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Once more a piece of film music has made it into the symphonic world. My orchestra is in fact scheduled to play a "Symphony of the Lord of the Rings" by Howard Shore, a projected 120 minutes of music. Have any of you seen this score or played or heard a performance? There are four singers scheduled as well! What could this be? John (would rather be playing Act II of Siegfried) Swadley

Don't remember what the tuba part is like, but if you are playing the full Lord of the Rings Symphony, the trombone parts are like playing about 5 Bruckner Symphonies in a row, endurance wise. The "symphony" is simply all of the music in the three movies, reworked into three suites of three movements each if I remember correctly.

Eric Carlson

Thanks Eric. Unfortunately that is exactly what I was afraid of. John

I played this with Philly last summer. It is a daunting part, but pretty fun to play!

Eric is absolutley correct as far as the endurance goes. Lots of low D footballs at a fairly loud dynamic. After about 100 minutes of music, there is a sudden spasm in the extreme upper register (high A, maybe Bb) that is fairly exposed.

Ibuprofen before the concert, barley-hop therapy after the concert.

Have fun! You will rarely ever have as much to play on a program!

David Zerkel wrote:I played this with Philly last summer. It is a daunting part, but pretty fun to play!

Eric is absolutley correct as far as the endurance goes. Lots of low D footballs at a fairly loud dynamic. After about 100 minutes of music, there is a sudden spasm in the extreme upper register (high A, maybe Bb) that is fairly exposed.

Ibuprofen before the concert, barley-hop therapy after the concert.

Have fun! You will rarely ever have as much to play on a program!

Spasms like that are why we hire euphoniums. Somebody bust out a band transcription. "Lots of low D footballs at a fairly loud dynamic" are why we hire tubas. Two hours of Howard Shore, a Karl King march, and out the door. That's a concert!

Tom Holtz wrote: Two hours of Howard Shore, a Karl King march, and out the door. That's a concert!

Does that include "The Naked Lunch"? (Wonder why Shore never made a symphony out of that...)

I played it with Seattle Symphony a few years ago. You'll definitely want both tubas. The trombones and trumpets have it much worse with the never ending long notes at the end--the tuba actually lays out for a while.

Have fun.

Does the thread title imply, that there also is and offshore version titled equally?

I seem to remember a Dutch band work of the same title. I once took part of a reading of that work (as 4th horn). The theft of a theme from Romeo & Juliet by Prokofiev was an insult to all musical ears.

As is just about all music-hear-a-likes coming out of the Dutch and Swiss band-paper-mills.

Why do the great players of these countries accept the dirt put on their music stands?

I once was asked to play a solo written by an exiled UK composer polluting the Swiss band world. One reading and I thanked: Not with me!

Wrong chords, bad form. Please save my ears.

Klaus Smedegaard Bjerre