The Lord of the Rings, music by Howard Shore

Howard Shore's name is and will be eternally linked to a trilogy (or rather sexalogy) of films, which were the ones that gave him fame, awards and renown. The unforgettable soundtrack of The Lord of the rings and that continuation, or rather prequel called The Hobbit.

Despite his rich and heterogeneous career, his path has always guided him along paths far from the commercial circuits, since he has preferred to carefully choose each project, depending on the challenge it has posed for him and for his particular style as a composer. Despite this, he has worked with a series of highly recognized and valued filmmakers and, in some cases, has worked with them several times.

Who is Howard Shore?

Born in Toronto (Canada), on October 18, 1946, Howard Leslie Shore is a saxophonist and composer with more than 80 collaborations in different films, who has written scores such as the aforementioned The Lord of the Rings, that led him to the Oscar, or The silence of the lambs. He is also a constant collaborator of director David Cronenberg, having composed all the scores for his films since 1979, except for one.

Trained at the Berklee College of Music, in the late sixties and early seventies, he was part of the band Lighthouse. He wrote the lyrics, melodies and played different wind instruments with them, his great specialty, in addition to being a frontman.

Howard Shore's strategy in his great success for Peter Jackson's films was previously replicated by geniuses like John Williams in Star Wars and later by other composers such as Ramin Djawadi in Game of Thrones. It followed a clear pattern: create a series of main themes associated with certain places and characters around which the rest of the musical pieces of the trilogy would be conveyed.

Thus, it traditionally uses different leitmotifs, that in their different forms sound throughout the three films. They accompany their characters, and the composer varies and mixes them together, to create a soundtrack recognized with three Oscar awards. As a curiosity, it should be noted that Shore appears in a cameo in the extended version of the film The return of the King, as Rohan's guard, something he would repeat in Peter Jackson's next film, King Kong¸ as a conductor in the theater.

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Howard Shore Awards and Nominations

The trilogy created by JRR Tolkien and made into a film by Peter Jackson facilitated the meeting between Howard Shore and the Ó Awardsscar. In 2001, the Canadian won the statuette for best soundtrack for The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring; and in 2003, also the Oscar Award for best soundtrack for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King and the Oscar for best song for Into the West, belonging to the same film. Later, in 2011, he was nominated for an Oscar for best soundtrack for Hugo's invention, by Martin Scorsese, but did not win the award.

On the other hand, at the Golden Globes he has been nominated six times, two without a prize, for Hugo's invention and Eastern Promises and four of them winning the award for best soundtrack. It was like that with The Aviator in 2005; The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, in 2004; Into the West, as best original song that same year; and the Golden Globe for best soundtrack in 2002, for The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.

Howard Leslie Shore's Greatest Film Music Hits

As we mentioned, Howard Shore's great success came with The Lord of the rings. Apart from the aforementioned awards obtained by the composer, since 2004, he has been on a world tour in which he conducts local orchestras that perform his symphonic adaptation of the soundtrack of the trilogy of The Lord of the rings. This work is titled The Lord of the Rings: Symphony in Six Movements. The work is divided into two movements for each of the films and an intermission between the second and third movements.

In 2006 he returned to Middle Earth to create the soundtrack for the trilogy of The Hobbit, whose filming took place between 2011 and 2012. The three films, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012), The Desolation of Smaug (2013) and The Battle of the Five Exandrcitos (2014) finally had its soundtrack. With this, the Canadian musician established himself as the only composer of the saga of six films based on the legendarium by Tolkien.

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'The Lord of the Rings' soundtrack

The songs from the OST of The Lord of the rings They are based on the exceptional thematic development of Shore's soundtracks, which manage to create their own particular narrative script, thus completing the characters, races and feelings that develop on the big screen. It is quite unlikely not to enjoy the delicious music of The Hobbits and The Shire, a sweet, hopeful and dreamy score, perfect for recreating this group of small characters who seem to be the least important in the entire story, when it is absolutely false, and shows one of the most lively and entertaining musical elements of the entire soundtrack.

They represent an exceptional counterpoint to more dramatic and dark themes such as 'The prophecy' either 'The brotherhood of the ring', an absolute technical display and very careful thematically, which tunes perfectly with the development of the story. A relevant example of this contrast is the variation on the brotherhood theme, in which a child's soprano voice adds a desolate and sad ending to the moment in which the brotherhood of the ring separates.

Both once again clearly differentiate themselves from other songs that are full of action, strength and emotion such as 'The Bridge of KhazadDum', with a wonderful use of voices, or when the ring specters are represented with a somber and gloomy chorus. that rests on an already loaded score. An overwhelming technical work and a delicious balance define this masterful score.

The Film Symphony Orchestra, which offers the best film music in concert, has renewed the repertoire of its current Fénix tour and, from now on, offers new essential songs from the world of the seventh art. Among them, themes of The Lord of the rings, Gladiator, Beauty and the Beast, The CodeI say da Vinci, either Matrix, among others. Our show includes the best soundtracks in concert, unforgettable music to remember Howard Shore.

Shore's impeccable career has led him to continue composing for many famous films to this day. Some of them are great critical or public successes, such as eastern promises, Cosmopolis, Spotlight and recently Pieces of a Woman. His four Academy Award nominations and six Golden Globe nominations reflect his achievements, a list that is too long, but one that shows that he is a truly unique composer.