Ringer Jennie sends us news about a lecture that singer-songwriter Neil Finn gave at Yale University last September about songwriting and creativity and having a willingness to take what he calls “unknown paths”. If you’ve ever wondered about how the creative process works for artists, or if you’re an artist yourself wondering about what others do to get themselves into that creative space, this is a fantastically insightful talk.
Later in the talk, Finn also speaks specifically goes into the process of writing “Song of the Lonely Mountain” (it’s in response to a question from the audience, at about 1:08 into the video) Finn even mentions he was trying to “work in some Dwarven language…but wasn’t very successful…”
[Watch Neil Finn’s talk]
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J.W. Braun here. Readers of my book, The Lord of the Films, sometimes comment that I must have a musical background and that it’s obvious I’m a big fan of Howard Shore’s music for The Lord of the Rings. Well, both are true! I play the violin, viola, and piano, and I think The Lord of the Rings score is the greatest score of all time.
Today, the soundtrack for the first Hobbit film has become available in a two disc set. While it will probably take me months to truly appreciate it, here are my track by track thoughts today.
Continue reading “JW Reviews The Hobbit Soundtrack”
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Howard Shore’s score for ‘The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey‘ is out today! If you pre-ordered via Amazon or iTunes, you should be getting your shipping or availability notices right now. If you have not placed your order…what are you waiting for?!? The soundtrack is available both digitally and as a 2 CD set. The Special Edition of the soundtrack features six exclusive bonus tracks, seven extended score cues, and deluxe liner notes. Click on one of the links here to place your order today. After the break you can view the official release from Nov 1st outlining the tracks and detailse. [itunes: Special Edition or Standard] [Amazon.com: Special Edition or Standard]
Continue reading “‘The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey’ Soundtrack Available Today!”
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It’s not that long ago that Howard Shore’s OST for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey was fully revealed for the first time as a listenable web-stream. Problem was, you couldn’t pick single tracks to listen to, and if you paused it, you had to start all over. Now, Rolling Stone offers the standard edition to listen to in its entirety with the ability to select tracks independently and the ability to pause as well.
Or if you want to trial the Special Edition, Watchtower Records has short previews from every track available on its website.
In the Rolling Stone article, Neil Finn says that “Song of the Lonely Mountain” builds on a musical theme written for the movie by New Zealand film composers Plan 9 and David Long, which a group of dwarves sing in an early scene. To work on the song, Finn put himself in the dwarves’ shoes.
“I’d get a little melody and I’d think, ‘Would a dwarf sing that?’ And you go, ‘No, it’s too floral. It’s not earthy enough,'” he says. “Even though there’s aspects of brotherhood and kinship in the song, I had a line about love and Peter and Fran [Walsh, co-writer and co-producer] sort of looked at me and said, ‘No, not love. There’s something not quite right about that.’ It’s not a love song.”
[Read More]
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Classicfm.com was able to snag a great audio interview with Howard Shore recently. Shore, a big Tolkien fan, tells classicfm that he constantly refers to the books as he’s writing the score. He also discusses what it’s like to collaborate once again with Peter Jackson, The London Philharmonic, and the all-consuming job of writing, orchestrating, conducting, tweaking and finalizing the score for “The Hobbit: and Unexpected Journey.” Read more and listen here…
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HotHouse Music (the music supervisors and film composer agents at Abbey Road Studios in London) report on Twitter that — after three months of recording and mixing — The Hobbit score is finally complete.
Choice quote: “It’s going to be epic. #TheHobbit #Needaholiday”.
It’s all getting serious now. Isn’t the film supposed to be signed, sealed and delivered in a day or so, too? Thanks to Ringer Tolktolk on the forums for the heads up!
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