|
|
|
 |
Comments and Reviews
|
Early Comment on the Music (1991) -- The music is modal, so that although the verses appear similar, there are subtle differences in each line and stanza. Rhythm is often 4/4 time. They have pleasant, sometimes minor key, sound. Some are rather haunting. Beyond Bree, May 1991, p. 1 |
|
Customer Review -- I just received The Music of Middle-Earth . . . today, and I've really enjoyed listening to it. The best part of all 51 songs is the fact that each is original, and each, I believe, truly represents the theme expected from the song's title. You can just sing along with the actual song and they all fit so perfectly. I'd have to probably say that my favorite four would be (starting with the best): The Ent's Marching Song (I could just see the ents marching toward Isengard and the Tower of Orthanc!! Great Beat!!), Frodo's Lament for Gandalf (This song seemed very deep, beautifully depicting Frodo's morosity for the death of such a majestic being as Gandalf. I must ask, though, what was the synthesized last five or so seconds after the actual poem/song ends representative of?) [answer: fireworks], Oliphaunt (These magnificent creatures were wonderfully represented with this graceful song. I really liked the portion almost three-fourths of the way through on "Oliphaunt am I" with the bells or chimes.), and Adventure Song (I could just see the group of hobbits preparing for and starting the beginning of their long adventure!). Well, thanks again for the magic! |
|
Review from the Web (2001) -- We have reviewed both the CDs and the music book. The amount of work that [Gene Hargrove] has put into writing all the music shows a great love for the books and Middle-earth. As the foreword in the book tells us, it has been a project that took about 30 years to complete! The music on the CD is instrumental and is all played with a synthesizer. The songs themselves are very diverse in tempo, melody and general feeling. They give a very good interpretation of the songs in The Lord of the Rings. Although the songs are very diverse, the sound of the synthesizer stays pretty much the same and gives a electronical sound to the songs. The Music Book gives all the lyrics and the music to play all the songs yourself. If you play an instrument this will give the CDs and the Book a whole new dimension as you can play and sing them yourself. |
|
Print Review of the Songbook, The Music of Middle-Earth, vol. 1 (2001) -- Following the linguistic principle of using Old English for the language of Rohan, Celtic for the people of Bree, etc. Hargrove has attempted to reconstruct the music of Middle-earth using antique musical styles. His settings of Tolkien's poems are monophonic and modal, a single vocal line varying to accommodate the changing rhythms of the poems (i.e., not repeated verses). Simple chord accompaniment added to accommodate modern musical tastes. The first of two books. Beyond Bree, September 2001, p. 5 |
|
Print Review of the Songbook, The Music of Middle-Earth, vol. 2 (2003) -- Volume 2 contains settings for every song, poem, etc. in English in LOTR from Gimli's "Song of Durin" through the end of the story, plus "Fastitocalon" and "Princess Mee." (The songs of the Shire were covered in Volume 1). There is a Foreword, the music, and "About the Songs and Poems" (7 1/2 pp.), a paragraph about each song, with considerable background detail including material in The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales, and various observations. Hargrove refers to Shakespeare's Birnam Wood under "The Ents' Marching Song," and contrasts differing views of suicide and responsibility in the deaths of Denethor and Théoden under "The Burial Song of Théoden." Beyond Bree, April 2003, p. 8 |
|
|
||
