Favourite soundtrack song? - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

Legate of Amon Lanc · 11-05-2007, 05:19 PM

I have to pop in, because I am currently listening to Helm's Deep - it's really a nice one. I don't know what's happening with me, but I spent this evening listening to a strange mix of CDs I haven't listened to for a long time (if you saw the mix...

). I have Helm's Deep on a self-made CD with a choice of different songs (from LotR there is also The Uruk-hai and The Ride of the Rohirrim). I liked also the theme of Isengard in the movies, and the theme of the Black Riders as well.

Terrible. I actually just commended something from the movies.

But really, for me the music was one of the best things on the movies (and certainly the best thing on TT

) and it went well together with the movie. But let it be clear that it's not the Middle-Earth that I live in, so even the music does not belong in there.

Meriadoc1961 · 11-06-2007, 08:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Legate of Amon Lanc

I have to pop in, because I am currently listening to Helm's Deep - it's really a nice one. I don't know what's happening with me, but I spent this evening listening to a strange mix of CDs I haven't listened to for a long time (if you saw the mix...

). I have Helm's Deep on a self-made CD with a choice of different songs (from LotR there is also The Uruk-hai and The Ride of the Rohirrim). I liked also the theme of Isengard in the movies, and the theme of the Black Riders as well.

Terrible. I actually just commended something from the movies.

But really, for me the music was one of the best things on the movies (and certainly the best thing on TT

) and it went well together with the movie. But let it be clear that it's not the Middle-Earth that I live in, so even the music does not belong in there.

Really? Not even the singing of the elves? Or for that matter, Bag End and Hobbiton?

Merry

Legate of Amon Lanc · 11-06-2007, 09:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Meriadoc1961

Really? Not even the singing of the elves? Or for that matter, Bag End and Hobbiton?

Actually, these are probably those I consider the least Middle-Earthish. That's not to say I don't like the music: as I said above, it's very nice - everything - and those I mentioned are the ones I liked the most of all. But especially the Shire is one of the things that is the least close to the Shire as I imagine it, and the singing of the Elves is definitely totally out for me. To the movie, why not. To the book, no way.

The Might · 11-06-2007, 12:05 PM

Of course this isn't really how M-e music would sound, except some parts, but still I think it goes well with the books, because it manages to transport the spirit the books also have, that mystical component.
As Tom Bombadil, the music doesn't come from M-e, but it is of M-e.

Legate of Amon Lanc · 11-06-2007, 01:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Might

Of course this isn't really how M-e music would sound, except some parts, but still I think it goes well with the books, because it manages to transport the spirit the books also have, that mystical component.
As Tom Bombadil, the music doesn't come from M-e, but it is of M-e.

Just to make it clear, I personally don't think that the music from the films would be the music that they'd play in Middle-Earth (and it's even worse with the songs that actually are in the books and made it to the movies - I just did not imagine them like that at all! I have my own melody and even rythm and mainly the tempo of them; simply put, they made it all wrong!

But I believe most of the people who read the books prior to hearing the songs in any interpretation have imagined the songs to sound some way, no?); but also the music does not go together with the world for me. Not at all, not even as "background" music. When I'm imagining Isengard, Lórien or Mordor, there is not the movie music playing in the background. It would have to be totally different music (if there were to be any).

Sauron the White · 11-06-2007, 04:15 PM

Having a copy of Poems and Songs from Middle-earth, I can say with utmost confidence that I am overjoyed the film soundtrack did not attempt to sound anything like that so-called authoritative music from the world of JRRT. Tolkien was a wonderful story teller with a tremendous imagination. He could create amazing characters, the most glorious settings, and give you everything you wanted in an epic tale. But music was not his speciality.

William Cloud Hicklin · 11-06-2007, 10:05 PM

I don't know if the Donald Swann settings can be termed "authoritative." They're, well, Donald Swann. Poppy Lieder-lite, just the sort of thing which might entertain an elderly man born in 1892 who even in his youth found ragtime distasteful!

However, the one really good piece in there, the haunting Namarie, is actually Tolkien. Or at least, he rejected Swann's original tune and hummed out the chant-like theme which Swann adopted- so the old Professor was not without his musical side.

Most of the songs Tolkien put in the book (and, it's often forgotten, they're *songs*) are hobbit-songs, and so it seems to me that the ideal settings should be in the style of genuine English folksong- genuine, and English, not the rather bogus 'Celtic' stuff one so often hears. In fact Tolkien himself intended The Stone Troll to be sung to, and himself sang to, the tune of "The Fox Went Out."

11-05-2007, 05:19 PM	#1
Legate of Amon Lanc A Voice That Gainsayeth Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: In that far land beyond the Sea Posts: 7,431	I have to pop in, because I am currently listening to Helm's Deep - it's really a nice one. I don't know what's happening with me, but I spent this evening listening to a strange mix of CDs I haven't listened to for a long time (if you saw the mix...). I have Helm's Deep on a self-made CD with a choice of different songs (from LotR there is also The Uruk-hai and The Ride of the Rohirrim). I liked also the theme of Isengard in the movies, and the theme of the Black Riders as well. Terrible. I actually just commended something from the movies. But really, for me the music was one of the best things on the movies (and certainly the best thing on TT) and it went well together with the movie. But let it be clear that it's not the Middle-Earth that I live in, so even the music does not belong in there. __________________ "Should the story say 'he ate bread,' the dramatic producer can only show 'a piece of bread' according to his taste or fancy, but the hearer of the story will think of bread in general and picture it in some form of his own." -On Fairy-Stories

11-06-2007, 12:05 PM	#4
The Might Guard of the Citadel Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Oxon Posts: 2,205	Of course this isn't really how M-e music would sound, except some parts, but still I think it goes well with the books, because it manages to transport the spirit the books also have, that mystical component. As Tom Bombadil, the music doesn't come from M-e, but it is of M-e. __________________ “The invisible and the non-existent look very much alike.” Delos B. McKown

11-06-2007, 10:05 PM	#7
William Cloud Hicklin Loremaster of Annúminas Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 2,330	I don't know if the Donald Swann settings can be termed "authoritative." They're, well, Donald Swann. Poppy Lieder-lite, just the sort of thing which might entertain an elderly man born in 1892 who even in his youth found ragtime distasteful! However, the one really good piece in there, the haunting Namarie, is actually Tolkien. Or at least, he rejected Swann's original tune and hummed out the chant-like theme which Swann adopted- so the old Professor was not without his musical side. Most of the songs Tolkien put in the book (and, it's often forgotten, they're songs) are hobbit-songs, and so it seems to me that the ideal settings should be in the style of genuine English folksong- genuine, and English, not the rather bogus 'Celtic' stuff one so often hears. In fact Tolkien himself intended The Stone Troll to be sung to, and himself sang to, the tune of "The Fox Went Out." __________________ The entire plot of The Lord of the Rings could be said to turn on what Sauron didn’t know, and when he didn’t know it.

11-06-2007, 04:15 PM	#6
Sauron the White Ghost Prince of Cardolan Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 903	Having a copy of Poems and Songs from Middle-earth, I can say with utmost confidence that I am overjoyed the film soundtrack did not attempt to sound anything like that so-called authoritative music from the world of JRRT. Tolkien was a wonderful story teller with a tremendous imagination. He could create amazing characters, the most glorious settings, and give you everything you wanted in an epic tale. But music was not his speciality.