# I heard the premiere peformance of the FOTR soundtrack! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 10, 2002, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-heard-the-premiere-peformance-of-the-fotr-soundtrack/123258 "2002-08-10T07:28:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2002, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-heard-the-premiere-peformance-of-the-fotr-soundtrack/123258/1 "2002-08-10T07:28:48Z")
Mr. Rilch, Friend, Boss and I were at the Hollywood Bowl this evening. It was a performance that was supposed to comprise music that had a “ring” theme. The first half was “Ride of the Valkyries”, “Jupiter” from **The Planets** , and four selections from the **Harry Potter** soundtrack. The second half was the premiere live performance of the **Fellowship of the Ring** soundtrack: all of it, plus one piece that’s not on the CD. Well, it was gorgeous. The conductor was John Mauceri, of whom I had never heard, but Mr. Rilch tells me is well respected. Someone gave introductions for each of the three first-act works, and again for **FOTR** , but I can’t find the bloody program so I can’t give his name. The **FOTR** performance included a choral section. The narrator told us a “boy soprano” would be heard in two different segments. Unfortunately for this young man, his hormones fluctuated unexpectedly during the mourning-Gandalf interlude, resulting in an unmelodic croak. Then it happened again, the next time he soloed. Said I, afterwards, “He won’t be a ‘boy soprano’ much longer.” All of us expressed deep empathy, along with some speculation that the lad’s parents would be taking away his shoelaces that night. (But other than these stumbles, which were, after all, beyond his control, his performance was top-notch.) And very near to the end, during a quiet part, maybe just before the death of Boromir IIRC, we heard someone driving up Highland **blaring** REO Speedwagon, of all things. (And a lot of snickering from the audience.) But that was hardly anything to pull me back from my transport. All in all, it was a splendid evening. We’d all, except for Friend, been to the Hollywood Bowl before. I knew the acoustics would be superb (but apparently not quite good enough to block out erstwhile REO Speedwagon!). They do a lot of creative dimmer-board lighting within the shell, but of course, one is not obligated to **look** at the orchestra. I focused on the trees, hillsides and darkening sky: a very appropriate setting for Tolkien-themed music. Quite an evening. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2002, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-heard-the-premiere-peformance-of-the-fotr-soundtrack/123258/2 "2002-08-10T17:39:44Z")
Wow, I’m impressed.🆒 Years ago, Mammarasta saw the Illinois symphony do the first public performance of the music from _Bram Stoker’s Dracula_. OK movie, but excellent soundtrack. I’m trying to think of the connection between _Harry Potter_ and rings. Can you fill me in, please? Also, what do you mean when you say that the boy soprano’s parents would be “taking away his shoelaces?” I’ve never heard that phrase before. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2002, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-heard-the-premiere-peformance-of-the-fotr-soundtrack/123258/3 "2002-08-10T21:40:15Z")
**rasta** : I didn’t really get it either. The narrator claimed that J.K. Rowling drew from “every heroic theme in literature” to create HP, so I guess that, not rings, was the tie-in. As for the shoelaces: Friend was flashing back to the time he stumbled over his lines in a school play, and speculating that the soprano might also need to be put on a suicide watch. We were sympathetic, not scornful: it wasn’t like he wasn’t good, because he was. We were just reacting to the gross misfortune of such a thing happening at a premiere performance!