.

[Sharkissimo 1,973]

And what do people think the music for the Barrow-Downs would have sounded like?

Clustral, aleatoric, spectral. Lots of string harmonics, maybe harmonic glissandos.

[Incanus 5,716]

And what do people think the music for the Barrow-Downs would have sounded like?

Clustral, aleatoric, spectral. Lots of string harmonics, maybe harmonic glissandos.

I think Shore would have gone by the way of Death Marshes with Sprechstimme voices chanting the Cold Be Heart and Hand and Bone in Black Speech and perhaps the evil sheen of brooding low woodwinds and bowed cymbals and Footsteps of Doom motif. Some strident brass screams and pounding timpani and aleatoric double basses for Bombadil's breaking of the tomb and nice rendition of Bombadil's theme (obviously some kind of relation to the Nature's Reclamation in more rustic guise) for the subsequent scene where he sees the hobbits to the safe road to Bree.

[Kühni 485]

.

[Incanus 5,716]

Footsteps of Doom solves everything.

It has the word Doom in it. And Doom is the new cool. Of course it solves everything!

[Sharkissimo 1,973]

Footsteps of Doom solves everything.

Which motif is that again? Is it those pedal Ds. Boom! Boom! - Pause... Boom! Boom! - Pause...

[TNOTG 0]

The Old Forest (with Tom Bombadil/Goldberry)

[Incanus 5,716]

Footsteps of Doom solves everything.

Which motif is that again? Is it those pedal Ds. Boom! Boom! - Pause... Boom! Boom! - Pause...

Yeap! All over the LotR scores. Especially when Nazgûl and Saruman turn nasty.

It is heard in the DoS on The Nature of Evil track at about 0:40 onwards.

[BloodBoal 7,538]

[Incanus 5,716]

Oppressive? WTF? What's next? You're going to tell us that the Shire theme is too dark?

But surely you're jesting. I'm not saying Mordor levels of oppression, but it certainly does have a threatening vibe to it. As it's supposed to, because the Lothlórien sequence is presented so that first time viewers won't know whether the Fellowship are genuinely safe there or not.

In all honesty, I never thought the Lothlorien theme sounds threatening. Mysterious? Yes, definitely. But threatening? Nope.

BUT, now that you mention it, and after thinking about it a bit, yes, there are a few statements that do sound threatening (Mostly in the first half of Caras Galadhon. After that, not so much. Especially not in TTT and ROTK).

Caras Galadhon is the only place where it is supposed to sound somewhat ambivalent or even threatening. After that the Lorien Elves are established as allies so the music naturally becomes outwardly warmer.

[BloodBoal 7,538]

[Incanus 5,716]

Wow, just wow BB. I'll never look Hugo Weaving the same way ever again.

What word would you prefer to use for Lothlorien theme in its post Caras Galadhon appearances? Courageous? Friendlier? Inviting? Heroic? Comforting?

[Dixon Hill 4,234]

And what do people think the music for the Barrow-Downs would have sounded like?

Clustral, aleatoric, spectral. Lots of string harmonics, maybe harmonic glissandos.

Or....

All of this reminds me of my aforementioned desire for a really "avant-garde" (both in music and art/design) cinematic adaptation of Tolkien.

[BloodBoal 7,538]

[Sharkissimo 1,973]

And what do people think the music for the Barrow-Downs would have sounded like?

Clustral, aleatoric, spectral. Lots of string harmonics, maybe harmonic glissandos.

Or....

All of this reminds me of my aforementioned desire for a really "avant-garde" (both in music and art/design) cinematic adaptation of Tolkien.

The closest we've got so far would probably be Rosenman's LOTR.

Re: harmonics and open fifths - I was thinking of how Shore's represented wraiths or wraith-like being before. My mind went back to that really stunning moment in Weathertop that was replaced by Steven Price's ringworld sfx in the film. Sounds like one of my top 5 favourite sounds - that of an orchestra tuning up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvQh4zap4U0

@1:41

[gkgyver 1,645]

When is the next score coming out? So this will get interesting again.

Will it? The Desolation Of Smaug was pretty meh!

Maybe it's you that's meh.

[Dixon Hill 4,234]

And what do people think the music for the Barrow-Downs would have sounded like?

Clustral, aleatoric, spectral. Lots of string harmonics, maybe harmonic glissandos.

Or....

All of this reminds me of my aforementioned desire for a really "avant-garde" (both in music and art/design) cinematic adaptation of Tolkien.

The closest we've got so far would probably be Rosenman's LOTR.

Re: harmonics and open fifths - I was thinking of how Shore's represented wraiths or wraith-like being before. My mind went back to that really stunning moment in Weathertop that was replaced by Steven Price's ringworld sfx in the film. Sounds like one of my top 5 favourite sounds - that of an orchestra tuning up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvQh4zap4U0

@1:41

That section was nixed in FOTR but was tracked back into TTT during the first encounter with Treebeard. Less fitting, but at least it was used.

[gkgyver 1,645]

Now that was a real footstep of doom.

[Incanus 5,716]

Now that was a real footstep of doom.

At first glance I read that as "fool step of doom" but I guess it was that too.

[BloodBoal 7,538]

[Uni 306]

Most of the options didn't really appeal, simply because they would've been more of the same. (Would Glorfindel's presence, for instance, have inspired Shore to take the elven thing in an entirely new direction? I doubt it.)

Well, obviously, most of the things that were cut would not have meant completely different music than what we got to hear, rather developments of ideas/themes that ended up in the final score. That is to say that we have a rough idea of what most of the themes/kinds of music for these characters would have sounded like (except for Tom Bombadil, maybe), based on what we got to hear in the final score(Gondor material/Prince Imrahil, Elven material/Glorfindel, the Shire material/The Scouring of the Shire, etc.), but that doesn't take away the fact that some of it could have been interesting to hear nonetheless.

To go back to your Glorfindel example: yes, Shore wouldn't have written something completely different than his usual Elven material, but it definitely would have been different compared to the music we got for Arwen's arrival. Maybe the character would not have been given a proper theme, but maybe the music itself would have been a bit different, maybe a bit more heroic than the gentle melody we got. Maybe that would have also meant a different approach for the flight to the ford chase sequence, too. Who knows?

Your points are well taken. Variations proliferate as any story grows more complex. However, the process could go on ad nauseum, with no end of shadings and differentiations and character nuances in sight. (Something that's true, of course, of any score or movie.)

I think in terms of stuff that could have been possibly quite different from anything else in the score, the Tom Bombadil material would come first. I'm thinking it maybe would have sounded a bit like Bilbo's Fussy theme in The Hobbit. Now, the thing is, if Tom Bombadil had been included, his character would have probably been a bit different from his book counterpart, in order for him to fit with the tone fo the movie, so maybe his music would not have been so jolly. I think a good indication of what it could have sounded like are the first 30 seconds or so of The House Of Beorn. Something along those lines, not necessarily joyous, but at least bucolic.

The more I think on it, the more the idea appeals. Not that he should've been in the movie (there's just no way), but speculation on how PJ would've presented him and how Shore might've scored him. I think you're right--he would've been presented in a much more mysterious and "heavy" vein than he appears in the book (since most material in the trilogy leaned that way in the end). I also think PJ and Shore would've emphasized his ancientness in a way that would've been stronger than his literarilly jubilant state.

And what do people think the music for the Barrow-Downs would have sounded like?

The ideas people have floated so far for this make me wish we could hear more. . . ! This is a scene that would've been defined, even carried, by the music.

[Faleel 5,359]

The Barrow downs: Westernesse theme!

[Gnome in Plaid 219]

And what do people think the music for the Barrow-Downs would have sounded like?

Clustral, aleatoric, spectral. Lots of string harmonics, maybe harmonic glissandos.

I think Shore would have gone by the way of Death Marshes with Sprechstimme voices chanting the Cold Be Heart and Hand and Bone in Black Speech and perhaps the evil sheen of brooding low woodwinds and bowed cymbals and Footsteps of Doom motif. Some strident brass screams and pounding timpani and aleatoric double basses for Bombadil's breaking of the tomb and nice rendition of Bombadil's theme (obviously some kind of relation to the Nature's Reclamation in more rustic guise) for the subsequent scene where he sees the hobbits to the safe road to Bree.

That sounds awesome.

And what do people think the music for the Barrow-Downs would have sounded like?

Clustral, aleatoric, spectral. Lots of string harmonics, maybe harmonic glissandos.

So does that.

I voted The Scouring of the Shire, because I just can't get enough of the Shire theme, and I'm imagining it would've had something similar to the iteration you only hear at the end of "The Prophecy," but that's mostly because it's tangentially related to one of my favorite scenes from the book:

Soon the dwindling company, following the Isen, turned west and rode through the Gap into the waste lands beyond, and then they turned northwards, and passed over the borders of Dunland. The Dunlendings fled and hid themselves, for they were afraid of Elvish folk, though few indeed ever came into their country; but the travellers did not heed them, for they were still a great company and were well provided with all that they needed; and they went on their way at their leisure, setting up their tents when they would.

On the sixth day since their parting from the King they journeyed through a wood climbing down from the hills at the feet of the Misty Mountains that now marched on their right hand. As they came out again into the open country at sundown, they overtook an old man leaning on a staff, and he was clothed in rags of grey or dirty white, and at his heels went another beggar, slouching and whining.

"Well Saruman!" said Gandalf. "Where are you going?"

"What is that to you?" he answered. "Will you still order my goings, and are you not content with my ruin?"

"You know the answers," said Gandalf: "no and no. But in any case, the time of my labours now draws to an end. The King has taken on the burden. If you had waited at Orthanc, you would have seen him, and he would have shown you wisdom and mercy."

"Then all the more reason to have left sooner," said Saruman; "for I desire neither of him. Indeed if you wish for an answer to your first question, I am seeking a way out of his realm."

"Then once more you are going the wrong way," said Gandalf, "and I see no hope in you journey. But will you scorn our help? For we offer it to you."

"To me?" said Saruman. "Nay, pray do not smile at me! I prefer your frowns. And as for the Lady here, I do not trust her: she has always hated me, and schemed for your part. I do not doubt that she has brought you this way to have the pleasure of gloating over my poverty. Had I been warned of your pursuit, I would have denied you the pleasure."

"Saruman," said Galadriel, "we have other errands and other cares that seem to us more urgent than hunting for you. Say rather that you are overtaken by good fortune; for now you have a last chance."

"If it be truly the last, I am glad," said Saruman; "for I shall be spared the trouble of refusing it again. All my hopes are ruined, but I would not share yours, if you have any."

For a moment his eyes kindled. "Go!" he said. "I did not spend long study hours on these matters for naught. You have doomed yourselves and you know it. And it will afford me some comfort as I wander to think that you pulled down your own house when you destroyed mine. And now, what ship will bear you back across so wide a sea?" he mocked. "It will be a grey ship, and full of ghosts." He laughed, but his voice was cracked and hideous.

"It will be a grey ship, and full of ghosts." I'm almost imagining a hybrid version of the Isengard theme using some of the Pity of Gollum harmonies.

On another note, for a while I've been tinkering with the idea of creating a mockup for the sally from Helm's Deep replacing the solo voice in the section tracked from "The Last March of the Ents" with a hardanger.

[Dixon Hill 4,234]

It's been way too long since I've read them. That's a wonderful passage.

[Faleel 5,359]

I wanna hear Odo's theme

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

What?

[BloodBoal 7,538]