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LOTR Symphony Report
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About this report:
I planned to attend the LOTR Symphony, performed in
Minneapolis by the Minnesota Orchestra, with an out of town friend. At the
last minute, she couldn't make it and we were both disappointed. I vowed to
make as many notes about the concert as I could about as many things as I
could as an attempt to 'share' the experience second hand with her.
I can't call this a review. I certainly give my opinion on
things and they are, at times strong. But I approached this with a much more
casual frame of mind than a proper reviewer would have. I was keeping notes
by scribbling in a notebook in the dark. Sometimes I couldn't read my notes.
Sometimes I could but they made no sense. Additionally, I am fairly
knowledgeable about the soundtrack but I do not have the audio version of a
photographic memory. I did not double and triple check everything I
reported. This is simply one friend talking to another... and letting a few
others listen in. Keep in mind, my friend is not a soundtrack geek and I
tried to shy away from terminology that would be useless to her.
Some of these observations were made
because I was excitedly noticing them... some as I made an extra effort to
notice things. I often don't know what to do in music concerts. What do you
look at for an hour or more? I will often close my eyes and just listen but
I'm never sure if this makes the best use of a live music experience. But
for this concert, I was noticing all sorts of things.
Preshow Observations
We got there about 20 minutes before show. Two young ladies
in costume greeted us. There were long banners hanging down from the rafters
that said, "The Lord of the Rings Symphony" and fake stones, pine cones, and
tree branches clumped around to make us think we were in the Shire, I guess.
It didn't exactly evoke the Shire but it was a cute gesture. I think they
were announcing the winners of the costume contest but the crowd was too
thick to approach a view point. I didn't really see a lot of costumes on
people. Throughout the evening I saw an Arwen (I think... as opposed to
Éowyn), a Gimli and a Hobbit. There were a couple of capes on regular
clothes as well. I wore one of folkdancy gauze skirts and a black velvet
stand up color shirt with my Elven brooch at the neck.
Before the musicians were on stage (or at least, more than a
handful) I noticed that there were 6 bass fiddles. Actually, there might
have even been 7. I thought that was a lot. There were two floor/orchestra
harps and a wood percussion instrument (probably a marimba but I'm not
sure). The marimba player came on and played a little in warm-up and it's
easily recognizable as Treebeard's instrument. I also noticed a gong, tall
hanging chimes, a Taiko drum and an accordion. I couldn't find the chains
against piano wire contraption that was used for the Isengard Theme.
As more musicians came on stage for warm-up, one started
hearing snatches of recognizable music. Some brass player was playing the
Gondor-prelude during the Beacons scene. Someone else played the Ring Theme.
The adult choir came on stage. The men were in suits. The
women were wearing dark long skirts, white blouses and long, dark sparkly
jackets. I'll refer to the 'women' when just the women were singing... the
'men' when just the men were singing... and 'adult' when both men and women
were singing.
The boy's choir came on and lined up by height. They were in
dark trousers and blue oxford shirts with the top button unbuttoned. I
suppose it would be hard to keep a growing boy in anything fancier. I'll
refer to this choir as the 'boys'. If all three sections were singing, I'll
say 'mixed'. The choir came on after the orchestra was already seated. The
gents in the orchestra were wearing tails. Very spiffy! I don't think the
women were wearing anything uniform. I think they were individually dressed.
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