Last week
io9 posted a short article about the release of a track from the upcoming Hobbit movie. In the time since the video that I watched has been taken down, but
here is another.
The song title is "Radagast the Brown". For those not intimately familiar with the LotR cannon, Radagast is the wizard most closely related to nature, he can speak with birds and small woodland creatures. He is a close ally to Gandalf and is thought of VERY poorly by Saruman.
This song along with all LotR music so far is written by
Howard Shore. I have so far been a fan of the music for the series, and after a few (dozen) listens to this track it sounds like more of the same, in a good way. He has previously won Oscars for the LotR: Return of the King soundtrack and original song. He was nominated again last year for his work on the animated film "Hugo". Howard Shore has won numerous ASCAP awards including the prestigious Henry Mancini Award in 2004.
This song can easily be broken down into four main parts:
Beginning to 00:51 - introduction
00:51 to 02:04 - A Section
02:04 to 03:40 - B Section
03:40 to 04:53 - Recap of A
Introduction
As the song opens I'm put in mind of a fade in from black with a swooping crane shot, before the (elvish) choir enters. I love the perfect intervals by the vocalists at 00:28 and 00:48. With the french horns and euphoniums behind the choir the music implies a safe, familiar feeling but not joyous. When the strings enter at 00:38 they are not conveying a good emotion, and they set up the transition to the A section by beginning the rhythmic drive that permeates the rest of the track.
A Section
This is where the song picks up the pace and intensity. The main drive are the percussion instruments with the melody being carried by the violin in a very fiddle-like fashion. The song at this point switched to a triple meter (6/8, 9/8 or I believe 12/8) with a 2/4 measure thrown in occasionally to keep you on your toes. At 01:13 the section introduces a 2/4 (4/4?)lyrical layer which will have the 12/8 percussion playing behind, almost like a chase. In fact my first impression of this song was that of a chase (de Meij Gandalf anyone?). Here we are reintroduced to the strings playing the arpeggios that we heard at the end of the introduction.
B Section
When I first listened to this song I had to go back and listen to the entrance at 02:04 over and over again. I couldn't believe my ears! I thought that the entrance was awful, and as I listen to it more and more I have accepted it as intentional and not a mistake, but I still don't like it (a professional musician infinitely more talented than I, may make mistakes, but not ones that I'll notice). The bass drum sounds late. It was very distracting to me, the band director who spends most of his time working entrances and cut-offs.
This section is transitioned to by the string section, but belongs to the double reeds. The first notes you hear is the oboe playing a very familiar sounding theme, it reminded me of the "Ring" theme from the first trilogy. That could be because of the strings in the background more than the double reed. After the bass interlude at around 03:12 , we get the oboe beginning a theme and the bassoon picking it up in the lower register. Afterwards the English horn gets a chance to shine, if only briefly.
A Section Recapitulation
This section wraps up the track nicely, between adding the choir back in and having the brass section add their part back from the introduction. The violin restates it's fiddle theme with a little variation. The moment that sticks out to me is the piccolo solo at 04:36, I believe that it will represent a specific bird.
TL;DR
This piece of music is standard LotR Shore. He does a wonderful job of setting the mood, and location of the scene. He can keep your interest in many different ways and will use anything and everything at his disposal to get the feeling that he wants. I am very much looking forward to hearing this played in theaters.
