In the meantime I am really enjoying these clips with unused music, keep 'em coming!

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Originally posted by Christian Kühn:
Stunning stuff, Mr Ware!

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One of the most interesting bits was the intense passage heard in "A Knife in the Dark"/"Weathertop." This was one of the most arresting pieces of new music on the CR of FOTR, and perhaps the one piece of cut music I was most looking forward to seeing in its original context.

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Originally posted by Shire Bagginz:
...
Now some of you may consider this blasphemy, but if anyone here liked or loved (as I did) the score to the Fountain by Clint Mansell, you may find this interesting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3HgoiGDS8w

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Originally posted by Jim Ware:
I'll just amuse myself with these in the meantime:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnuwGkzVgXY

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I'm enjoying these a lot too.

Quick question about the clip above: I don't recognise the short passage that plays from 1:15. Is this from the credits? - it's been a while since I listened to them.

There is one more set of 'Two Towers' unused and alternate pieces on the way, and possibly a set of little odds and ends. I'm eagerly anticipating the unused pieces from 'The Return of the King'.

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Originally posted by Jim Ware:
That section was edited out of the original album and didn't make it to the complete recordings either. It appears on one of the DVD menus of the FOTR Extended Edition.

There is one more set of 'Two Towers' unused and alternate pieces on the way, and possibly a set of little odds and ends. I'm eagerly anticipating the unused pieces from 'The Return of the King'.

[Message edited by Jim Ware on 08-14-2007]

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Thanks for the quick response. Well done for spotting that unused passage. It's similar to some of the music from Moria (Fotr:CR, disc 2, track 12, around 1:40).

I must revisit the menus too.

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Originally posted by Earl:
I have an image that I'd like to share... anyone here can help me upload it someplace?

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Just google for urls. I think they're probably pretty comparable.

This is the last one (unless someone can think of any other pieces).

Your last post marks the 3000th post in this great trilogy of "LotR Package Update" threads!

And apparently, I was the first to watch the video!

CK

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Originally posted by Jim Ware:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXZ2lq67_3E

This is the last one (unless someone can think of any other pieces).

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I'm not sure but I think you missed the Seduction of the Ring-part where Faramir stands with his sword holding up the Ring. I love that theme... sadly my Complete Recordings have damages so Faramir's Good Council has a lot of "pops" in it. =(

quote:

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Originally posted by Shire Bagginz:
Now some of you may consider this blasphemy, but if anyone here liked or loved (as I did) the score to the Fountain by Clint Mansell, you may find this interesting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3HgoiGDS8w

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This just goes to show that the theory is true. If you randomly play a film and a piece of music together, you'll often find they coalesce in unexpected ways, even down to some remarkable points of synchronisation.

Of course film music is supposed to follow the action of the film but LotR trilogy's music is so natural organic part of the story, it feels like one could not exist without the other. The unused music illustrates this very well in the clips as it plays out without any other sound effects. All the gestures, nuances of performance, even glances are captured in Shore's music. The music truly has the "breathing organic quality" Shore himself has mentioned. And of course I should thank you Jim for going through all the trouble of timing the music to the scenes so well. All were a joy to watch

And "A Little Bonus" made me smile, that was a really cute addition at the end You're the best.

So everyone, here's the image I was talking about... don't judge it too harshly, I'm just a conjurer of cheap tricks
http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/7791/lotrincreceb4.jpg

http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=14886264

People called Doug A. or Howard Sh. will probably sic the Nazgûl on my neck for this...

CK

Hey, you didn’t think I’d let the threat slip off the page, did you?

Why the lack of updates recently? Simple… this is the part of the project where the planning and drafts begin to be converted to the first mock-ups. Concept is heading to the physical world… and so for the conceptual people, this is the hurry up and wait period. Though, to be honest, the waiting isn’t going to last much longer.

The liners, which, as you’ll remember, went in to Warners a few weeks back, are due back any day now. The track titles and layouts are all essentially done, though there was a little bit or tweaking as recently as last week.

As of right now, the average number of tracks per disc is 13.5 Yes I know, that’s a ridiculously hazy figure (and the .5 isn’t helping anything!), but I figured maybe it could lead to some fun guessing games! I’ll give you this much of a hint… one disc will feature fewer tracks than the others, though not less music.

Oh, and after a brief perusal of the track titles guesses… I don’t think anyone has nailed one yet, but several have come close.

So that’s the boxed set. The next major deadline is Sept. 7, when the final booklet (including layout edits) is due back at Warners.

We also did another big meeting on the book this past week. Discussions are getting much more specific – what should the physical style be like, how many discs of multimedia material can we include, what’s a good release date, when would advertising kick in. It’s funny, although this is really the culmination of the whole project it still feels like virgin territory. I mean, the boxed set production is somewhat down to a science now, but a book? That’s a horse of a different color!

Thankfully, we all seem to be on precisely the same page. We’re pushing the idea that this needs to be deluxe in every sense of the word. That it has to be treated like the culmination of a project the world has watched for the better part of a decade now. It has to be intrinsically artistic unto itself – and it has to bring that artistry to every aspect of the project: the “coffee table” aspect, the “textbook” aspect, the “multimedia” aspect; the “historical” aspect… everything. No one wants to see this done half heartedly. We want you to feel like the boxed sets have been building to this.

Tough gig, eh?

Oh, I’m just realizing that I never addressed the post-Cleveland concert questions either. Sadly, I didn’t run into any board members there, though a handful of people from the crowd came to say hi, which was nice.

So, do I ever get sick of the Lord of the Rings music? (And I’m assuming that we’re speaking figuratively since, in the literal world, I got back from the concert and ran a fever for about 10 days!) Of course the answer is no. Understand, LOTR is by no means the only music I listen to… nor should it be for anyone. In fact, I don’t know that anyone who listened to nothing but LOTR could ever fully grasp its significance. Shore’s LOTR music is a part of this world’s amazing musical culture. I think we can only really grasp its beauty when we nestle is side-by-side with Sibelius, or the folk music traditions of Morocco, or observe how pan-diatonic clusters began in early American experimentalists, like Ives, or how the spindly chromatic layering of Hindemith informed Shore’s own sense of counterpoint, or study historical precedents for folk / art music cross-bleeding.

Shore’s music for LOTR is such a gem because it can hold its head high in the pantheon of great world art. But once you’re in that pantheon, poke around! It’s like going to the Louvre and spending every minute in front of Virgin on the Rocks. Yes, it’s amazing, but contextualize it! Look around!

Really, I’m not preaching anything to you guys, since you already know this. But this is why I never get sick of Shore’s LOTR. I spent last week listening to Tan Dun, Michael Torke, Joan Tower, Michael Giacchino, John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith, Ralph Vaughan Williams, David Shire, John Adams, Mychael Danna, Shigeru Umebayashi, Elliot Goldenthal, Danny Elfman, Dominick Argento, Miles Davis, Max Roach (rest his soul), John Coltrane, Alexandre Desplat, Igor Stravinsky… oh yeah, and Howard Shore.

Some was for work, some for fun. But I loved it all, and didn’t get sick of a note of it.

Well… they do keep playing that Hinder tune Lips of an Angel at the gym… I got pretty sick of that about 45 seconds into the first listening, so yeah...

Enjoy the rest of your weekend, everyone.

didn't we just converse by eMail?

I'm sorry to hear that you have been taken ill again. My best wishes for a speedy recovery!

13.5 x 4...hmmm, interesting. I'd venture a guess in thinking that disc 4 might be one with the least tracks, as they would cover the later parts of the film and I can well imagine that Mr Shore's pieces are more continuous in them than in earlier parts of the movie (seeing as "The Return of the King" on the OST is 10 minutes long).

I find it intriguing that you appear compelled to, well, justify your love of LotR. I say that because I catch myself doing the same ever and anon. Do I tire from (?) the choral chants...the 5/4...the quiet "amorphous" underscore (which I adore!)...the harmonically majestic crescendos...?

No, I don't. I doubt I ever will. The fact that this music kept me going at a very crucial crossroads three years back only elevates it higher!

So, fingers crossed for the set and the book. We are all on the same side, Doug. We all love the music.

Thanks for keeping up this great work!

It was so wonderful to hear that your book is going to be treated with so much care and respect. I am just giddy with anticipation for the book now! I also understand that this means you have still a lot of work to do with the book so I wish the very best of luck to you for finalizing that project and of course the RotK CR!

I certainly have not become bored or jaded with this music. After nearly 6 years of listening I feell that I still have not completely unlocked all of its secrets. You can always find something new to discover. A new detail or an overlooked passage which opens in a whole new way on another listening. And the power of this music is as strong as it was when I first heard it if not stronger.

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Originally posted by Christian Kühn:
I find it intriguing that you appear compelled to, well, justify your love of LotR.

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To Doug: Thanks for the update. What I hear is, "Start saving my money now."

To Jim Ware: loved your videos. I want to provide a link to them from my website (someday...). If you haven't combed through my site, there is some info on unused music there. TennisBallKid did an extensive CR-TTT list. Then there is mention of unused music for the OSTs on a per track basis. I wouldn't mind seeing Sissel's song from the credits matched up with the Houses of Healing scene and/or Arwen's vision scene (it was considered for both, am I right?).

Franz (Michael) wrote:

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If you randomly play a film and a piece of music together, you'll often find they coalesce in unexpected ways, even down to some remarkable points of synchronisation.

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Originally posted by Doug Adams:

Discussions are getting much more specific – what should the physical style be like, how many discs of multimedia material can we include,

-Doug

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As many as possible! Thank you for the update Doug! Lots of info to chew on here.

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Originally posted by Magpie:
Very true. I did a bit of experimenting with music from the OST that didn't appear in the film with different scenes. It was remarkable how well they cued up either to completely different scenes... or to the same scene but starting in different places. It was always fun to do this.

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It's one of the biggest gambles I do in my film music classes at Sydney Film School. I try to randomly pick a scene from a film, and throw a track on at random that I think will be vaguely appropriate. But I don't pay any attention to the starting point, cue hits, or anything... Some recent examples:

- halfway through the opening sea battle of MASTER AND COMMANDER, as Russell Crowe reels from the damage caused by a cannon ball, I switched the audio to a section of the 'Postlude' from Corigliano's SYMPHONY 2. Suddenly the violin solo is a perfect accompaniment for a dazed warrior in the middle of a scene of war.

- I switched cues in NAQOYQATSI, taking a cue from a very slow scene and putting it under a very fast scene. You'd swear the result was the original music cue. There were some superb moments of synchronism. What particularly helped in this case was that the film was more abstract/ experimental. It's much easier to switch the music in such cases.

Thanks as always for the cool update. I am very gratified to hear that your book will receive the deluxe treatment that it deserves--and that we want! :-)

I'm venturing to suggest that the multimedia disc(s) be DVDs with the little rubber nub holding a CD this time, with audio tracks of the rarities for people who don't portable DVD players. I do hope this gets its own little box set just like the CRs, complete with liner notes.

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Originally posted by Nate Davis:
That's great news, Doug!

Incidentally, this is my first post onto this thread, but I've been watching it for over a year!

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You're just in time for the craziness thats an inevitability in the months preceeding a CR release, and then there's Doug's book... These are fun times.

Duh!! I almost forgot... welcome Nate.