Song of the Day: Into the West (by Howard Shore feat. Annie Lennox)

Posted on June 26, 2011 by Arleigh

This latest “Song of the Day” marks the final and third entry in the weekend-long theme of picking song and music from The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. What better choice to cap of this themed weekend than picking the final song to close out Peter Jackson’s fantasy epic: “Into the West”.

It’s this song as composed and arranged by the trilogy’s master composer, Howard Shore, featuring the vocal talents of singer Annie Lennox. Her work on this song was at times quite gentle and subdued with some strong vocals once the chorus arrives and repeats a second time. Some have complained that someone with more classical training would’ve been better suited to tackle this song, but I rather enjoyed Lennox’s powerful rendition of the chorus in the song.

“Into the West” is a song that’s both one of hope and a bittersweet lament as it speaks of the leaving of the Elf race on their Grey Ships to sail into the west towards Valinor. Some of the lyrics in the song even comes from sections of the final chapter of The Return of the King novel.

When this song played at the end of The Return of the King it surely brought more than just a few people to tears as it helped marked the end of three years of fantasy filmmaking which became a cultural phenomenon from 2001 through 2003 as the world became enraptured by Peter Jackson’s fantasy trilogy. What better song to end this weekend theme than the very song which ended the trilogy of which this weekend was all about.

Into the West

Lay down
Your sweet and weary head
Night is falling
You have come to journey’s end
Sleep now
And dream of the ones who came before
They are calling
From across a distant shore
Why do you weep?
What are these tears upon your face?
Soon you will see
All of your fears will pass away

Safe in my arms
You’re only sleeping

What can you see
On the horizon?
Why do the white gulls call?
Across the sea
A pale moon rises
The ships have come to carry you home
And all will turn
To silver-glass
A light on the water
All souls pass

Hope fades
Until the world of night
Through shadows’ falling
Out of memory and time
Don’t say
We have come now to the end
White shores are calling
You and I will meet again

And you’ll be here in my arms
Just sleeping

Song of the Day: Theoden Rides Forth (by Howard Shore)

Posted on June 25, 2011 by Arleigh

For my chosen song from Howard Shore’s orchestral film score for Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers I picked the tune which starts off my favorite scene in from that film. This will be the latest song for “Song of the Day”.

“Theoden Rides Forth” begins with the scene of Theoden, Aragorn, Legolas and what remains of the Rohan cavalry riding out for one last time out of the Keep at Helm’s Deep into the thick of the Uruk-Hai forces. The song takes the “Rohan theme” first heard in the early part of the film, but with a heroic flair that transitions to full brass blaring the theme to great effect. The song then segues into a brief appearance of the “Fellowship theme” as Gandalf, Eomer and the Rohirrim appear to save their king and companions. From there the song brings in the “Shadowfax theme” with child soprano Ben Del Maestro providing the solo chorus as the charge comes down the steep incline and into the ranks of Uruk-Hai waiting below. But the song doesn’t end there as it moves into the follow-up scene using the “Nature theme” to show Treebeard and the Ents make their final march to war against Isengard.

This track from the score finishes off the two parallel story lines of Helm’s Deep and Isengard. The transitions in the song from one story line to the other were flawless. The fact that Shore was able to incorporate and combine so many different themes not just from this film but from the previous one shows an artist who is definitely a master of his craft. There’s no denying why “Theoden Rides Forth” became the best tune from the The Two Towers film score and why so many fans of the film and the score wholeheartedly agree.

Song of the Day: The Breaking of the Fellowship (by Howard Shore)

Posted on June 24, 2011 by Arleigh

With my favorite scene from The Fellowship of the Ring chosen and posted it’s now time to pick my favorite piece of music from that film’s orchestral soundtrack. This was a soundtrack that I consider just one-third of a massive 12-hour symphony. The song I’ve chosen is actually a re-edited version of this film’s “Complete Recordings” release: “The Breaking of the Fellowship”.

Howard Shore’s work as composer for Peter Jackson’s monumental and epic (if there was ever a subject deserving of that overused word it would be Jackson’s fantasy trilogy) has been hailed by critics and fans alike as one of the best, if not the best, film score of the new millennium. Shore doesn’t go for the typical overly bombastic score that’s become the go-to style for epic films of any stripe. His work on this first third of the total Lord of the Rings score even manages to outdo John Williams’ own compositions for the other major fantasy series to come out the same year in Harry Potter and The Sorcerer Stone.

Where Williams’ had begun to partially cannibalize his own past film scores for his recent ones, Shore was able to look at what Jackson was creating and decided to base the entire score for The Fellowship of the Ring on three motifs which were airy, subtle with the loud and expressive brass section only appearing in one of these three. “The Breaking of the Fellowship” ends the film on a mixture of triumph and sadness as the track’s title describes. Shore takes the peaceful “hobbit theme” from the beginning of the film and combines it with the more rousing “Fellowship theme” then topped with as bonus with sections from the “Rivendell theme”. These three themes combine to highlight not just the breaking of the fellowship in the end of the film, but some sense of loss of innocence of the hobbits in the group as heard by a more somber and pensive rendition of the “hobbit theme”.

Of all the musical cues in The Fellowship of the Ring it’s the one which makes up “The Breaking of the Fellowship” that fully expresses the overall thematic and narrative themes of the film. It’s a song that tells the audience that the peaceful nature of the hobbits have now been tempered by their complete understanding of the exact nature of their fellowship’s quest. It also underscores how even in triumph the fellowship will encounter heartbreak and tragedy. These two themes will continue to be explore in the next two films and their respective score, but it’s in this first one that it truly shines.

Trailer: A Dangerous Method (dir. by David Cronenberg)

Posted on June 21, 2011 by Arleigh

To say that I am a huge fan of Canadian auteur and all-around genius filmmaker David Cronenberg would be the understatement of the decade. I count him as one of the greatest filmmakers of the last 30 years. Seen his style go from grindhouse video nasties type of horror to the sublime. He’s one filmmaker who has never had to compromise his filmmaking style to suit the audience. You either accept what he has crafted or not.

The last 5-6 years has seen his stock rise amongst the film community as films like A History of Violence and Eastern Promises has gotten him recognition from the Academy voters, Film Circles and others in the film elite community. At the same time these films have been widely regarded by film fans as some of the best of the past decade. It helps that he seems to have found a partner-in-crime in another auteur with actor Viggo Mortensen who played lead in both those films.

Now for 2011 the two partner up again for the third time for Cronenberg’s film adaptation of the stage play “The Talking Cure” which itself was adapted from the non-fiction book, A Most Dangerous Method. The film is called A Dangerous Method and stars Viggo Mortensen as Sigmund Freud, Michael Fassbender as Carl Jung and Keira Knightley as Sabina Spielrein. These three become the focal point of a sort of relationship triangle as the friendship between Freud and his younger apprentice in Jung becomes even more complicated when young Sabina get’s between the two men who would give rise to the study of psychoanalysis.

That brief synopsis doesn’t make this film very interesting at first glance, but this is Cronenberg who never picks projects and stories to tell unless it appealed to him. I wouldn’t be surprised if the film wasn’t just a story about three individuals and their relationships towards each other, but something even more abstract as Cronenberg’s bound to explore the early days of psychoanalysis itself.

Here’s to hoping A Dangerous Method delivers on everything fans of Cronenberg have come to expect from him…or not expect as the man has a tendency to surprise with each new film.

10 Best Film Scores/Soundtracks of the Past Decade

Posted on January 22, 2010 by Arleigh

Listed below in no particular order of importance are the film soundtracks I consider as being the best of the 2000’s. All of these soundtracks have the distinction of not just great pieces of music in their own right, but also adding another layer to the film they’re scoring. Most are orchestral soundtracks with a couple a mixture of both orchestral work and licensed songs. For franchises which contain repeating music cues and motifs I’ve decided to combine as one entry.

I’ve added a video link of a favorite track from each soundtrack.

1. O, Brother Where Art Thou?