Hailed as an adventure to match
Raiders of the Lost Ark for thrills and
Star Wars for visual magic, the first installment of the
The Lord of the Rings trilogy demands an outsize score. Luckily, composing powerful film music is nothing new for
Howard Shore, a Hollywood favorite responsible for
The Silence of the Lambs, Ed Wood, and other soundtracks. And if Shore's credentials aren't enough, Celtic chanteuse Enya contributes two magical numbers to this winning soundtrack. Shore's epic score is operatic in length, richness, and variety -- utilizing a 100-piece orchestra with three different choirs. Immediately, the listener is seized by the high drama of this music. The score opens with "The Prophecy," as the powerful somberness of the orchestra's brass and the voices of the choir (singing lyrics by Philippa Boyens in an ancient-sounding language ), conjure images of the majestically sinister Gothic world of Middle-earth. And the magic continues with the "Fellowship Theme," a pastoral melody that follows the main character, Frodo Baggins, throughout his quest. The passage is typical of Shore's masterful musical rendering of both the grand scale of Tolkien's classic and the essential themes of love and brotherhood that lie at the heart of the tale. Among the ten soloists featured is Elizabeth Fraser of the Cocteau Twins on the stirring "Lothlorien," which uses an Indian bowed lute to haunting effect. This is an exuberant score filled with cinematic thunder and childlike wonder, and not since John Williams's triumphant
Star Wars theme has there been movie music so likely to capture the listener's imagination.
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