The cover of the Demo CD
In July 2002, after seeing the first film of Peter Jackson's trilogy, I had the idea of setting the songs from The Lord of the Rings to music. I was not aware of any other full-scale versions at the time and felt the call. I had just finished reading it again and I was primed to go.
I considered setting ALL the songs but after analysing the poems I rejected a little over half of them as unsuitable for adapting to song for various reasons including: lack of a regular rhythm, bad rhyme, too short, tangential to the story and too trite. This ruled out those in alliterative verse such as "The Ride of the Rohirrim", poems relating to the 1st and 2nd ages such as "The Lay Of Nimrodel", "The Meeting Of Beren And Luthien" and "The March Of Gil-Galad" and those I deemed childish or trite such as "Oliphaunt" and "Lament For The Rowan Trees".
I selected those I considered the best and in a bout of creativity unheralded in my previous career I wrote 18 of the songs in just 2 weeks! I recall on one occasion writing 3 or 4 songs in one day! And as anyone who has written music knows; it usually takes a day or two to get a song down, also they don't come every day and never more than once a day. Not only did they come to me thick and fast but the quality of the songs was of the very highest order and no two alike! I was proud to say also that I used all 12 keys at least once.
I finished the orchestral arrangements for LOTR Songs in early 2003 and set about making a demo. I used local singers, mostly amateurs and semi-professionals and generated the instrumental sounds with my computer's synthesizer. I recorded the vocals direct to hard disk and mixed the whole show digitally. I sent a partial demo of 4 songs to ABC Classics in Australia who expressed interest in the project provided I could obtain copyright permission.
It was early the same year when Tolkien's lawyers denied that permission without even hearing the demo. I was shattered to see one of my greatest children strangled at birth. It was then that I wrote "I will not say the day is done" (my setting of Sam's song in the tower of Cirith Ungol, (which I had previously rejected as being a tad wet)). Sam's desperate defiance after all hope was lost was the perfect analogy for my situation1. I came up with the best arrangement of the entire project for this using low tubular bells that probably haven't even been made yet. I can thank the heartless lawyers and small-minded Estate for this I suppose although gratitude is not something I feel for those people.
I pressed on with the demo in spite of the hopelessness of the situation and the full CD of 19 songs was finished in 2004. It was made purely as a demo, in the hope that music might persuade Tolkien's Estate to grant me permission, and also to try and interest a record company in producing a fully professional recording for the commercial market. Only a small number were ever made and they were sent to Tolkien's publishers, various record companies, participating musicians, family and friends. None were ever sold, nor are they available for sale.
Somewhere in the first half of 2005 somebody decided to make this demo available on the internet via Bit Torrent. I can't condone this activity but neither can I say that I am unhappy to see these wonderful songs being enjoyed by people as was intended.
In 2019 after reading the book again for the first time since 2002 I questioned my decision to reject so many of the poems as unsuitable and resolved to have a go at ALL of them. In a bout of creativity only matched by my previous settings I wrote the remaining 25 songs in 17 days! Yes, and once again in one day I wrote 4 songs!
I was pleasantly surprised to see what could be achieved with poems that I had previously considered impossible! Some required extra bars to be inserted in places, others required meter changes, others required reusing text or adding an extra line to balance the verses. I used a variety of time signatures including waltzes, jigs and marches as well as common time. I also continued my practice of using EVERY key so in the complete work now there are 2 in B, 2 in Db and 3 in Gb! Let me assure you people that NONE of these songs are transposed. They are in the key I wrote them in!
Once again I felt emotion overwhelm me as I sang through them. In particular I was surprised at how much I was affected by "Lament For Boromir" and "The Mounds Of Mundburg". I wrote "The Mounds Of Mundburg" in the mixolydian mode which is rare for me and used the compass of the great highland pipes with one note added to the bottom. Sorry pipers! You will need a longer chanter...
After the Estate's previous rejection I decided not to go straight to a full orchestral arrangement this time as involves a great deal of work. This medium term goal this time is a more modest arrangement of piano, bass and violin, as well as all the different singers of course. I will hopefully attend to this task in the next few years. In the meantime however I have completed a minimal solution arranging the entire 44 songs for voices and piano. In theory at least, it is now possible for trained musicians to perform the entire work. Of course the Estate do not want that but that is another story...
I have been playing and singing through the new 25 for some time now and am very happy with them. I believe they are just as good as the first 19. They are certainly rewarding to sing and most of them are in the modest baritone range and singable for most voices.
So now I have set ALL the poems in LOTR bar the "The Meeting Of Beren And Luthien". I have placed it in my "Songs From The Silmarillion" along with "The Voyage Of Earendil" and will hopefully get around to it at some point in the future.
As far as I am aware it is only The Tolkien Ensemble and Eugene Hargrove who have also set ALL the songs. Perhaps there are others hiding in the background but at the moment it appears there are only three choices. I commend you all to mine! If the Estate wish to climb off their high horse and get onto a winner I recommend they contact me while they can.