5 things you didn’t know about the soundtrack of ‘The Lord of the Rings’ according to Howard Shore: “The music clarifies the story”

There are films that would not be the same without their soundtrack, and ‘The Lord of the Rings’ is the perfect example: the soundtrack composed by Howard Shore for the Peter Jackson trilogy remains today as one of the most ambitious, epic and beautiful compositions in Hollywood history.

This is how the lucky ones who attend ‘The Lord of the Rings in Concert’, a three-day event in which the films will be screened accompanied by live music. The Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona (April 14, 15 and 16) and the Wizink Center in Madrid (October 6, 7 and 8) host this unique occasion: a giant screen, a symphony orchestra, voice choirs and the grandeur of one of the most beloved and Oscar-winning trilogies in the history of the seventh art.

“It’s wonderful to have my music performed live: when you hear it with the film it’s like seeing the film for the first time, it’s a unique experience”, says Howard Shore himself in an interview with PHOTOGRAMS conducted by telephone from his New York residence. “I think Tolkien’s world resonates with a lot of people around the world because Tolkien’s books have been read and revered since their publication in the early ’60s, and in my music I just tried to reflect the fascinating mythology he created.”

next to Shore, We go back in time to discover some secrets of the creation of the soundtrack of ‘The Lord of the Rings’from the involvement of Peter Jackson to the importance of each passage of the score to better understand the worlds of Middle-earth.

1 – The main inspiration was the books, not the movies

Before the first film even began shooting, Howard Shore already began working on and creating the bulk of the trilogy’s soundtrack. Thus, the starting point was the work of JRR Tolkien, who studied for months to create his musical compositions for the film ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring’. “Tolkien’s writing was always on my mind: the books were always open on my desk while I was composing”says the composer, who wanted to do justice to the writer and convey the themes and complexities of his stories and characters from Middle-earth.

Shore composed the score from the ground up rather than being inspired by the visuals of the film after it was shot. “I created many ideas beyond the visual, it was something very broad, and Once I had composed enough pieces, musically and thematically, and had defined the motifs, then I would start applying all of that to the film.“explains Shore, who also highlights the importance of the voices (“In the adult and children’s choir we had great singers during the recording sessions”) and why it was essential for him that the songs that had lyrics were extracted from the poems of Tolkien and the fictional languages ​​of his fantasy world: “It was important to me to express the ideas of Tolkien’s work using many of his original words, and it was a way of taking his song lyrics and poetry into music, into the soundtrack, so we represented his writing.

2 – The most important thing: love for nature

Beyond Shore’s total immersion in Tolkien’s work, the composer found a rather curious point of connection between the two: his devotion to the natural world. His defense of, as the writer said, everything that is “green and good.” For the composer, one of the essential aspects of the process of creating the music for the film was not to forget the importance of “love for nature” as a central theme. “I live in a forest and I am very connected to nature, and I think that was the connection between us that allowed me to understand his work a little more in detail”he tells us.

Being faithful to this source material was undoubtedly one of the great challenges for the trilogy. But what was the biggest personal challenge for Howard Shore? “The challenge was to be concentrated and make sense of the compositions, from the role and also as conductor of the orchestra; It was a challenge because of the long time it took me to finish the score, almost four years because it was a year for each part of the trilogy and as many months for the extended versions”.

3 – Each place has its own melody to guide the viewer

Too often we underestimate the power of music in film: the effect of its presence and also of its absence, its ability to manipulate our emotions and, in the case of ‘The Lord of the Rings’, its ability to help us better understand history. The world of Middle-earth, which has its own map and is full of different places and numerous characters, is not easy. According to Shore, one of his main goals in creating the music for this fantasy world was to make sure that the melodies helped the most clueless viewers to never lose the thread and, above all, the emotional connection with the story.

“Music establishes connections, and gives clarity to things”says the composer. “I always looked for musical motifs that represented a place or a culture. For example, in the World of Men there is Rohan and Gondor – the music gives you two different thematic pieces, and if you perceive the theme while watching the film, you understand that this it is part of Rohan or Gondor. It helps to clarify, I think, some ambiguities that can appear if you don’t know the story or haven’t read the book and if you’re watching the movie for the first time.”

4 – Peter Jackson was in each and every one of the recordings

A composer’s job can be very lonely, especially during the early part of the process, which is perhaps why Howard Shore is full of praise when discussing his main collaborators during the creation of the ‘Lord of the Rings’ soundtrack. “I liked working with the artists during the recordings. Of course, I was composing and orchestrating alone for a lot of the time, but then I was lucky enough to conduct the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and work with great artists like Annie Lennox and Enya“he recalls. In fact, together with Annie Lennox and Fran Walsh he won the Oscar for Best Original Song for the song ‘Into the West’, included in ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King’.

Now, the one who did not miss a single day of recording the music was the director Peter Jackson. “He was with me in the recording room every day”says Shore. “He would wait for me to finish, until I got the perfect take in my opinion, and then he would give me some pointers: there could be a crescendo here, this could be more like this or more like this… We worked very closely, hand in hand for recordings to make the music as beautiful as possible, to get the best performance on the score recording.”

5 – Howard Shore’s favorite piece of music

After four years of work and a soundtrack that spans eleven hours of footage from all three films, is it possible that Howard Shore has a particular favorite part, one that still resonates with him more than twenty years later? Of course. And perhaps it is the one you least expect. “I like the intimate scenes: the scenes with Frodo and Sam, those are very pure, they came straight from my heart”, confess. Far removed from the epic of battle, the musical pieces surrounding the two hobbits on their journey to Mordor have a special place in the veteran composer’s heart.

It is something that he already brought from his reading of Tolkien’s novels, when these characters already stole his heart on paper. “I like the way Tolkien created this beautiful friendship between Frodo and Sam within an epic and enormous adventure, but always safeguarding the intimacy of their relationship.. I like that, I like how he did it, and I tried to recreate it with music from the movies.”