Neurotrash

Howard Shore is a Sexy Bitch and Other Tales from the Symphony

Columbus seems to want to take over as geek capital of the world.
Why else would they get the superwonderful US premiere of Howard Shore's Lord of the Rings Symphony, conducted by Shore himself?
Yes, this is the town that produced the Mark Edward Heuck, the Movie Geek from Beat the Geeks. But he's small potatoes. This event is tantamount to getting the first screening ever of Hellboy, except cooler (Eat that, Austin!). Considering I've never thought of the Columbus Symphony Orchestra as anything but well-meaning semi-pros, this concert came off like a Mud Hens sweeping the Yanks in the World Series.
While he composed the scores for the three movies that make up the Lord of the Rings, Shore concurrently worked on condensing and compiling the twelve hours of music into a six movement symphony to be performed by orchestra (in this case, the Columbus Symphony Orchestra), chorus (The Otterbein College Concert Camerata Choir and Concert Choir), children's chorus (The Columbus Children's Whour New World Singers) and a soloist (Norwegian hottie Sissel...meeeeeeeeooow).
With a backdrop of conceptual art by Alan Lee and John Howe, the CSO brought every key moment of the trilogy to vibrant life. The sound was crisp and clear and wondrous and I often found myself closing my eyes to remember favorite moments from the films as they unfolded to my ears. Truth to tell, the concert went by too fast. The two hours seemed like 20 minutes and the ten minute standing ovation didn't seem quite enough.
My guess? Everyone seemed to be having too much fun. The musicians wore ear to ear grins, Shore looked about to burst with joy and Sissel just sat and looked gorgeous until time came for her to sing.

Here's the track listing for the symphony:

Part One: The Fellowship of the Ring

Movement One
The Prophecy - Concerning Hobbits - The Shadow of the Past - A Short Cut to Mushrooms - The Old Forest - A Knife in the Dark

Movement Two
Many Meetings - The Ring Goes South - A Journey in the Dark - The Bridge of Kazad-dum - Lothloriem - Gandalf's Lament - Farewell to Lorien - The Great River - The Breaking of the Fellowship

Part Two: The Two Towers

Movement Three
Foundations of Stone - The Taming of Smeagol - The Riders of Rohan - The Black Gate is Closed - Evenstar - The White Rider - Treebeard - The Forbidden Pool

Movement Four
The Hornburg - Forth Eorlingas - Isengard Unleashed - Gollum's Song

Part Three: The Return of the King

Movement Five
Hope and Memory - The White Tree - The Steward of Gondor - Cirith Ungol - Anduril

Movement Six
The End of All Things - The Return of the King - The Grey Havens - Into the West

If the lineup seems overly heavy on material from FOTR, that's definitely the case. But, since a good portion of the themes established in Fellowship continue on into the subsequent movies, it's really unnecessary to revisit them in the symphony format.
If you have a love of fine music or great movies, you simply MUST see this concert. It's a once in a lifetime event, and only playing in a few more locations: Antwerp, Belgium; London, England; Atlanta, Georgia; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Seattle, Washington; Ottawa, Ontario; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and a just added show in Los Angeles, California. As word gets out, those tix will disappear folks. Don't miss out.

For a wonderful article on the tour: check THIS out
...or, check HERE for a fan site with links to additional dates in the US