizations,
and characters. The
game is actually still
in development. I
played the THE LORD OF
THE RINGS symphony at
the Kremlin in Moscow
and it was with a
Russian orchestra - a
really wonderful one,
the National
Philharmonic of
Russia. The choir was
the National Arts
Choral Society of
Moscow. Well, I wanted
to write something for
them and this video
game project came up.
So I wrote the piece
for them and created
another work based on
another complete
fantasy world.
CC: Did you get to
utilize some material
for SOUL OF THE
ULTIMATE NATION that
you didn't use for THE
LORD OF THE RINGS or
did you start from
scratch?
HS: I think I just
started from scratch
and I wrote for text
that was written in
ancient Korean. I
probably had more
flexibility with this
project because I
wasn't writing to
pictures or movement.
There was creative
room to spread out a
little.
CC: Do you see
yourself continuing to
compose for video
games?
HS: I think that it is
an interesting world
to work in. Yes.
CC: Possibly giving
you some of that depth
that you want to
explore...even more
than film?
HS: Well...don't know.
Possibly.
CC: One last question
- Do you have any
timetable for the
release of THE RETURN
OF THE KING COMPLETE
RECORDING?
HS: It will be next
year sometime. It
might come out a
little earlier than
THE TWO TOWERS. It
just depends on how
well we do with it.
CC: Thank you so much
for your time and
congratulations on the
release of THE TWO
TOWERS COMPLETE
RECORDINGS. All the
best to you.
HS: Thank you and to
you too.
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