Howard Shore
may not be a household name like
John Williams
, but even casual filmgoers could give any number of junctures at which the Lord of the Rings films would not be what they are without his contributions. Those films are not neglected in this release by the
Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France
, recorded live at its facilities over a trio of concerts in 2023. The Lord of the Rings films, including The Hobbit, take up most of the first of the album's three CDs, and one gets the sense that the films are fairly represented even if those wanting to luxuriate in their scores have other options. The main purpose here is to show the diversity of
Shore
's scores, emphasized by his own statements that only in film music, once they find a director whose goals accord with their own, can composers write freely. There were three concerts, two performed by the
, framing a third played by the group
Le Balcon
and exemplifying
's more experimental side. Those are mixed into the general program; it might have been nice to keep them separate, but the program still testifies to the range of
's imagination. Perhaps an unexpected inclusion is the range of pieces from
The Fly
(1986), where one perhaps comes to a new understanding of why that essentially B-grade horror film was so effective. On the experimental side is
Crash
(2004), with low electronic sounds giving hints of rock and electronic popular styles without going over to them entirely. This is completely in tune with the film's completely controlled progressive voice, whatever one may think of it. There are shorter excerpts from a variety of other films, and one will come away from the album as a whole with a deeper understanding of
's work, and that is exactly the aim. ~ James Manheim