Well, Mr. Shore, your fans really do love you.

Do you know anything about the DVD-A portion of the releases? Particularly how the surround mixes were set up and whether the Two Towers release will follow the same pattern as the Fellowship score?

For the most part I didn't notice many places where instruments or choir were coming from a particular channel. The big exception to this is featured solos both voice and insturment are firmly placed in the center channel. In thinking about this question, I did notice some directionality in the Plan 9 songs. Other than this most of the surrounds appear to be along the line of insrument placement within the orchestra.

Also what was the reason for choosing 48/24 over the 96/24? My guess would be disc space and 3 hour run time. With 4 audio tracks that had to take a lot disc space. There is definitely a difference in the clarity of 96/24 and 48/24, not that there is anything wrong with the 48/24.

I usually listen to the 5.1 DVD-A version of the recording, but for the most part keep the television off. This is due to nothing changing other than the song titles for the 3 hour running time. Will the Two Towers DVD have a single image on the screen for the entire length of the program? It would be great to get an image that relates to the piece playing. A still image in the same sepia format would be great.

[Message edited by madship on 10-19-2006]

About the interview on page 11, I find it interesting that comparisons and relationships between Wagner's Ring and Shore's scores for the films are drawn when Tolkien himself disliked comparisons being made between Wagner's Ring and his LOTR work. I suppose it's off subject but I found it interesting nonetheless.

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Availability: This item will be released on 27 November, 2006.

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You think that Reprise/New Line bosses give a damn about fans' feelings and expectations?All they want is your money.I'm surprised that you are surprised of this.

Anyway,hope they'll release some samples soon.

>>>About the interview on page 11, I find it interesting that comparisons and relationships between Wagner's Ring and Shore's scores for the films are drawn when Tolkien himself disliked comparisons being made between Wagner's Ring and his LOTR work. I suppose it's off subject but I found it interesting nonetheless.<<<

The famous Tolkien quote goes something like: Both rings are round and there the resemblance ceases!
A cranky bit of typical Brit humor!

Of course, as a scholar of literary influences he knew well that was not true. And he himself being of German ancestry (in part) knew he was part of a grand tradition.

Are there differences? Sure, important ones, but so too there are similiarities, too many to be ignored or dismissed.

And they themselves are parallel in that as popularizers were critized for how they used the ancient works...

As Edward R Haymes in his lecture "The Two Rings: Tolkien's and Wagner's" available on cd from the Wagner Society of NY puts it:

"A greedy, smaller-than-human creature finds a treasure in the depths of a river. He carries it to his underground retreat where he retains it until it is stolen by a visitor from the upper world. He swears eternal hate to the thief. The treasure is, of course, a ring of great power. The ring exerts strange influences on its owners including giving them the ability to disappear. The ring becomes the object of a fatal struggle between close friends or brothers, in fact it seems always to bring danger or death to its owners. A hero enters the fray armed with a reforged sword that had been broken. Various races of humanoid beings attempt to gain control of the ring by magic and by heroism until it is finally brought at great cost and sacrifice back to its origin where it is purified by fire. The last pursuer perishes along with the ring."

Thus he begins his lecture pointing out that this summary applies to both Rings!

So Maestro Shore is indeed on the right track to see music as a way of connecting (and contrasting) the two "cycles".

There are further brief studies on this issue by Bradley Birzer, David Harvey and Alex Ross... But this is only, I am sure, the beginning for this avenue of exploration.

Nothing about this shocks, angers or surprises me.

I did however check my amazon.co.uk order and it still says I'll be recieving it on the 8th or 9th. Maybe they'll still import it for me. Either way, Im still happy to be getting it at all.

I think Doug has other things to do at the moment. So be patient Beren. I'm sure Doug will give us one of his great updates soon.

Thanks Timdalf. I have only a surface knowledge of this issue but I will definately explore it in the future.

My point is, they all say Nov. 7. I don't think anyone has to worry about a delay.

>>>Just throwing my two cents in: what is so terribly unusual about a soundtrack having two weeks delay internationally?<<<

That is totally right, but none the less….Aaahhh WHYYYY?!?!?!?!

>>> All i want is some pics and samples<<<

Me too but I think that were going to have to wait until the release…

>>>Since Doug Adams remains discreet it's quite obvious that a delay will inevitably take place.Long live the $$$.<<<

I can not see the reason of $$$ in a delay. I work with Publishers and delays do happen for many reasons. I will Agree though about the $$$, you’re right there, but dot forget, why someone invest a huge amount of money to produce million Cds, to pay Doug and the sound mixers and so on, for nearly a year (that’s a lot of money) if he has no profit? And don’t forget the one universal truth of the world: Money makes the world go round (sadly)

Besides, I am just interesting in hearing another podcast on whatever subject; I really enjoy those podcasts; as I said once before; they are equally hilarious as they are informative. A really perfect mix!

Ok, you’ve got questions, so I’ll try to come up with answers. First, let’s hit the biggie, ok?

Is there a change in the international release date, and if so, why?

I can only offer a resounding: “I don’t know” and “I don’t know.”

Seriously, that’s not me being snarky, I just don’t have any idea whatsoever. I’ve not heard anything from Shore’s office on the subject, and I’ve not heard anything from Warners on the subject. If the European release date has been altered, I assure you, it’s not because of the product is not ready. The TTT content and design have been set in stone for over a month. The final draft of the Annotated Score went out for layout last week (which means it should be back for proofing very soon), but that doesn’t have anything at all to do with the physical product.

If the European release date has shifted, I am quite certain it’s for logistical purposes—i.e., these sets are physically large and take a while to ship in the bulk orders the European internet retailers are surely ordering in. It is not a business decision—after all, what on earth would prompt such a thought at the business level? This scenario…

EXEC 1: Hey, I know how we can squeeze more money out of the poor, unsuspecting Lord of the Rings fans!

EXEC 2: How?

EXEC 1: Let’s delay the European release date of a high-end product geared towards a niche market by two weeks at the last minute; we’re sure to sell more that way.

EXEC 2: Magnificent!

…seems a bit unlikely, don’t you think? What’s to be gained other than ill will? I can understand the paranoia, since FOTR ended up delayed a few times. But again, I will remind you, this was because of the demands of one of the performing artists. Now, I suppose that the rampant urge to remain un-sued does, technically, qualify as a business / financal decision, but I don’t think we can hold this against anyone, can we? Of course, everything above is hypothetical. I haven’t heard a peep about a release date alteration, domestic or international. You should know, I probably won’t get a copy of the actual set until it’s commercially available either, so I’m right there in the boat with you. Same goes for everyone in Shore’s office. And yet somehow, I’m sure we’ll find the strength to carry on.

Whether they decide to delay the European release or pull a surprise switcheroo and bump it forwards to next Tuesday, the 24th of October, the set will be in your hands shortly.

Or, maybe they’re trying to delay it to line it up with my birthday, which, to answer a question elsewhere, is Nov. 27.

Ok there’s a full page of my shrugging my shoulders and patting backs unnecessarily, so let’s move ahead ok?

>>>Re: Grima, he’s actually got a very specific… and very unique… motif. Listen very closely next time you’re digging through the film. Your ears are already in the right register, so you’re almost there!

Does it end on F, Bb, A?>>>

Very close. It ends in C Ab G.

>>>This comment reminds me of a piece by Steve Reich that I happened to hear on the radio today. Variations for Winds, Strings and Keyboards I believe. At least I think it was. It sounded strikingly similar to Cliff Martinez's soundtrack for Solaris. A very beautiful score IMO. Or rather I should say that Martinez's score sounded a lot like Reich's both in sound and in structure. In any case, thanks Doug for the updates!>>>

If you’re a Reich fan, I’d recommend you check out Six Marimbas, Different Trains, Nagoya Marimbas, New York Counterpoint, or, my personal favorite, Music for 18 Musicians. I love all those works for different reasons, and I think they give a pretty good cross section of the composer’s output.

>>>I've a little time to spare. DOUG, can you clearly tell us: how much music was written for each film, approximately; how much music was recorded for each film, approximately (of course, I'm not talking about every take, but all that would be 'presentable' on the CR [even if it isn't on the CR]). I'm confused about how much there is of written and recorded music. I'd like to be able to fill in something like this:>>>

My research involved digging through the conductor’s scores to the completed compositions, which means that much of the material that was unrecorded, or recorded then redone, I never saw. Now, I know where many or most of these pieces were meant to exist because of notes, but there’s still much I’ve never heard… (I did hear some at recording sessions, I should point out.) Anyway, that research is still upcoming, so I can’t answer this question just yet. This is such a large project that even the research phase still isn’t quite complete!

>>>Do you know anything about the DVD-A portion of the releases? Particularly how the surround mixes were set up and whether the Two Towers release will follow the same pattern as the Fellowship score?>>>

I *believe* that the Two Towers release will follow Fellowship’s standard.

>>>For the most part I didn't notice many places where instruments or choir were coming from a particular channel. The big exception to this is featured solos both voice and insturment are firmly placed in the center channel. In thinking about this question, I did notice some directionality in the Plan 9 songs. Other than this most of the surrounds appear to be along the line of insrument placement within the orchestra.>>>

Yes, Shore wanted to create the most natural sound possible with the surround mix. The orchestra is spread across the front of the room while the rears pick up the room ambience. He wanted, as much as possible, to recreate experience of listening to a live orchestra perform… essentially what he heard as he conducted the LPO.

>>>Also what was the reason for choosing 48/24 over the 96/24? My guess would be disc space and 3 hour run time. With 4 audio tracks that had to take a lot disc space. There is definitely a difference in the clarity of 96/24 and 48/24, not that there is anything wrong with the 48/24.>>>

I think you’re absolutely correct, disc space was a concern. Fellowship probably would have fit in a higher resolution, but I don’t know if Return of the King would have. So, in order to keep the DVD presentation on one disc, 48/24 appeared to be the way to go.

>>>I usually listen to the 5.1 DVD-A version of the recording, but for the most part keep the television off. This is due to nothing changing other than the song titles for the 3 hour running time. Will the Two Towers DVD have a single image on the screen for the entire length of the program? It would be great to get an image that relates to the piece playing. A still image in the same sepia format would be great.>>>

I *think* the TTT DVD will again go for a static image, though I think it’s mostly an aesthetic consideration here. One's attention should be going towards the audio, not the video, so they didn’t want to create a competition.

>>>Also another question for Doug’s Book (that I am definitely going to buy). What is the Multimedia contents exactly?>>>

That’s still being sorted out, but there are some pretty wonderful ideas on the table. The next big book meeting will be in December, so maybe we’ll have a better idea then.

>>>I remember the first time I heard samples from the FOTR CR was from the Film Score Monthly podcast, where Doug and many others discussed the CR. I hope the next podcast delves into The Two Towers CR. Any chance of this happening Doug?

Besides, I am just interesting in hearing another podcast on whatever subject; I really enjoy those podcasts; as I said once before; they are equally hilarious as they are informative. A really perfect mix!>>>

Thank you! There’s a new Podcast up today as a matter of fact:
http://media20a.libsyn.com/podcasts/fsmpodcast/FSM_Podcast_018.mp3

Yes, we did the first few Fellowship clips last year. I’d like to again this year, but I can’t quite decide what format would work. I don’t think people want to hear me mindlessly gush about the project anymore, so it’d have to be something that was appropriately interesting. If this happens, I’d imagine we probably try to go live Nov. 1, as this new Halloween Podcast will stay up until then.

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I think you’re absolutely correct, disc space was a concern. Fellowship probably would have fit in a higher resolution, but I don’t know if Return of the King would have. So, in order to keep the DVD presentation on one disc, 48/24 appeared to be the way to go.

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I don’t think people want to hear me mindlessly gush about the project anymore

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That's crazy talk!