{"id":118677,"date":"2024-06-11T05:50:45","date_gmt":"2024-06-11T10:50:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/?p=118677"},"modified":"2024-06-11T05:50:47","modified_gmt":"2024-06-11T10:50:47","slug":"sound-only-stephen-gallaghers-soundtrack-for-the-war-of-the-rohirrim","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/2024\/06\/11\/118677-sound-only-stephen-gallaghers-soundtrack-for-the-war-of-the-rohirrim\/","title":{"rendered":"SOUND ONLY: Stephen Gallagher’s soundtrack for The War of the Rohirrim"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It\u2019s not long until Warner Bros. Animation unveils its long-awaited second look<\/a><\/em> at Kenji Kamiyama\u2019s The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim at the 2024 Annecy Film Festival.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 90-minute presentation, hosted by Andy Serkis (Hunt for Gollum tie-in, anyone?), will feature the first 20 minutes (or so) of Kamiyama\u2019s 130-minute-long feature anime. People with good memories will recognise how this mirrors their appearance at the same event this time last year<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Source: War of the Rohirrim Producer Jason DeMarco<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

It will be interesting to hear if they show it all in single sequence, or as a series of snapshots as they did last year<\/a>. It will also be very interesting to hear about the progress the animation team has made on the raw, rather-unfinished footage that they screened last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Annecy presentation will also finally bring some support to the lonely promotional furrow that composer Stephen Gallagher has been ploughing this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On our Discord channel dedicated to all things WOTR<\/a>, we\u2019ve been closely following the trail of hints he\u2019s been leaving on his Instagram account but I\u2019ve long thought his efforts deserve a wider audience. So I\u2019m going to take a thousand words or so to update you all on what\u2019s been happening on the musical front!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gallagher, in case you\u2019re unaware, is a New Zealand composer and award-winning music editor. He is probably best-known to Tolkien fans for his work on The Hobbit where, as well as working as music editor on all three films, he composed the songs \u2018Blunt the Knives\u2019 and \u2018The Torture Song\u2019 for An Unexpected Journey. Read up on him in our backgrounding post here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He obliquely revealed on his Instagram account around the end of February that The War of the Rohirrim production had shifted to scoring and recording music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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On February 25 he posted a tiny snippet of score from a piece titled \u201c2. M03 Business\u201d with a simple caption \u201cTime for business\u2026\u201d, showing parts for at least Cor Anglais (otherwise known as English Horn), bass clarinet, (probably bass) bassoon and crumhorn. Additional, unknown, instruments are obviously further down.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Despite the absence of a key signature, TORn Discord moderator Lasswen promptly placed the score snippet into notation program Musescore4 to gauge what it might sound like, working on the assumption that it was scored in concert pitch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019d like to emphasise that this is our approximation<\/em><\/strong> based on the score provided with the notation inputted into a program to recreate the sheet music we could see, then exported as an mp3 \u2014 it\u2019s not the *actual<\/strong><\/em>* thing. You can have a listen below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. M03 BUSINESS<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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‘To one of these councils Freca rode with many men, and he asked the hand of Helm’s daughter for his son Wulf. But Helm said: “You have grown big since you were last here; but it is mostly fat, I guess”; and men laughed at that, for Freca was wide in the belt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

‘Then Freca fell in a rage and reviled the king, and said this at the last: “Old kings that refuse a proffered staff may fall on their knees.” Helm answered: “Come! The marriage of your son is a trifle. Let Helm and Freca deal with it later. Meanwhile the king and his council have matters of moment to consider.”<\/p>\nThe Lord of the Rings. Appendix A: The House of Eorl.<\/em><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The \u201cbusiness\u201d of the title may well be the attempt to arrange a match between Wulf and Hera. It seems an excellent fit. Could it be as Freca enters the Golden Hall and approaches Helm\u2019s throne?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \u201ccourtly\u201d tone of the crumhorn could be a good fit for such an event:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The seemingly extensive use of horns also makes us wonder whether, at some point we will hear the famed Horn of Helm resounding through the Deeping Valley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Gimli blows the Horn of Helm in PJ’s The Two Towers. Watch here<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Helm had a great horn, and soon it was marked that before he sallied forth he would blow a blast upon it that echoed in the Deep; and then so great a fear fell on his enemies that instead of gathering to take him or kill him they fled away down the Coomb.<\/p>\nThe Lord of the Rings. Appendix A: The House of Eorl.<\/em><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Gallagher\u2019s Instagram posts indicate that he spent some time in Wellington finalising the musical score at Stroma FilmWorks<\/a> and has been working with noted sound producer and mixer Pin3hot <\/a>who was previously Supervising Music Editor for Peter Jackson\u2019s The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings: Return of the King.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In a perhaps-weird coincidence, Pin3hot\u2019s credits also include Ultraman. Ultraman, of course, was overseen by The War of the Rohirrim director Kenji Kamiyama (alongside Shinji Aramaki), and produced by Sola Entertainment<\/a> \u2014 Joseph Chou\u2019s company that happens to be handling production and animation for The War of the Rohirrim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As near as we can tell scoring seems to have been finalised on or around February 26.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A few days later, on March 2, Gallagher posted another snippet of score labelled \u201cHelm Hammerhand Still Stands\u201d with a simple message: \u201cWhat a week!\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Lasswen, on TORn\u2019s Discord server, offered some analysis, observing that:<\/p>\n\n\n\n