CHAPTER 7
The Lord of the Rings, Part 2
CHAPTER 7 - EXCERPT
Hidden dangers lurked beyond every step. Broken cracks and fissures in the floors, deep wells and treacherous chasms, halls and stairs sprawled in all directions. Orcs and Goblins lay in wait, not to mention Gandalf’s warning, “There are older and fouler things than Orcs in the deep places of the world.”
Moria was an endless, daunting maze of such enormity, it puts Minos’ Labyrinth at Knossos to pitiable shame.
Under its mountainous dome, the great realm and city of Dwarrodelf had once shone “full of light and splendor.” A thriving populace filled each cavern, hall, and vein with hearty industry, merriment, and vigor.
But the glory days of Moria were long past, mere shadows casting gloom in a vast cemetery.
Such were my ruminations, rolling a pencil between my fingers, doodling on an empty page, wondering how to frame this monument with music...
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CHAPTER 7 - EXCERPT
Mordor would force me to confront a gripping darkness in music I had never explored before. The heart and soul of Mordor was the dark Lord Sauron, one time servant of Morgoth. Tracing evil back to its lore origins, one discovers the first introduction of evil coming into the world through music, Melkor’s dissonant music. To be authentic, the score I composed for Mordor must flow from an origin of eviscerating dissonance, in the blackest of hues.
Nevertheless, even Mordor was still Tolkien. Even within such a forbidding and oppressive score, I needed to convey a sense of reaching for light beneath the overwhelming shadow, threads of beauty and strength amidst oppressive darkness and decay. Hope is the very essence of Tolkien...
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