IV. Journey In The Dark. The Lord of the Rings.Johan de Meij

[ghostofyeats]

very stravinsky! i love the percussion and horns and those fantastic chords, though there is a passage in shore's score that conveys the sense of wonderment in moria that I miss.

[MegaPamie]

I'm playing this, together with "the hobbits" and "gandalf" with the orchestra that i'm in. I must say that it are the hardest 'songs' that i have ever played.

I like johan de meij, he makes very good music. Like "Banja Luka". That was fun to play :)

(btw, sorry for my mistakes in English)

Greetz from Belgium :)

[kd19604]

A balrog disliked this.

[CHRIS1974100]

great post one of the best ever is the Lord of the Ring novels

[Panjaquomi]

Such fantastic major chords in the brass!

[medusa2645]

the actual score from the movie is way better

[mainecolbs]

@medusa2645 Thats all up to interpretation. This piece was written based off the books which have a much different feeling than the film.

[JbFilmMusic]

I wonder if Howard Shore drew any inspiration from this....

[captain0redbeard]

also wanted to add that the video was times perfectly to the music's intensity, lol

[captain0redbeard]

The Lord Of The Rings really was one of the most amazing pieces of mythological fantasy concieved in the past few hundred years, and the works of art show that very well!

[jck1794]

jesus 4:04 scared the crap outta me...

[HackThroughBone]

....very small parts the temple blocks had in the beginning. To the powerful percussion and brass. One of my best memories of this piece is the beginning of the climax at around 4:49. Man, the trombone section had fun with that. The french horns were very powerful during the climax. And then, I can't forget the "outro" at 6:50. Very big contrast to the epic sound of the climax! Everything about this piece is brilliant. Also, just to clarify, I played this in concert band. Ahh...memories

[HackThroughBone]

I played trombone (i was last chair) on this movement, back in around 1993 in middle school. The name of the middle school was called Ed White here in San Antonio, Texas. The school was ghetto and probably even more so now. But our instructor made the students play this ridiculously hard piece. Haha, I remember we busted our asses trying to learn it. Anyways, I remember everything about this song. From the tympani intro and........

[JesusFreack101]

yeah its all a matter of perspective when it comes to books. thats where movies kill the books they were based on.

[viv88]

the music are inspired by the book not the movie

[larbo1616]

This is VERY different from the music Howard Shore makes for The Lord of the Rings.

[fspilot221]

Yeah, I totaly agree with you. The music from howard shore is better I think. But that's my opinion :)

[larbo1616]

My opinion too, my friend. :)

[FixedLensProductions]

@fspilot221 listen to the first movement/section of this piece, "Gandalf". Listening to this, I'm not liking much of what I'm hearing, but the first part is good.

[rauswous]

@fspilot221

i understand your opinion. But I don't think you can actually compare this piece with the music that howard shore wrote for the movie. This one is based on the book, with no further reference. On contrary, Shore, wrote his music with a movie as reference (correct me if I'm wrong) which gives way other musical ideas and impressions than just a book.

For me, they are both great pieces :)

[ramarrevan]

@larbo1616 It's actually sampled for the movies. This symphony came long before the movies ever did. Longgg before. Howard Shore based his music off of this, so much so that Gandalf even whistles the 5th movement as he is in the Shire.

[larbo1616]

I know that already. But still, I am very happy that this isn't the music used for the film.

[famupiccolo92]

@ramarrevan I was wondering if I was the only one that caught that!!!! I played the Gandalf piece in Tri-State Honor Band at FSU in December 1990....Junior in High school Loved it!!!

[thestogs]

listening to all the movements i love how there's always a theme from another movement that is subtly put in

[Skyler827]

The instrumentation is so hard to identify. Everything blends so well. The tritones, semitone dissonances, and mixed tuplet rhythems with the brass hits combine to make it so amazing.

[MergGates1]

WWHOO! CLAARINET SOOLO!

[asafyardeni1]

amazing!

[cubsfan5791]

Agreed. And I love the french horn parts.

[HeirofAydinmark]

@cubsfan5791 Indeed! The French horn parts are brilliant!

[BlackFeather713]

this is my favorite movement of the symphony, the marcia funebre is gorgeous and the theme of gandalf just before captures perfectly the mood and the situation