The Return of the King

Film composer Michael Small, 64, passed away on November 24, 2003. Small wrote musical scores for over 50 feature films and TV programs, as well as hundreds of TV and radio commercials. His many credits as include the music for Alan Pakula's KLUTE and THE PARALLAX VIEW, Bob Rafelson's THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE and BLACK WIDOW, and John Schlesinger's MARATHON MAN. He also scored THE STEPFORD WIVES, THE STAR CHAMBER, and the PBS movie, THE LATHE OF HEAVEN. His often quiet, introspective scoring style lent these films an unobtrusive and modernistic underscore that gave them a subtle, almost subliminal power. One of his most expansive orchestral scores was for Bob Rafelson's MOUNTAINS OF THE MOON, a historical adventure.

The final installment of THE LORD OF THE RINGS is nearly upon us, heralded by the CD release of Howard Shore's

Composer Howard Shore

© 2001 New Line Cinema

The primary themes that were developed during the first two films are carried through to a pleasing resolution as this epic battle for Middle-earth reaches its final conclusion, rendering this epic saga of Hobbits and Orks, wizards and warriors, redemption and resurrection, a thoroughly satisfying musical denouement.

The composer's music accommodates both the introspection of the characters as they progress in their journeys as well as the massive scope and scale of the film's climactic battle scenes. Shore provides rousing rhythmatics and thunderous, percussive battle music, but the music always retains an intimate quality, linked continuously with the characters whose stories are threaded through and between each battle and adventure. The thematically complex score is carefully and purposefully developed, with themes popping in and out to reflect the characters that are central to the story. They are recalled musically even in the midst of dissonance and orchestral conflict, reminding the listener (and viewer) that at its heart, THE LORD OF THE RINGS is a story about humanity and elf, and dwarf, and hobbit.

The score features a number of guest soloists, including flautist James Galway, and the lithe voice of Renee Fleming, who gives the score much of its elegantly ethereal quality. Billy Boyd, who plays Pippin, is featured on "Steward of Gondor" who nicely intones a folkish tune in the midst of what is otherwise a rousing ride-to-adventure cue, a soaring, heroic rendering of Gondor's theme. "Minas Morgul" is a different kind of orchestral march, fraught with less heroism and more menace, as swirling strings, blaring trumpets, and low horns interplay amid pounding timpani in an exciting, malevolent rendition of Sauron's theme.

"The Return of the King," is a pleasing

Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

© 2003 New Line

The CD is closed out with a gentle new song by Annie Lennox called "Into the West," a softly powerful work that provides a graceful close to what, taken in its three-part entirety, is one of the most significant and profoundly moving musical efforts of the decade.

As Shore writes in the CD booklet, "This project has been the most challenging of my career and yet the most fulfilling." For a new interview with Shore on his final LOTR score, and a thorough analysis of each track on the CD, see: www.filmmusic.com.

Belgium's Prometheus label has released a second volume of rare Bernard Herrmann music. Called THE CBS Years Vol 2: American Gothic (Prometheus, PCD 153), the recording collects suites of music Herrmann recorded for CBS television and radio, most of which was collected in the studio's music library and used liberally in television shows throughout the '50s and '60s. The volume includes the thrilling main- and end-title music Herrmann wrote for an unsold 1956 pilot called LANDMARK, which was to have been an anthology series about historical people and events, THE MOAT FARM MURDER, for a morbidly brooding 1944 radioplay starring Charles Laughton as a murderer and Elsa Lanchester as his victim, and a 1956 radio score for a CBS Radio Workshop adaptation of BRAVE NEW WORLD, Herrmann's last and most prestigious radio score. Also included is the composer's gentle Americana score for WALT WHITMAN, a 1944 radio dramatization, ETHAN ALLEN, an unsold pilot for a series about the Revolutionary War hero, The Desert Suite (a collection of random dramatic cues not unlike The Western Suite that graced Prometheus' first Herrmann CBS release, and a suite from COLLECTOR'S ITEM, another unsold pilot starring Vincent Price and Peter Lorre as nefarious black market art dealers. Jon Burlingame's liner notes provide valuable insight into each cue and its source. A valuable addition to your Bernard Herrmann collection and a glimpse at some of the composer's rarer work. www.soundtrackmag.com

According to music industry magazine Billboard, James Newton Howard will collaborate with Hans Zimmer on his upcoming score for SECRET WINDOW, the Stephen King story directed by David Koepp and starring Johnny Depp and John Turturro.

After some inexplicable delays, Marco Polo has released a splendid new recording of Erich Wolfgang Korngold's magnificent score, THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD (CD= 8.225268), from William Stromberg (conductor) and John Morgan (score reconstructions). Happily, a DVD-Audio version of this recording will soon be forthcoming, with 5.1 Dolby Digital AC-3 and DTS surround sound.

Decca has released the [IMG5R]score to the epic historical adventure story MASTER AND COMMANDER: THE FAR SIDE OF THE WORLD, featuring music by Christopher Gordon, Iva Davies, and Richard Tognetti. This conglomerate provides diverse music that congeals nicely on the soundtrack, interweaving "old world" and "new world" music with a heavy, percussive undertone, traditional orchestral arrangements, and modern electric hues through the use of synthesizers. "Drums signal the forward movement of the ship, that it's on a mission," says composer Iva Davies. "We wanted the score to be not what everyone expected. Peter [Weir] wanted some scenes to have what I call a kind of 'futuristic' sense conveying the idea that these 19^th century sailors were cutting-edge explorers."

Coinciding with the opening of MASTER AND COMMANDER: THE FAR SIDE OF THE WORLD is the launch of the web site of the award-winning composer Christopher Gordon.

The new site features an in-depth interview with Christopher Gordon about scoring MASTER AND COMMANDER, as well as thoughts on associated projects THE GHOSTS OF TIME, MOBY DICK and ON THE BEACH. There is also information about director Peter Weir, and the original Patrick O'Brian novels on which the film is based.

Over the coming months the site will expand to cover all aspects of Christopher Gordon's highly acclaimed film and concert music.

FSM's other December release is the first ever release of Bernard Herrmann's score to ON DANGEROUS GROUND. This CD features Herrmann's complete masterwork in chronological order. Unfortunately, master tapes to RKO productions are long since destroyed, and this CD has been mastered from acetate discs in the Bernard Herrmann collection at the University of California at Santa Barbara. FSM warns collectors that, although these discs have been transferred and denoised by specialists, the sound quality is entirely in mono. Many of the most important cues have been mastered from 16" 33 1/3 rpm discs in excellent sound (including the "Prelude" and major chase cues), but the remainder of the cues exist only on 12" 33 1/3 rpm discs with a great deal of surface noise. FSM reports they have made every effort to improve the sound quality without distorting the music. The CD liner notes are by Christopher Husted.

The British label Chandos has released The Film Music of Richard Addinsell, latest in a series of excellent newly recorded compilations of British film composers of the '40s, '50s and early '60s. Performed by the BBC Philharmonic under the baton of conductor Rumon Gamba, the disc includes Addinsell's famous "Warsaw Concerto" from DANGEROUS MOONLIGHT, as well as suites from the light fantasies, BLITHE SPIRIT and SCROOGE, among others, most of which have gone unreleased on CD until now. The label's "Chandos Movies" series includes compilations from Richard Rodney Bennett, Malcolm Arnold, Georges Auric, Arthur Bliss, William Alwyn, classical composers Ralph Vaughan Williams, Dimitri Shostakovich, and Italy's Nino Rota. www.chandos.net

Columbia University Press (www.columbia.edu/cu/cup) is distributing the new Wallflower Press (UK) book, Popular Music and Film, edited by Ian Inglis, a compilation of essays examining the growing presence of popular music in films. Written by an international group of academics and researchers, the essays analyze the use of pop music in films, including a notable commentary on the use of pop music in THE MATRIX, LARA CROFT: TOMB RAIDER and THE CELL by Anahid

Hollywood Records' TOMB RAIDER 2 "soundtrack" - the usual song compilation, not the score

© 2003 Hollywood Records

Fox's forthcoming Region 1 PLANET OF THE APES two-disc DVD (due February 3^rd) is slated to include a new commentary track by Jerry Goldsmith as well as a separate commentary track from actors Roddy Mc Dowell, Natalie Trundy, Kim Hunter, Producer Richard Zanuck and Make-up Artist John Chambers. The second disc will contain a 126-minute APES documentary, make-up tests, home movies, silent dailies and outtakes, and lots more. Unfortunately an isolated score does not appear among the features.

Soundtrack sources:

www.buysoundtrax.com

www.intrada.com

www.screenarchives.com