[ecurbh]

Howard Shore concert moot report!

We rode up with Scott and Mrs. Scott, met up with Penny and Ramius, and went to dinner at a very nice seafood restaurant right on the Seattle waterfront, out at the end of a pier. You can see a busy ferry landing in the background here.

Ramius played "name that beer" (got it on his second guess)

The view was lovely... we could see all the way to the Olympic Mts, and could watch huge container ships coming into port.

After dinner, we headed for the concert hall and found our seats way up in the nosebleed section. As someone who has been to symphony performances fairly often, I was struck by the different crowd there... this was ~not~ your usual "arts and croissant" symphony audience. There were lots of kids, and a few folks in strange outfits. And unusual hair...

The performance included a full chorus, boys chorus, huge orchestra, and soloists. The screen in the back displayed concept art and sketches by Alan Lee, and was much more subtle than I expected. It made a nice addition to the music, though. Howard Shore looks like he would be a hard conductor to follow, since he did not use a baton, but it seemed to work out fine.

Everyone performed wonderfully, the orchestra brass section especially shattering in sections like "The Bridge of Khazad-dum." Made me kind of wish I could be on stage playing it too. The vocal soloist, Sissel, had a lovely voice, and sang "Gollum's Song" and "Into the West," along with a few other sections such as "The End of All Things." The boy soloist on "The Breaking of the Fellowship" did quite well, I can't imagine having to face that kind of performance pressure at such a young age.

Only a couple minor quibbles on my part... There were a few minor sound system glitches, bumped microphones, feedback and such, which can probably be attributed to opening night jitters. There was a whistle soloist who did the hobbit theme, but when he played Pan Pipes on "The Steward of Gondor," it was a little hard to hear.

I noticed that "May It Be" was not included in the symphony. I wonder if it is due to Enya's co-writing credit, and it is considered more her song than Shore's.

It was a superb performance, and if any of you have the opportunity to see it, I would highly recommend it. Check out the schedule at HowardShore.com. Among the upcoming performances are Hartford, the National Arts Center, Dallas, Chicago, and Pittsburgh.

[HairOfTheDog]

I was surprised, and so were the others, at how ~animated~ Shore was when he conducted, so he didn't have a baton, but he would do this whole body dance and deep knee bends for the parts he liked, especially during the Moria part where the men's chorus is chanting dwarvish... Shore danced to that. It was fun to watch.

[RosieCotton]

Excellent report! Not enough pictures, though. ;-)

The background screen is an interesting touch...I've never seen that done before, but I guess this is a unique concert, as you mentioned!

[CindyDawg]

Pictures of the area beautiful. Looks like a lot of fun. Outdoors? I need to get more "cultured" I'm going to a concert, I mean symphony soon too. Tim McGraw in San Antonio YEEHAW! :')

[RMDupree]

Thanks for the ConcertMoot report, ecurbh!

Looks like great fun was had! And your descriptions of the orchestra and Shore's conducting were terrific. I can almost picture it in my head.

[Fedora]

Whoah, cool concert!--I'd like to see that.

[Scott from the Left Coast]

I really enjoyed the symphony treatment of the LotR soundtrack. The soloist Sissel did a great job with Gollum's Song and Into the West. It'll make a great CD (probably double CD, given that it was about 2 hours long).

Strangely enough, I liked the 2nd, 4th and 6th movements the best. The second movement started in Rivendell and went through Moria/Khaza Dum (really cool African-style beats that Howard Shore "danced" to while he conducted) to Lothlorien and then down the River to the breaking of the Fellowship. The movement was at least 45 minutes long -- as long or longer than any other 3 movements put together. It was really a symphony of 4 movements in itself.

The 4th movement was much shorter (of course) but it might have been my favorite. It was TTT's Hornburg, Forth Eorlingas, Isengard Unleashed and Gollum's Song. It had some of my favorites -- the "Appalachian" style Eorlingas with the sonorous fiddle, a return to the heavy percussion beats in Isengard and ending with a drop-dead gorgeous rendition of Gollum's Song by Sissel. It was short enough not to get tedious anywhere -- very compact and gave the feeling of one big hit after another.

The sixth movement was RotK, but started with a long section reprising a number of themes from throughout the rest of the soundtrack. Into the West and Grey Havens were the big highlight, with Sissel again just stunning on Into the West.

Howard Shore and the musicians got a 10 minute standing ovation at the end, he had to come out for bows three times.

If you don't get a chance to see it, be sure to buy the CD!