My featured artist today hardly needs an introduction. His unprecedented scores for The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit are known and loved worldwide by people of all ages for their beautiful themes and epic scale. I present to you: Howard Shore.
About the artist: Born in Canada, Howard Shore started studying music around the age of eight or nine, and by the time he had reached college age, he had learned multiple instruments, played in bands, and was sure he wanted to pursue music professionally. He got into composition soon afterward and started writing film scores, but it was his score for The Lord of the Rings that garnered him the most attention. In addition to scores he has written classical works, including concertos for piano and cello, a piece for organ, and an opera.
Why I recommend him: His scores for the Middle-earth movies are unparalleled in the history of film for their musical complexity and wealth of thematic material. It’s real music. It’s moving and massive in scale, and when someone writes music for one of the most epic books ever written, well, it has to be pretty good.
What I use his music for:
-General playlist music
-Listening through an album start to finish
Favorite Albums:
The Fellowship of the Ring
The Two Towers
The Return of the King
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Favorite Tracks:
Concerning Hobbits (The Fellowship of the Ring)
Many Meetings (The Fellowship of the Ring)
The Breaking of the Fellowship (The Fellowship of the Ring)
The Riders of Rohan (The Two Towers)
Theoden King (The Two Towers)
Samwise the Brave (The Two Towers)
The Black Gate Opens (The Return of the King)
The Grey Havens (The Return of the King)
Dreaming of Bag End (The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey)
Erebor (The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey)
The Dwarf Lords (The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey)
The Edge of the Wild (The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey)
A Very Respectable Hobbit (The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey)
Feast of Starlight (The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug)
Kingsfoil (The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug)
Courage and Wisdom (The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies)
Sons of Durin (The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies)
There and Back Again (The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies)
Have you heard any of Howard Shore’s scores? If so, which are your favorites?
Emily Hayse 
I’d have to agree with you, Howard Shore’s Hobbit/LotR music is epic! I love the tracks that you mentioned. =)
Some other favorites of mine are:
King Dáin Ironfoot (The Hobbit:The Battle of the Five Armies),
The Shire, The Counsel of Elrond, The Bridge of Khazad Dum (Fellowship of the Ring)
Evenstar, The Last March of the Ents, (The Two Towers),
A Far Green Country, The Lighting of the Beacons (3:53 :P) The Houses of Healing (Return of the King).
Thanks for the article, Em!
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This last week I’ve been loving Dreaming of Bag End–which is a first for me, as there aren’t many instrumental pieces I get stuck on. Great artist review! I love seeing your lists of favorites, and I’m going to look up some of the ones you mentioned. 🙂
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