2013 soundtrack album by Howard Shore
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack soundtrack album to the 2013 filmThe Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Peter Jackson , which is the second instalment inThe Hobbit trilogyfilm score is composed byHoward Shore and released throughWaterTower Music andDecca Records on 10 December 2013.Ed Sheeran wrote and performed the song "I See Fire " which was released as thelead single from the album.
Background and release [ edit ] Howard Shore who composed music forThe Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey The Desolation of Smaug .[ 1] Wellington Town Hall during September and October.[ 1] New Zealand Symphony Orchestra performed the score, which cancelled their concert in New Zealand to prioritize recording the film's orchestral portions.[ 1] [ 2] Gamelan orchestra from theVictoria University of Wellington performed additional orchestra while the choir portions were performed byLondon Voices and Tiffin' boy choir.[ 1] [ 3] Grace Davidson and singer-songwriterEd Sheeran .[ 4] [ 5]
Sheeran performed the song "I See Fire " which was featured in theend credits .[ 6] [ 7] lead single from the album on 5 November.[ 8] [ 9] WaterTower Music andDecca Records in two-discs in both standard and special editions.[ 10]
TheOneRing.net The Desolation of Smaug as "extraordinar[ily good]" with many new themes, noting in particular theSmaug theme which powerfully "dominates the later scenes", and theTauriel theme which recalled "many a swashbuckling adventure from cinema history".[ 11] Filmtracks The Return of the King andAn Unexpected Journey , therefore,The Desolation of Smaug merits a split rating. You have to keep your perspective when approaching this work, tempering your expectations and accepting the benefits along with the drawbacks."[ 12] Movie Music UK wrote "What Howard Shore is achieving through his Lord of the Rings music, and now through these Hobbit scores, is nothing short of remarkable – a truly immersive world of music which follows a strict leitmotivic design, but is fluid enough to introduce themes for new characters, places and concepts as each new film requires, without compromising the integrity of the work as a whole. While the music in The Desolation of Smaug doesn’t have the crowd-pleasing memorability of some of the other works in the series, while doesn’t have as much choral bombast as previous entries, and while the inherent darkness of many of the themes and performances may be off-putting to some who need more lightness in their music, its intellectual design is utterly flawless, and its orchestration is consistently interesting. This is one of the scores of the year."[ 13]
A critic fromClassic FM [ 14] Movie Wave wrote "The Desolation of Smaug doesn’t have that memorable theme, but instead it has some very fine set pieces and probably around an hour of music that’s consistently good. That means that overall it’s a distinct step up over its predecessor – it suffers from the same faults but Shore injects that little bit more energy into a higher portion of it. It still needs an album producer to go through it meticulously and chop out the fat, but there’s more than enough here to make it worth persevering, however hard that is at times."[ 15] Renowned for Sound The Desolation of Smaug is definitely one to take notice of."[ 16] York Vision The Desolation of Smaug in his soundtrack. He stays comfortable in some parts, using old tricks in a new setting; in others, he experiments with what he has learnt across his time as a composer, daring to be different in some aspects, paying off entirely."[ 17]
Disc 1 No. Title Length 1. "The Quest for Erebor" 3:23 2. "Wilderland" 4:56 3. "The House of Beorn" 3:42 4. "Mirkwood" 4:27 5. "Flies and Spiders" 7:51 6. "The Woodland Realm" 4:26 7. "Feast of Starlight" 2:49 8. "Barrels Out of Bond" 1:50 9. "The Forest River" 4:54 10. "Bard, a Man of Lake-Town" 2:30 11. "The High Fells" 2:37 12. "The Nature of Evil" 3:20 13. "Protector of the Common Folk" 3:36
Disc 2 No. Title Length 1. "Thrice Welcome" 3:33 2. "Girion, Lord of Dale" 3:33 3. "Durin's Folk" 2:28 4. "In the Shadow of the Mountain" 2:15 5. "A Spell of Concealment" 2:51 6. "On the Doorstep" 7:46 7. "The Courage of Hobbits" 3:00 8. "Inside Information" 3:48 9. "Kingsfoil" 2:25 10. "A Liar and a Thief" 3:40 11. "The Hunters" 9:04 12. "Smaug" 5:24 13. "My Armor is Iron" 5:16 14. "I See Fire " (Written and Performed byEd Sheeran ) 5:00 15. "Beyond the Forest" 5:25
The special edition contains one bonus track and twelve extended tracks.
Disc 1 No. Title Length 1. "The Quest for Erebor" 3:22 2. "Wilderland" 4:56 3. "A Necromancer" (Bonus Track) 2:54 4. "The House of Beorn" (Extended Version) 4:52 5. "Mirkwood" (Extended Version) 5:31 6. "Flies and Spiders" (Extended Version) 9:35 7. "The Woodland Realm" (Extended Version) 5:14 8. "Feast of Starlight" 2:48 9. "Barrels Out of Bond" 1:50 10. "The Forest River" (Extended Version) 5:10 11. "Bard, a Man of Lake-Town" (Extended Version) 3:18 12. "The High Fells" (Extended Version) 3:38 13. "The Nature of Evil" 3:20 14. "Protector of the Common Folk" 3:35
Disc 2 No. Title Length 1. "Thrice Welcome" 3:33 2. "Girion, Lord of Dale" (Extended Version) 4:15 3. "Durin's Folk" (Extended Version) 3:04 4. "In the Shadow of the Mountain" 2:15 5. "A Spell of Concealment" (Extended Version) 3:22 6. "On the Doorstep" 7:46 7. "The Courage of Hobbits" 3:00 8. "Inside Information" 3:48 9. "Kingsfoil" 2:25 10. "A Liar and a Thief" 3:41 11. "The Hunters" (Extended Version) 9:55 12. "Smaug" (Extended Version) 6:29 13. "My Armor is Iron" 5:16 14. "I See Fire " (Written and Performed byEd Sheeran ) 5:00 15. "Beyond the Forest" 5:25
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