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allrite rites @[email protected] · 2026-07-18 · 08:47 UTC

The Music of Lord of the Rings

It was Australia Day in January of 2003 that we left the Undying Western Lands (Australia) for Middle Earth (New Zealand). Accompanying us on the journey was the music of Howard Shore to the first two movies of The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

For the next week we passed through Elven lands to the music of Many Meetings and Lothlorien, admired the bare grey rock before an icy glacier to Foundations of Stone, small towns to the music of Concerning Hobbits. It was Shore’s music that added the fantasy to the landscape and, like in the movies, transformed it into an adventure of emotion and wonder.

Has it really only been twenty-five years since the first Lord of the Rings movie was released into cinemas across the world? It feels like Howard Shore’s incredible score has been with forever. Perhaps it is the ring’s fault. It does make us feel, well, stretched.

After the release of The Return of the King in December of 2003, Shore compiled his music as a concert symphony and went on tour. We saw him conduct the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in 2004 with his symphony. Fourteen years ago it was The Two Towers in Concert. Earlier this year it was Anna Lapwood playing part of her Lord of the Rings Suite on the pipe organ at the Opera House. Of course there was also the tragically and hilariously awful The Music of The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit and The Rings of Power.

Now it is the turn of the Art of the Score team to present The Music of Lord of the Rings at the Sydney Opera House in conjunction with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the Sydney Philharmonia Choirs and the Sydney Children’s Choir, along with soloist Kate Miller-Heidke at the Sydney Opera House. Conducting the orchestra is Nicholas Buc, a member of the Art of the Score team along with presenters Andrew Pogson and Professor Dan Golding.

As with the trilogy, the concert begins with the foreboding music of The Prophecy, with the Sydney Philharmonia Choir singing Elvish and warning of The One Ring.

Prior to the concert I spent a couple of days watching 11 hours and 22 minutes of the Extended Editions of the trilogy. A large proportion of that is scored. Shore composed over 80 leitmotifs, or individual themes for people, places and things, for the trilogy, manipulating them, combining them, to create an extraordinary body of music that no one concert can encompass. This is despite the threats of Andrew Pogson and Dan Golding as they attempt to explain, with the help of conductor Buc, the nature of the music.

So unlike previous Lord of the Rings concerts, I entered this one without the expectation that I would hear specific pieces and could enjoy it without disappointment should one beloved track be missing. There was no disappointment to be had. Despite just having listened to the entire soundtrack, what I heard far surpassed what I had listened to before.

The first half of the concert is devoted to the music of The Fellowship of the Ring, including the magnificent escape from Moria. After the interval the other movies, The Two Towers and The Return of the King are covered in less detail, but the chosen highlights are superb. Pogson and Golding explain what is going on at each point and a narrow screen above the orchestra displays the song titles and some of the lyrics in Elvish and other tongues. The visual look better than any of their previous concerts, it is a very nice touch.

The performances by the orchestra and both choirs was absolutely phenomenal, and conductor Buc’s timing impeccable. There was an incredible tonal richness in hearing this music live. From the second track where I had never realised that guitars were part of Concerning Hobbits, to the cimbalom of Gollum and the amazing distressed piano, played with a chain mail glove wrapped with chain. The homeliness of the flute in the shire and watching concertmaster Harry Bennetts’ fingers dance across his violin. The chanting of the male and female choir and the ethereal singing of the children. A special mention goes out to young soprano Scout LaMotta for her beautiful solo performances.

The trilogy’s original score features vocal performances from a number of different soloists, including Enya, Emilíana Torrini and Annie Lennox. Obviously they are not going to be available for this concert, so instead we have the rather well known Kate Miller-Heidke who comes from both a classical and pop background. Every voice is unique and it is unfair to expect Miller-Heidke to replicate the other performers. I think she does a good job for most of the concert, relying more on her fine classical soprano skills, though sometimes the timing seems perhaps a little off.

At the very end of the concert is Into the West, originally performed by Annie Lennox. The song, and the preceding The Grey Havens, mean a lot to me, the release of the soundtrack coming at a point in my life I was very sad and upset, something it took me 20 years to get over. The songs of the trilogy have a simplicity about them that suggests the ancient age of the setting. Unfortunately, with Into the West, Miller-Heidke inserts modern vocal ornamentation, (or melisma as I believe it is called), like so many of the contestants on the singing programs like the one she judges. It grates, and not until the orchestra returns does my heart settle and find peace.

Although the One Ring is destroyed and Frodo has set sail for the Grey Havens and the music is over, there is still a bit of fun to had with a rather long piece of cutlery and the concert ends with a very loud round of applause. Both B and I have really enjoyed this concert. I thought the last Art of the Score concert on James Horner’s music was their best, but I think this may have exceeded even that. I can’t wait to see what they come up with next!

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#concert #filmmusic #howardshore #katemillerheidke #lordoftherings #music