A far green country under a swift sunrise

[denorios]

What is it about Howard Shore's score for Lord of the Rings? I have never yet come across any music that has such a power to bring me to tears. There's such a sense of melancholy in listening to the Lord of the Rings scores - such a wistful nostalgia. It's like...it's like feeling homesick for Middle Earth.

Whatever else I can say about Lord of

Comments

[kathyh]

I *love* Howard Shore's score for The Lord of the Rings.

That innocence can never be regained.

Yes, that's exactly how I feel about the ending of both the book and the film. That bittersweet, elegiac tone at the end of the book is very difficult to capture but I thought Peter Jackson did it perfectly (though I still think the Grey Havens should have been grey).

I actually sniffled at the beginning of both Hobbit movies just because it was so good to be back in Middle Earth again. I didn't realise just how much I'd missed it.

[denorios]

I cried so much at the end of RotK, not so much because the ending was sad, but because I was so sad at the thought of leaving Middle Earth - and yes, I cried at the start of The Hobbit, because being back was so wonderful. You really feel, with these movies, that you're there, in this world, and leaving it is such a wrench.

[katikat]

So far, I've loved the music to all the LotR/Hobbit movies but I especially love the ED songs, Into the West, Song of the Lonely Mountain and I see Fire. I can't get enough of those.

I think my favorite movie composer is Hans Zimmer, though. Especially his Pirates of the Caribbean, The Darkn Knight Rises and Inception OSTs. I keep listening to them over and over again.

[denorios]

Yes, I've loved all the songs as well - Enya's is probably my least favourite, but even there it evokes FotR so I love it for that alone.

I do love Hans Zimmer too - but his music is purely aesthetic for me, it doesn't evoke the movies and the worlds because I didn't fall in love in the same way.

[pretty_panther]

Oh, yes. My favourite soundtrack. It just brings on so many feels. It makes you want to go into battle or burst into tears or just sit and be grateful.

[denorios]

Doesn't it? It's such an amazing achievement - all those different themes for the races of Middle Earth, and the way they weave in and out of each other.

[huntersglenn]

I can't listen to "Into The West" without getting teary-eyed. That song is definitely on the playlist for my funeral, as it so well captured the essence of the ending of the series. I also get teary-eyed when listening to Pippin singing "Home Is Behind", but that's mostly due to the excellent editing of that entire scene.

Howard Shore's music did such a great job of capturing what was, in essence, a changing of the world as it was known. We know from the Appendix of the books that wonderful things are in store for nearly all of the surviving characters, but not for all of them. At least, not at first. The music captures that combination of sadness over closing one door as you're opening another, uncertain about what you'll be finding once you step through that new door.

[denorios]

Ugh, 'Home is Behind' kills me every time. I only have to close my eyes and I can see the whole scene - Denethor and Pippin and Faramir...

*sniffles*

For years

[cattraine]

the sound of Ashokan Farewell from Ken Burns' Civil War soundtrack caused me to burst into tears. Its so melancholy but beautifully simple. The most recent song that caused me to tear up was Carry on My Wayward Son redone as a lullaby for a music box.

Re: For years

[denorios]

Now I'm trying to imagine 'Carry On My Wayward Son' as a lullaby. Problem is, it's too deeply associated with Supernatural now for me!

Re: For years

[cattraine]

They slowed it down and the result is this haunting, SAD melody that if (as we do) associate with Sam and Dean's abysmal childhood really gets its hooks in you.

Re: For years

[denorios]

I'm going to have to track this down and listen to it - it's sounds lovely!