The Whole Music Experience

  If you take a look at my classical and early music list for 2011, you'll see that classical music is here to stay and diverse as ever.  I considered including an Indian classical CD on this list then added it to the Best World and Jazz Albums of 2011 list instead.  And yes, I find the music on this list healing. 1.      San Francisco Symphony with Michael Thomas and Emanuel Ax, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5, San Francisco Symphony 2.      Stephen Hough and Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Grieg and Liszt Piano Concertos, Hyperion 3.      21 st Century Symphony Orchestra, Howard Shore’s Lord of the Ring Symphony, Howe Records 4.     Anonymous 4, Secret Voices, Harmonia Mundi 5.     Trio Mediaeval, A Worcester Lady Mass, ECM 6.      Jerusalem Quartet, Mozart String Quartets, Harmonia Mundi 7.    ...

Howard Shore’s The Lord of the Rings Symphony Performed by 21st Century Symphony Orchestra & Chorus Kaitlyn Lusk, Soprano, Ludwig Wicki, Conductor Howe Records/BR Klassik I’m a closet fan of The Lord of the Rings series, both the movies and the books. When I saw a CD for a symphony, adapted from the film score for LOTR , I jumped at the opportunity to review the CD. I’m listening to disc 2 at the moment, and listened to the entire symphony yesterday. Memories from the movie in the form of emotions flood my brain as I listen to the score. Similar to another fantasy classic, Star Wars , J.R.R Tolkien’s classic promotes the triumph of love over fear or good over evil. Innocent characters (Hobbits) go on a quest for a power object that had fallen into the wrong hands. This quest goes on through a series of books, or for those who just watched the movies, 12 hours of cinema with a glorious music soundtrack. And it amazes me just how powerful this score is since I’m sure it...