'Microphones in Middle-earth: Music in the BBC Radio Play', Paul Smith

[Estelyn Telcontar]

I quite agree, Faramir, and I found this chapter to be very readable and interesting. I also see parallels with Greg Martin's chapter on "Music, Myth and Literary Depth", which also explores connections between Tolkien and Ralph Vaughan Williams, one of the English composers mentioned by Paul Smith.

I am also a great fan of the BBC radio play and have been privileged to hear the Cambridge Society perform part of it at "Tolkien 2005" in Birmingham. Paul Smith spoke and sang in that performance; his countertenor voice was wonderfully otherworldish for the Eagle's song.

[Aiwendil]

I also enjoyed this chapter, even though I was unfamiliar with the radio drama until now. For those of you who, like me, haven't had the good fortune to hear it before, they appear to have all the episodes here on YouTube.

I've now listened to some of the radio drama, and it's interesting to do so after reading Smith's essay, as I find myself being particularly attentive to the music. So far I find Oliver's settings of the songs to sound very "authentic" - by which, I suppose, I mean that they sound very much as I have always imagined them to.

[davem]

Originally Posted by Aiwendil

I've now listened to some of the radio drama, and it's interesting to do so after reading Smith's essay, as I find myself being particularly attentive to the music. So far I find Oliver's settings of the songs to sound very "authentic" - by which, I suppose, I mean that they sound very much as I have always imagined them to.

Lot more on the series (including contributions from Brian Sibley himself) in our unfinished thread http://forum.barrowdowns.com/showthread.php?t=14646 . Quite a bit on Stephen Oliver's music can be found there. There is a (very) limited edition recording (which a few of us have of a talk given by Brian Sibley, Michael Bakewell (the adaptors), Penny Leicester (the director) & a number of the cast, along with Stephen Oliver himself (& an excerpt from the tape prepared by Christopher Tolkien as a pronunciation guide for the actors) which was given at the Church House Bookshop back in 1981, which took place just a few days before the series was first broadcast.

Don't know if any of the following made it into the essay, but here's a bit from a couple of my posts on the thread:

The music was by Stephen Oliver (Morgan had originally wanted Sir Malcolm Arnold). Oliver decided that he didn't want anything that sounded 'too grand', as most of the audience would be listening to it on small radios. He chose to use almost exclusively Violas & Cellos (the only real exception being Boromir's horn). Oliver commented that he found Tolkien's lyrics 'poor' - except for the alliterative verse, which he thought brilliant. The approach he took to setting them to music was quite practical - if it was a walking song he would use a walking rhythm' dum-dum-dum.

&

I love that Church House recording - though I'm not sure Stephen Oliver's annecdote on the afternoon he spent teaching the Ambrosian Singers the song from the Field of Cormallen would be quite acceptable in these more PC times ('Like teaching disabled children to sing God save the Queen' as he put it!).

You might also like these pages from Brian's blog http://briansibleytheworks.blogspot....fadden-on.html & http://briansibleytheworks.blogspot....uction_23.html

[Guinevere]

Last week I discovered, quite by accident, in a branch of my library in Zürich, the LotR BBC radio play.(14 CDs) I have wanted to listen to this much praised adaption for some time, so I was happy to be able to take it home and listen to it for the first time! I enjoyed it very much and agree that it is indeed very well done.

Right afterwards I read the essay on the music, while listening to the respective music on the 14th CD (only the music). Thus I could really appreciate it!

I liked most of the music, my favourite being "Gil-Galad was an Elven King" (which I already had heard previously) The Rohan themed music is also great! As for the Elvish music: for me the film music sounds more "right".
The countertenor as the eagle's voice is intriguing - when reading the "song", I never imagined it as a melody and voice, and I suppose that any talking/singing voice would seem a bit strange, but since an actual eagle's scream is highpitched, the countertenor is quite apt!
What I found downright ugly was the "Shadowfax" theme. (Too modern for my oldfashioned taste, I guess)

But

Oliver commented that he found Tolkien's lyrics 'poor' -

[Lainadann]

Oh I forgot all about that BBC one... must track it down.