Product Review

This December marks the tenth anniversary of the cinematic release of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. There has been a resurgence of interest in Tolkien's works as fans celebrate and prepare for next year's release of The Hobbit. Sales of the coffee-table book The Music of the Lord of the Rings Films have been robust, and Warner Music will re-release each of the three Complete Recordings Series box sets in the coming months. In addition, a stadium tour of the Lord of the Rings Live-to-Projection concert will be mounted this fall in the United States. This month, Howe Records proudly presents the world première recording of Howard Shore's Lord of the Rings Symphony. The composer says of the project, "J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings is very close to my heart. I have great respect for his writing and share the values he weaves into these stories of courage and honor, friendship and sacrifice. I love the inner aspect of his writing, the detail of the relationships, and his observance of nature. The Lord of the Rings Symphony was created from the nearly twelve hours of music written for The Lord of the Rings films. Maestro John Mauceri first suggested I create this work from the film scores. We worked together to adapt the scores into the six movements that reflect each of the six books of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings." The work is performed by The 21st Century Symphony Orchestra conducted by Ludwig Wicki, who personally selected the musicians who perform on this recording.