Digital Distribution is underway!

Today's big news -

The Silmarillion Symphony Ep.1: The Deeps of Time is now available as a public release!

Check out http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/aarondunn to purchase the album, and leave a review too!

The album will be up on other platforms in the coming days and weeks.

Enjoy!

Go pre-order. You know you want to.

Straight up - you should totally buy my cd. Right now.

Here is why:

It sounds dope. I'm dead serious. It sounds awesome.

Particularly if you've read The Silmarillion and wondered about the music of the beginnings of Middle-earth. Many pieces I've heard that were inspired by The Silmarillion ended up being a bit too ethereal for my tastes. I've endeavoured in my compositions to buck that trend, and to write something a bit more gritty and serious, much like the book's tone.

Another reason why: in a few days some of the digital pricing (i.e. iTunes and Amazon) will be different and higher.

So head over to www.silmarillionsymphony.com and pre-order one or several!

You'll also get the album before the general public gets it. (That means you'll get it by this weekend.)

I hope you head over to the website and grab the new album. If you purchased a hard copy cd, you'll get a digital download file when all the digital work is done. 

Commentary on the Symphony: The Beginning of Days Suite

This is the second part of a series of commentaries (or composer’s notes if you will) on my upcoming release “The Silmarillion Symphony.” You may wish to start with part one before reading this post.

The Beginning of Days Suite is the longest of the compositions from the upcoming album. It has three movements and they all illustrate parts of the book from the chapter ”Of the Beginning of Days” and from “Of the Coming of the Elves.”  

For the purpose of brevity, I will only focus on the first movement - The Beginning of Days.  

The chapter “Of the Beginning of Days” deals with the First War of the Valar, where the Valar loyal to Iluvatar struggled with Melkor as they were forming Arda (the earth). In the piece, there is plenty of variety in terms of themes offered. The Valar create and mold the earth, peacefully and gracefully (spoiler: lots of harp involved). Melkor gets jealous, and goes around destroying things, or “marring” as Tolkien puts it. Eventually this erupts into a full scale battle, orchestrated with fighting double bass and low brass themes. 

As with many themes in Tolkien - those on the side of good often win out - but at great cost. In this case, the Valar do indeed succeed in keeping the earth together, but Arda is marred. They are also unable to overcome Melkor. I illustrate this musically by ending the movement by dropping a set time feel as things fall into grief and loss. 

I hope you enjoyed this short excerpt from my thoughts on The Silmarillion Symphony. There is more news on the symphony's pending release. Due to some production restraints, I've had to move the release back a bit. The project is going to mastering no later than November 11th, and hopefully I'll have the hard copies by the 21st.

Be sure to visit www.silmarillionsymphony.com to PRE-ORDER the upcoming album!

Commentary on the Symphony: Music of the Ainur

One thing I really enjoy is talking about the pieces of music that comprise my symphony. The first piece I composed was "The Music of the Ainur." This is the first piece in the symphony, and indeed the very first chapter in The Silmarillion. 

There are a couple considerations I took while writing the whole of The Silmarillion Symphony. The first - writing thematically, and figuring out what music I hear when I read the book. This is an obvious consideration for composing music based on another art form, so there is no need to explain further. The second is this - the way The Silmarillion is written, in all its descriptive language, has one aspect that absolutely fascinates me - its age. It is written as a history, and the events that take place in the book take place at the very beginning of the Middle Earth legend. So every piece has been carefully composed to keep a very real yet "long ago" feel to it. In point of fact, the first three pieces are composed in times where the First Age had not even begun.

The Music of the Ainur is the very beginning of Tolkien's account of creation. As I was following the book's narrative closely, the way the first part of the symphony sounds is rather nebulous and mystical. This is virtually verbatim what I started with while I was experimenting with different melodic ideas. I found a theme, and off I went composing away.

There is a great deal of chaos in The Music of the Ainur. I highly recommend watching this video before reading on. It helps to explain a bunch of characters I'm about to mention:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXxU01IgoxU

In the book, the supreme being is named Eru. He creates everything and declares his musical theme and idea for creation to the Valar. Most of the Valar sing along with what Eru has told them, except for Melkor. He wants his own theme (you can read my blog on Melkor here). He starts making his own musical theme and it causes a ruckus. Musically speaking, this means that composing this piece will draw on at least two themes. So that is what I did. I wrote to mirror the themes of Eru and Melkor fighting one another. There are times where I have composed music to mimic what the book says. For instance, Melkor's theme is said to be "loud, vain and endlessly repeated." So in that instance, the trumpets have been written to be loud and repetitive.

I have more notes to go through about my compositions. They'll be made available after the album is released!

Also, I can confirm there will be hard copies available. They are for pre-order. First 50 get signed and a special gift!

2 weeks before mixing and...

Thank goodness the editing is almost complete.

It's been fun. I'm finding myself writing continually even during edits. I've actually written two more pieces in the last couple weeks. I'm also trying to figure out how to gig this album and perform it live. Anyone have any thoughts?

Anyhow, the editing is right on time. I can't wait to show you the finished product in just a few weeks. Speaking of which - you can pre-order it today from this blog or our newly updated webpage www.silmarillionsymphony.com. Both hard copies and digital download are available.

Once edits are complete, I'll post some new clips for your enjoyment.

Share this!

P.S. - Music teachers! I have scores that will be complete by the end of the year. Please don't hesitate to contact me about them, and also about getting a teacher's deal on hard copies of the album!

A Musical Illustration

Greetings friends,

I thought I'd take a little time to speak about the heart of "The Silmarillion Symphony" and what is motivating me on a daily basis as I edit through takes.

I've read the The Silmarillion a number of times since being exposed to it over ten years ago. I originally encountered some of its subject matter reading "The Lay of Leithian" poem (from The Lays of Beleriand in the History of Middle Earth series). I actually began reading it around the time a very dear friend of mine was diagnosed with cancer. Suffice to say, the book has stayed with me, but especially in the time my friend passed away.

As many of your will know, The Silmarillion  is a book that is full of grief, trial and loss. There are victories, albeit small ones. But there is also death and tragedy, and Tolkien never attempts to dodge the issue. So I found comfort in his writing, particularly in The Silmarillion, as many characters lose friends, brothers, parents, sisters etc. I found the writing applicable to my own grief in losing my friend, and in an odd way, I found the book to be almost pastoral. Indeed, grief is reflected in the music I've written as inspired by the book. As the book says about Iluvatar's Third Theme:

"The one was deep and wide and beautiful, but slow and blended with an immeasurable sorrow, from which its beauty chiefly came." (The Silmarillion, pg. 16-17)

Writings so descriptive as this passage inspire me as a musician. It's almost as if the words beg for a composer to interpret them in a score. This has been a huge driving force for me. The composing process for The Silmarillion Symphony started with the book in my left hand and with a keyboard in my right. I've come to call this "musical illustrating," as I aimed to paint a picture with music. If you've read The Silmarillion, or even pieces of it, you'll know the imagery is fascinating. It's as though a world has come to life, if only in our imagination. Even our imaginations can have a sort of reality to them, and that reality indeed has a music. 

For The Silmarillion and its imaginative yet tangible world, I believe I've captured its music. 

A short update and last minute appeal.

Hey all,

I've just been editing through the compositions today. The pieces are coming together very nicely. Drums will be recorded in a week, which I am very excited for. (Side note - my first instrument at 3 years old (ish) was the drum kit, so this is serious fun!)

Anyhow, the kickstarter campaign I've run is ending tomorrow. This is a last minute appeal for your support on The Silmarillion Symphony. I need just over 2400$ to make the goal, which will fund the rest of the production process (mixing and mastering, and possibly duplication). I can't guarantee there will be hard copies if the kickstarter doesn't work out. You can click here to support.

The Silmarillion Symphony on schedule for release for the end of October. I'm certainly looking forward to it!

More studio footage and an update

Yesterday was fantastic! We finished tracking all the upright bass, so please enjoy some bass footage!

Cheers,
Aaron

Some studio footage (very little) and an update

Hey everyone! I've got a very brief clip from studio on Saturday - wanted to share it with y'all.

Hope you all enjoy it.

Paul Earle on the violin.

News and updates

I've been arranging scores the past week or so, preparing for recording, which is happening in the new couple weeks. I'm excited. The compositions are going to sound awesome with the instruments that are being recorded. I'll be taking some pictures, maybe a video or two. All in all, I'm just really excited to see the project coming together so nicely - and on schedule for the October release.

I'm still running a kickstarter for the project. If any of you lovely people on the blog can share this link around that'd be fantastic. Any awareness generated by the kickstarter will be really helpful to me. If you'd like to donate, so be it - I'm extraordinarily blessed by it!

Thank you to all who've donated so far!

Aaron

The Kickstarter

I've just launched the Kickstarter campaign for the symphony. I hope you will consider supporting/pre-ordering the EP. Most of the rewards for donating are pre-order based - I want to make sure as many people as possible get this album in their hands, especially you who support the project! Click here to check it out!

I'll have more Silmarillion read-along stuff started again soon enough.

Thanks!
Aaron

Pre-release track and bandcamp

Just a short blurb on here.

I've set up my bandcamp site. you can visit and importantly - BUY music. I've released a short pre-release track to get things started. The track is available, just click here. It's one of the tracks that will be on the upcoming Silmarillion Symphony EP.

The bandcamp address is https://silmarillionsymphony.bandcamp.com/.

Enjoy everyone!

EP available for PRE-ORDER

Hey all,

So to start off the fundraising for the album, I've added a function to the blog to do Pre-Orders for the EP. Regarding this development, I wanted to mention a few things:

1. The EP will be finished in late October/early November at the latest, featuring 25-30 minutes of all original compositions. So you will get your copy sometime around then. Hard copies will take a little longer due to shipping times, depending on where you are on this good earth.

2. Hard copies - I'll be signing these myself. The first 50 fans to buy will get their copy at $7.00, the next 50 @ $8.00, and the following 50 @ $9.00. All signed. Shipping will cost a little bit more depending on where you live, but if you get a few of your friends to buy as well you may collectively save a few dollars.

3. You can Pre-Order the scores. This is one thing I've been really excited about. Right now, only the Conductor Scores are available, and only in .pdf form. I will be posting more options in the very near future. These will be ready after the album is finished - tentatively in time for Christmas season.

4. There will be a "Google Hang-Out" arranged in the near future. This one might take some time to co-ordinate but I think it'd be good to make a connection with all of you!

You can preview a couple pre-mix samples from the symphony here. (note: The House of Fingolfin will not be included in the EP release.)

So share this around, eh?

A Big Thank You and Free Download

Hey all,

I'm working away editing and choosing the songs for the EP to be released in October. I just wanted to take some time to say a big "thank you"for following the reading and listening over the last two months.

So I'll be giving a free download to everyone who subscribes to the blog this week. It's a purely synthesized version of one of my compositions, which will be overdubbed with real instruments later on. I just wanted to say "thanks" with a little present.

So I hope you all enjoy, and I hope to hear from you soon. If you have ideas for a kickstarter reward, you've got til the end of the week to get it in! I absolutely have to record the video for it this week!

Cheers,
Aaron

Website coming and more awesome news...

I've spent a good chunk of the day and the last week sorting through audio files and preparing the symphony for mixing. Long process. I've also begun a website for the project and I am really excited about it. I'll post some screenshots when they're ready.

I am looking for artists (sketches, paintings, sculptures?) who'd like to display their art on my website and/or blog.

I've been going through different marketing approaches lately as well. Looking at conventions to go to, digital download cards, sample packs, jewelry...so many things. Also, the album to be released in the fall may need to be an EP (25 minutes or less) for a number of reasons. A full album is still the goal, but if I decide to go with an EP, the full album will wait until Spring 2015.

Regarding the forthcoming Kickstarter campaign, I am still open to any suggestions you might have regarding rewards. I'll be kicking off the Kickstarter very soon, so send your ideas in as soon as possible. You can see a little screenshot of the website homepage below...

The Music of the Ainur - A clip and exposition.

I've been working the last couple days on the first piece of the symphony. I guess I'm sort of going through every piece in order of their appearance. The last couple weeks have been tough since my vacation and getting a concussion.

I have a new clip linked to this post, from the very first piece of the symphony. This piece covers the very beginning of the book, where Tolkien describes how his universe is made. It also covers the first beings made in his universe, the Ainur. These beings included the Valar (the great and powerful beings of Middle-Earth) and the Maiar (think of Sauron, the Balrog, Gandalf and Saruman from The Lord of the Rings).

In The Music of the Ainur, the book discusses how the Ainur (Valar and Maiar) sang at the beginning of all things about how the universe would shape up. It talks about how the Ainur sang about the Children of Iluvatar (Iluvatar created all these beings, he's the highest deity of the lot), the Elves and Men. In the Music, one of the Valar named Melkor (click here for my synopsis of his part) created great discord. Desiring to have his own beings and things, he disrupted the music, confusing some of the Ainur and corrupting others (like Sauron and the Balrogs) to his allegiance against Iluvatar. The rest of the Valar (Manwe, Varda etc.) remain faithful to Iluvatar and go about the creative work of shaping Arda.

The piece I've composed will illustrate these things and indeed the struggle between Melkor and the Valar. I hope this serves as an interpretive framework for the piece (click here to listen) and indeed your enjoyment of the coming symphonic work.

Cheers,
Aaron

Project Update and Kickstarter Brainstorm

Just wanted to give you all an update on the symphony.

The editing process is humming along. I've started distributing parts out to musicians and recording will start soon. Hopefully we'll have a video of that when it happens.

I'm still working on the kickstarter campaign. I know the amount I need to come up with ($7000) but I'd like some feedback from you, my readers - what kind of rewards would you like for donating to the project? I've only come up with a couple and would love to know what YOU would like.

You can comment below, via Facebook or whatever media you prefer to use.

I would really appreciate if you'd share this post around. You never know with these things who in your personal circle of friends may have an interest in backing a project like mine.

Characters: Sauron had a boss

This is part of a series that describes some of the characters in The Silmarillion. It may contain plot spoilers from the book. It is only written as a guide to the book for those who wish to understand it better. 

As you can see from the title, the main villain from The Lord Of The Rings did at one point serve a master. His master was named Melkor (later named Morgoth by Feanor) and he was one of the Valar. The Valar were beings who cared for the universe and Melkor was coeval with another named Manwe in regard to power. The only being more powerful was Eru/Iluvatar who created everything. Melkor always was pushing his own agenda in the cosmos. He wanted beings of his own to create and possess however he had no powers of creation. 

In the beginning when all the Valar and Maiar (spirits less mighty than Valar) were singing the universe into existence, Melkor used all his gifts to bring other spirits to his allegiance. He created great chaos and many joined him in his rebellion. Among these were the Balrogs and Sauron. 

When the Valar were going about and working in the world, whatever constructive work they did Melkor would undo. He would twist things that were made good into darkness. When the Elves were born, those who were lost would be ensnared by Melkor. They were tortured and mutilated until they became a hideous race. These emaciated Elves became the Orcs. These were a mockery of Iluvatar's Elves.  

The rest of the Valar eventually get fed up with this and they wage a short and victorious war on Melkor and they take him back to Valinor. He served a prison sentence, but he did not change and thus he serves to beguile more of the Noldorin Elves and eventually destroyed the Two Trees and stole the Silmarils. 

This is about as far as the symphony will get. I have endeavoured to compose Melkor/Morgoth as extensively as I can. 

Thank you for reading, and please subscribe and share!

World Cup Final Prognostications

Hey all,

This is a total divergence from my usual subject matter, but humour me. (Part of me wonders if the blog will receive an obscene number of hits simply because the phrase "world cup final" is included.)

I'm a huge soccer/football fan, as many of you who know me personally would attest to this. I watched my favourites England stuff it up...with that being a such a regular feat I'm used to the process of picking another team to cheer for. This year it was Germany, and I'm elated they're in the final after thumping Brazil (I really don't fancy Brazil much, especially this year's rendition).

Straight up, I think Germany v. Argentina should be a stellar match. I see Germany winning in regular time with some stout defense from the white and blue. Do I think Argentina have a chance this? Certainly. But Messi will have to play out of his mind and keep Germany on the back foot all game. A few key points:

1. Messi v. German midfield - Whether it's Khedira or Schweinsteiger, whoever gets the best of this matchup should win the day. I can't imagine Germany leaving their fullbacks alone with Messi, so I expect one of Khedira or Schweini to help out Lahm and co. at the back.

2. Mascherano v. Kroos - Masch was amazing against the Dutch, playing with a concussion and then literally busting his butt saving a goal late against Robben. He'll have to do the same against Kroos particularly, as he's been in some serious form the last couple matches. I'd say Masch might the get the better of Kroos, but he's not the only German attacker to worry about...

3. Mueller/Ozil v. Zabaleta/Rojo - I imagine Rojo should take care of Ozil defensively, but the matchup between Zabaleta and Mueller is a tasty one, and I think Mueller shades it. That could be Argentina's undoing because Mueller has been fantastic at yet another World Cup. It's astounding I haven't heard of any Premier League teams cueing up for him (namely my Liverpool who just sold their "biter"). You'll see him back defensively a bit as well, perhaps assisting with Messi.

4. The first goal - Argentina haven't played from behind this tournament and while that is impressive, they may have to this time around. If Germany go ahead early, you'll see the lethal German counter attack consistently. That is really bad news for the Argentines because a) Demichelis isn't very quick and b) Germany's counter is. If the reverse happens and Argentina get the first goal, I think it goes better for them but I think the Germans still win. They're pragmatic enough to avoid getting smacked on the counter while chasing a goal.

Prediction: Germany 3, Argentina 1. Mueller (2) and Klose, Messi

Golden Boot: Mueller
Golden Ball: Mueller

Stage Two begins

"One stage of your journey is over, another begins." - Gandalf, from the Two Towers film

That's precisely how I'm feeling at the moment...

I've just completed the first stage of principal composing for the Silmarillion Symphony. 

Just this week I realized two of the themes I had for Feanor (if you don't know who or what Feanor is, read the previous blog here) were just not up to snuff. Cue two new themes in the past four days. 

Now onto editing and some live tracking. As exhausted as I am from all this, I wouldn't have it any other way. I find creating to be the best kind of work. I'll be hitting up the beach for a few days, then I plan on getting the kickstarter campaign under way. 

To give an idea of what that is - it's basically a pre-order campaign to raise money for mixing, mastering and duplication costs. I'll be doing the kickstarter as well as putting a little Paypal pre-order button on the blog. 

If you would like to sample some of the work, click here and bear in mind that after mixing is finished, the sound will be greatly improved.

Cheers!

Aaron

Characters: Feanor

This is the second of my character profiles for important characters in Tolkien's The Silmarillion. Be advised, there are plot spoilers from the book in this article.

Feanor was a Noldorin elf of the House of Finwe, and was the half brother of Fingolfin and Finarfin, with whom he had a fractous relationship. Feanor's mother died giving birth to him. He was most famous among the Elves for his fiery spirit and for the three jewels he made - the Silmarils. They contained the light of the Two Trees of the Valar (this light was the light of the universe). He was a genius craftsman, and made many other gems and weapons.

When the Two Trees were destroyed by Melkor, the Silmarils contained the last of the light of the Trees. Unfortunately for all concerned, after the Trees were destroyed, Melkor stole the Silmarils from Feanor's home, killing his father Finwe. When the rest of the Valar refused to chase after Melkor to take the Silmarils back, Feanor revolted against them and left Valinor for Middle-Earth to pursue Melkor and the Silmarils. He took many of the Noldor with him, as they were persuaded by his powerful words. He, along with his seven sons swore an oath to pursue and if necessary, kill anyone who got in the way of them regaining the Silmarils. This oath was a source of great sorrow for the Noldor, as it betrayed them over and over.

On his way to Middle-Earth, Feanor and the Noldor (some unwittingly) killed many of the Teleri (another group of Elves) in order to use their ships to cross a body of water. After this, the Valar sent a messenger (possibly even the Vala Mandos himself) who spoke what is called "The Prophecy of the North," which is utterly chilling and promised great sorrow to the Noldor. Sadly, Feanor did not even repent of his arrogance there, yet pressed on. He used the stolen ships to cross the water, then burned them, betraying his half brother Fingolfin and the greater part of the Noldor to cross a treacherous strait - the Grinding Ice.

Upon his return to Middle-Earth, Melkor (whom Feanor named Morgoth) sent forth an army of Orcs. Feanor's forces broke through their lines. In a furious rage, Feanor pressed too far ahead of his host. He was eventually surrounded by Balrogs (yes there were many of the Balrogs) who wounded him mortally. His sons caught up to him before he died. However, before he perished he realized that no might of the Elves would overcome Morgoth. He bid his sons to fulfill their oath to reclaim the Silmarils, and his body turned to ash. Such was the fire of his spirit.

If this post inspires more questions about the book, please ask. 

To subscribe to this blog, go to the "follow by email" gadget at the right side of this page.

Characters: Turgon

Last week I posted some audio from "The House of Fingolfin" which was focussed on Turgon. But if you haven't read through the book, you'd be lost as to who the fellow actually was. To my recollection, he was not mentioned in The Lord of the Rings, though the great city he built, Gondolin, was. Elrond mentions Turgon obliquely in the Hobbit "This, Gandalf, was Glamdring, Foe-hammer that the king of Gondolin once wore. Keep them well!'" (The Hobbit, Chapter 3).

So how does Elrond know Turgon? And what is Gondolin?

Turgon was an elf from the House of Fingolfin. The House of Fingolfin was the House from which the High Kings of the Noldor (the Noldor are one of three groups of Elves) came. The first king of the Noldor was Finwe, Fingolfin's father, and Turgon's grandfather. Both Fingolfin and Turgon played a pivotal part in the events of the First Age of Middle Earth. Fingolfin was the first High King of the Noldor in Middle Earth, and had three children, Fingon, Turgon and Aredhel (there's also, apparently a son named Argon, but he doesn't figure into The Silmarillion).

At the beginning of the First Age, Turgon lived a bit to the west of his father, and would often hunt with a friend named Finrod (who I will talk about in another post). While on this hunting trip, both Elves had dreams about hidden kingdoms, but spoke none of it to each other. Turgon went on to find the Hidden Vale amidst a place known as "the Encircling Mountains" and began to construct the city of Gondolin. Gondolin survived longest of all the Elven kingdoms of the First Age before its tragic sack. Had Gondolin not been made, or survived as long as it did, much of the hope of the First Age would have been lost.

Turgon is in fact Elrond's forefather. Elrond mentions that "Eärendil was my sire, who was born in Gondolin before its fall; and my mother was Elwing, daughter of Dior, son of Lúthien of Doriath." (The Fellowship of the Ring, The Council of Elrond). Earendil, was the son of Turgon's daughter Idril, who married a man named Tuor. To sum up, the genealogy goes like this:

Fingolfin---Turgon---Idril (and Tuor)---Earendil (and Elwing)---Elrond etc. I hope this helps place a few of the many relationships in the book. As you can see, Turgon is vital to much of the mythology of Middle Earth and certainly to the events of the First Age.

The Silmarillion (for the non-Tolkien enthusiast)

This week I'll be doing something a little different. It struck me in a conversation last night that  the book itself is a difficult read, possibly so dense that one could pick it up three or four times and still have no idea what's going on. This is obviously a problem for me regarding the music, as I'd love people who aren't Tolkien nuts to enjoy the music and know what parts of the literature are being portrayed through the music. With that in mind, I will be endeavouring to summarize some of the plot and characters so that you will be able to get the most out of the music.

There are two helpful links posted below that are a good place to start. I'll be starting another segment of the blog which will function as a companion for reading the book for those who find the book too dense.

http://www.silmarillionwritersguild.org/reference/silmsummaries/home.php

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXxU01IgoxU

The House of Fingolfin

So last week I mentioned a theme that I'd been working on for Turgon and The House of Fingolfin. I've managed to put together a clip for it, which is inspired by "Of Eldamar and the Princes of the Eldalië."

Turgon is one of my favourite characters from the book, so he and his magnificent city Gondolin will have a monstrous theme. 

The clip is below, I hope you enjoy it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lD8DZbn3fqk&feature=youtu.be

Developing On-Going Themes

Early on in my composing process, I came to understand that many of the themes I was writing would in fact have to develop and relate to new and modified ones that would come later in the story. Such is the process of writing out of a book. Much of what you'll hear in the first few pieces will come up again. As you would imagine, just like we humans have grown, evolved and changed, so too would the Elves, Men, Dwarves et all from the beginning to the end of the First Age.

This excites me as a composer. It really forces me to be thoughtful in planning the pieces as well. To give an example from the book - The Ainulindalë speaks of "the Children of Iluvatar (meaning Elves and Men)." So in the symphony there are hints pertaining to Elves and Men which will develop into their own distinct forms and then interact in later pieces of music. Likewise for the character of Melkor (the antagonist in the book), who has a large part from beginning to end of the book. The music that represents him will develop throughout the compositions.  

Another example that I am brimming with anticipation over is that of Turgon and Gondolin. Turgon of course is an elf of the House of Fingolfin - which of course has a theme, and Turgon has his own theme within that theme. Gondolin, the city Turgon builds, doesn't come into existence until the First Age, but also has a theme. Seeing as Gondolin was Turgon's project, its theme will develop out of his theme. The House of Fingolfin is included in my first planned release, so you'll get to hear some of what Turgon is all about in the near future, and yes before the fall.

Stayed tuned!

Aaron

A little audio with a little backstory

Hi again friends, So I've been working away with the symphony and it seems the good news keeps flowing. It looks as though I'm through the writing stage for all of the first collection/rendition of the album. In my estimation the recording to be released in the fall will be between 45-60 minutes long.

For the last week I've been editing away and putting everything in the simplest form I could, arranging the pieces into distinct movements and forms etc. (This is all on the advice of my editor and you'll get to meet her later.)

The best news here is that you'll get to hear a clip of the music I have been working on, albeit in a rough draft form. The clip is from a piece is called "Dance of Thralls" which is the 3rd Movement of The Beginning of Days Suite. The inspiration is drawn from the book's chapters "Of The Beginning Of Days" and "Of The Coming Of The Elves And The Captivity Of Melkor." The piece illustrates how Melkor not only had slaves and co-workers in his evil, but how he ensnared the Elves and tormented them. Here is the link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2feSyHa-P2Q&feature=youtu.be

So enjoy! I'll be aiming to post at least one audio clip a week so you can keep apprised of the goings on with the project!

Aaron

The Symphony

Greetings friends, and fellow Tolkien admirers.

As this year has gone by, I have been neck deep in orchestral scores and finally it is time to announce that I will be compiling the material I've composed into an album which will be released in Autumn 2014. I am incredibly excited for this project, as it pulls together a dream I've had for years to compose and arrange symphonic pieces of music that are inspired by Professor Tolkien's great work "The Silmarillion."

So this blog will be here for you to stay connected with my work until the release date. I will endeavour to post once or twice a week, and hopefully with some audio clips of what I'm working on at the time. There will most definitely be a Kickstarter campaign in the very near future where you will be able to support this project.

Now for a little information on the project itself. First of all, the word "symphony" generally refers to a live orchestra with strings, woodwinds, brass and percussion. While this project certainly has a live performance goal, it is simply cost prohibitive at this point. With that in mind, I have arranged for some live, in studio musicians to play some of the key parts of the symphony. (I am also a bassist so I could not deal with a synthetic sounding low end.) For the rest of the instruments, I will be using top of the line plugins. Thankfully, synthesizers have come a long way the last few years and they wield very realistic results.

Secondly, the first symphonic album with be the first of at least two. Drawing from the book, the compositions will start with "The Music of the Ainur" and end with "The Return of the Noldor." For those of you who are like me and have read the book many times, you know this means that there's at least another album to be written and possibly a third. After all, who wouldn't want to hear a massive piece like the Fall of Gondolin, or the War of Wrath?

Anyhow, I'll be posting more in the coming days and weeks as things continue to come together. I welcome your questions and thoughts on this project and will do my best to answer everything in good time.

Warmest regards,

Aaron