Director Peter Jackson in the gallery of the Wellington Town Hall during the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra's recording sessions for 'The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug'. Photo / Hagen Hopkins.
Director Peter Jackson in the gallery of the Wellington Town Hall during the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra’s recording sessions for ‘The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug’. Photo / Hagen Hopkins.
Russell Baille from The New Zealand Herald gets the low-down on the recording process at Wellington Town Hall last month. He was present last month as the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra laboured mightily with orchestrator Conrad Pope, Peter Jackson and senior audio engineer Peter Cobbin to bring composer Howard Shore’s musical vision to life.

My favourite quote from Conrad Pope:

“It always pays to have great performers. Whenever you are in front of an orchestra you are in front of almost 2000 years of musical experience if you think about it. So you are taking that expressiveness and you are unleashing that. If you have a digital thing it is only one person. That is why it’s so remarkable to have that kind of power in this orchestra here.”

Continue reading “Peter Jackson talks about the musical score for The Desolation of Smaug”

Howard Shore Thanks to Ringer Roheryn on the TORn messageboards for spotting this little news story about recording for the Desolation of Smaug soundtrack!


The New Zealand public has essentially lost access to Wellington’s Town Hall while the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra records the score for the second Hobbit movie.

The orchestra last month cancelled its Heights of Passion tour to free up time to record the score.

In a public notice today, Wellington City Council announced ”strict security” was in place at the Town Hall from now until the end of next month while the orchestra records the film score.

There will be no public access during this time, the notice said.

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Howard Shore Sir Peter Jackson’s second instalment of The Hobbit movie has become music to the ears of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.

The NZSO will record the soundtrack to The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug in Wellington Town Hall, most probably in September, before the century-old venue undergoes $43.7 million of earthquake strengthening.

The orchestra will work with Oscar-winning Canadian composer Howard Shore.

“The very first music ever recorded for Howard Shore’s magnificent score for The Lord of the Rings was done here, in Wellington, back in 2001 in the town hall,” said Sir Peter. “The piece, written for the Fellowship’s journey into the Mines of Moria, was beautifully performed by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and showcased the exceptional acoustics of this over 100-year-old building.” Continue reading “NZSO to record Desolation of Smaug soundtrack”