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mark12_30 · 04-22-2004, 07:55 AM

TITLE:"Music from the BBC Radio Dramatization of J. R. R. TOlkien's THE LORD OF THE RINGS"
MUSICIANS: ...many...
GENRE: Classical, operatic, folk, celtic, metal... Modern "Classical-modern".
CANONICAL TOLKIEN or ORIGINAL? Mostly canon-lyrics, with a few instrumental tracks.
REVIEW:
I'll start with the negative and get it over with: Stephen Oliver writes in a modern (post-modern??) beyond-drawing-room style. (My tastes run to old-fashioned, "real" classical and the dischordant/ jazzed modern does little for me.) I find the music is sometimes strained and unpleasantly dischordant.
His elves do nothing for me. The jingle-bells are distracting, the tunes aren't celtic in flavor or even particularly pretty or attractive in my mind-- perhaps "madrigal, but dischordant" would describe it. Again, unpleasant.

Now for the good stuff: Hobbits, men, and ents. Here Stephen Oliver really shines.

Hobbits: His version of "Gil-Galad" is in my mind THE version. THe tune is on the challenging side but not dischordant. The version as sung on the music CD is pleasant. The version as sung by Sam on the aired version is just great. Also superb-- "In Western Lands"-- one of the best versions of this song. THe Road Goes Ever On: quite good.

Bilbo's Last Song: Good. (But why isn't it sung by a hobbit?) I'll have to compare it to Swann's version again.

Men: Forth Rode The King, The Battle of Pelennor Fields, and Lament for the Fallen are slow and sonorous. 2 thumbs up.

Ents: The long List of the Ents: It's fine (whatever, this was never my favorite poem.)
The March of the Ents: YEAH!! Awesome! "We go, we go, we go to war..." Superb. Stirring, valiant stuff: HOOM HOM!
DO YOU RECOMMEND IT?
For the Mannish, Hobbitish and Entish stuff it's great. (But if you're looking for Elvish, keep looking.)
PRICE YOU PAID: If you buy the BBC CDs, get the set with the extra music CD-- that's this. Don't settle for a set without it like I did.
I had to special-order it overseas and it *wasn't* cheap. I think the bill was over $30 by the time I was done.
WHERE YOU BOUGHT IT
Again, in order to get just the CD, I had to special-order and it took forever to arrive. Edit: www.tolkienshop.com/
Do you know of any online samples?
Not any more. I ran across Sam's Gil-Galad song online as a .wav file, which was how I decided to buy the CD; but the WAV file is gone now. Tolkien Estates strikes again, I suppose. Don't they understand they're deleting their best advertising? If I hadn't been enchanted by that wav file I doubt I would have struggled to get this CD.

04-22-2004, 07:55 AM	#22
mark12_30 Stormdancer of Doom Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Elvish singing is not a thing to miss, in June under the stars Posts: 4,349	Stephen Oliver TITLE:"Music from the BBC Radio Dramatization of J. R. R. TOlkien's THE LORD OF THE RINGS" MUSICIANS: ...many... GENRE: Classical, operatic, folk, celtic, metal... Modern "Classical-modern". CANONICAL TOLKIEN or ORIGINAL? Mostly canon-lyrics, with a few instrumental tracks. REVIEW: I'll start with the negative and get it over with: Stephen Oliver writes in a modern (post-modern??) beyond-drawing-room style. (My tastes run to old-fashioned, "real" classical and the dischordant/ jazzed modern does little for me.) I find the music is sometimes strained and unpleasantly dischordant. His elves do nothing for me. The jingle-bells are distracting, the tunes aren't celtic in flavor or even particularly pretty or attractive in my mind-- perhaps "madrigal, but dischordant" would describe it. Again, unpleasant. Now for the good stuff: Hobbits, men, and ents. Here Stephen Oliver really shines. Hobbits: His version of "Gil-Galad" is in my mind THE version. THe tune is on the challenging side but not dischordant. The version as sung on the music CD is pleasant. The version as sung by Sam on the aired version is just great. Also superb-- "In Western Lands"-- one of the best versions of this song. THe Road Goes Ever On: quite good. Bilbo's Last Song: Good. (But why isn't it sung by a hobbit?) I'll have to compare it to Swann's version again. Men: Forth Rode The King, The Battle of Pelennor Fields, and Lament for the Fallen are slow and sonorous. 2 thumbs up. Ents: The long List of the Ents: It's fine (whatever, this was never my favorite poem.) The March of the Ents: YEAH!! Awesome! "We go, we go, we go to war..." Superb. Stirring, valiant stuff: HOOM HOM! DO YOU RECOMMEND IT? For the Mannish, Hobbitish and Entish stuff it's great. (But if you're looking for Elvish, keep looking.) PRICE YOU PAID: If you buy the BBC CDs, get the set with the extra music CD-- that's this. Don't settle for a set without it like I did. I had to special-order it overseas and it wasn't cheap. I think the bill was over $30 by the time I was done. WHERE YOU BOUGHT IT Again, in order to get just the CD, I had to special-order and it took forever to arrive. Edit: www.tolkienshop.com/ Do you know of any online samples? Not any more. I ran across Sam's Gil-Galad song online as a .wav file, which was how I decided to buy the CD; but the WAV file is gone now. Tolkien Estates strikes again, I suppose. Don't they understand they're deleting their best advertising? If I hadn't been enchanted by that wav file I doubt I would have struggled to get this CD. __________________ ...down to the water to see the elves dance and sing upon the midsummer's eve. Last edited by mark12_30; 04-23-2004 at 06:50 AM.