Although famed composers ranging from Sergei Prokofiev to Aaron Copland have written music for movies, the classical music world has tended to look down their noses at it. But that attitude is changing. The San Francisco Symphony and Brooklyn Philharmonic are now regularly programing such music, and, in September 2004, cellist Yo-Yo Ma released an album devoted to the film works of Ennio Morricone. Then there’s “The Lord of the Rings Symphony.” In an effort to get his music performed not only on the screen but in concert halls as well, movie composer Howard Shore fashioned his scores for the blockbuster trilogy into a popular six-movement symphony. [More]
Category: Production
The LOTR summer concert series starts off with a weekend event in Denver, Colorado. Markus Huber and the Colorado Symphony Orchestra will be at Boettcher Hall tonight (Friday may 19th), Saturday and Sunday. Tickets are still available! Take a look [TICKETS]
Click here for more info on the LOTR Summer Concert Series 2006. [More]
As you might expect of anything connected to The Lord of the Rings, the numbers behind Howard Shore’s score for the Peter Jackson film trilogy are mighty impressive:
• Four months of solid research.
• Nearly four years to compose.
• A total of 11 hours of music.
• More than 50 leitmotifs (individual themes).
“It was pretty daunting at first,” Shore admitted of the task. “Writing film scores is always difficult to do – but the funny thing was, I didn’t want to stop when it was over.”
Shore has since moved on to other projects: He’s preparing a staged version of The Fly for L.A. Opera with film director David Cronenberg and author David Henry Hwang (M. Butterfly). [More]
Two New Zealand films have been ranked among the top 10 wordwide in terms of 2005 box office revenue. In its annual report on world film market trends released this week Cannes European Cinema ranked The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe seventh and King Kong eighth. Narnia made US$428 ($695) million and King Kong US$388 ($630) million, despite being released only in December. [More]
Actor Christopher Lee has agreed to put aside his differences with Kiwi director Peter Jackson – but will never forgive him for axing his scenes from The Return of the King. Speaking exclusively to the Herald on Sunday at the Rose d’Or festival in Switzerland last night, Lee revealed that while he was still upset by the decision to remove his character, Saruman, from the third instalment of the Lord of the Rings series, it was now time to move on. “When the third film came along and I wasn’t in it, I didn’t understand,” he said. “And I still don’t. “However, you can have a difference of opinion in any walk of life but you can’t have ongoing arguments. I like Peter very much. He’s a brilliant director. I just don’t know why he did what he did.” [More]
