Johan de Meij's "Lord of the Rings" symphony
Few people I know have heard this. I play in a band that's performing one of the movements. It's a real great work... very good representation of the themes it introduces pertaining to LOTR, even though there are only 5 movements: I. Gandalf - A suite of everything to do with Gandalf - the fireworks, Shadowfax, everything. II. Lothlorien - deals with the Mirror as well. III. Gollum - Fantastic portrayal of Gollum, like in Two Towers when he's still in the multiple-personality stage. IV. Mines of Moria/Bridge of Khazad-dum - Self-explanatory... Balrog and all. V. Hobbits - Grey Havens, basically... return of themes in I and II mostly. I'll comment on them individually later. Listen to them sometime if you haven't - these are great. Very hard to find though. There's only one recording I know of, by the Amsterdam Wind Orchestra or something. (This isn't for string orchestra, but rather for concert band + piano.)
|