The Lord of the Rings at the Royal Albert Hall

Last night, I had the great privilege of visiting the Royal Albert Hall in London to see the Fellowship of the Ring. Not only that, but as well as watching the movie on a large projector screen, all of the music was played live by the London Royal Philharmonic Orchestra!

This was a truly magnificent and unique experience. I'd seen The Fellowship of the Ring before at the cinema, but never like this. Throughout the performance (which, mercifully, had an interval half way through as the seats we had in the stalls, although great, were very uncomfortable), I found myself watching the movie then watching the various elements of the orchestra.

The skill and effortless displayed by the orchestral players was something to beyond. I seen an orchestra in action before, but this was really something else. The music was just so seamless from that on the score CD or at the cinema, just much more pure and crisp. In fact, it was so loud and glorious that the movie itself was submitted - in places the dialogue was simply overwhelmed by the fantastic music.

This in itself was interesting (I was slightly perturbed at first, before I realised the rationale for putting the subtitles up), as it provided an opportunity to appreciate some lines of the film that I did not remember from my first, and even subsequent, viewings. These were often snippets of dialogue in the background, merely part of the aural texture of the movie, but brought to the fore thanks to the subtitles.

So, there I was, intent on the orchestra, movie and subtitles - there was just so much to take in, and I was surprised at how different the experience of seeing the film in this way was.

I particularly enjoyed the choristers, the London Voices, who were simply superb with their bombastic renditions and atmospheric tones. To the gruff dirges of the Dwarrowdelf to the lofty tones of Lothlorien - they were simply amazing to hear and to watch.

Difficult to top, but Kaitlyn Lusk, the soprano who sang solo on Aniron (Theme for Aragorn and Arwen), amongst others, was just absolutely beautiful and so moving.

Prior to the performance itself, we were invited to a fairly intimate interview session with Howard Shore (the original composer - on the night the orchestra was masterly conducted by Ludwig Wicki) in which he discussed how he constructed the music for the film, his thought processes and inspiration. Most interesting for me was the revelation that in order to create some of the Isenguard industrial sounds a chain was lashed against the open chords of a piano. Every time that piece of music came up in the film I'd look over and see one of the percussionists crashing this chain against the open piano - truly awesome.

I'd heartily recommend that any one who loves The Lord of the Rings to go and see at least one of these very special performances. They are simply stunning and not to be missed.