Apart from these previous reviews I want to share my appreciation with you
of `Journey of the Ring' symphony nr.1, composed by Jonathan Peters. My
judgement has certainly been influenced by the film music of Howard Shore,
but first of all I have listened to this music without reading other
people’s opinions.

Part One: `Concerning Hobbits', here it sounds just like you hear, as in
the film music, the musical version of the Hobbits nature and I was
therefore already very satisfied with this beginning. `Rivendell', a
harbour of healing, where the music feels like a sunbath of symphonic
sounds and strengthens you because `A Journey in The Dark - The bridge or
Khazad Dûm' comes closer. This place of evil filled with demons charges
out of your sound system and presses you deep in your seat, where you hope
to be safe from all this dark violence. And `Lothlorien' brings you back
to Zen.

Part Two: `The Taming or Smeagol' gives away the murderous, cunning and
tormented character of Gollem and we sympathise with Frodo which alter-ego
he  met. When then `The Riders or Rohan' come, its like you feel the wind
in the high grass and then the Third Marshal of the Ridder-Mark jumps out
your speaker. `The King of the Golden Hall' changes from a crippled hermit
into a tall powerful King who rides ahead and leads us to `Helm’s Deep'
where without question we see the Ents march in.

Part Three: `Minas Tirith - The Siege of Gondor and The Battle of The
Pelennor Fields' makes you jump out of your seat, because this is a battle
you do not want to miss. `Shelob’s lair - The Choices of master Samwise'
where both the spider and  the toughest choice Sam has to make crawl over
your skin, pushing you back in your seat where you want to disappear
because you know what comes next. `The black Gate Opens' and `Mount Doom'
barges into your living room. Fortunately we can all get our rest in `The
Grey Havens'.

In my enthusiasm I might have exaggerated a bit with my description of
this musical interpretation of a Tolkien masterpiece. I haven’t made any
comparisons on which instrument correctly brings the Hobbits to life or
how different the Elves in Rivendell and Lothlorien are. I have listened
with the ears which `Peer Gynt' by Grieg have listened to on a vinyl plate
without ever seeing the complete piece. I could  imagine the whole story
in the music of Jonathan Peters and if you hadn’t read the books of
J.R.R.Tolkien, nor seen the screen version of it by P.Jackson, this
symphony is worth buying and is not at all inferior to the film music of
Howard Shore.

Hedwig Valkiers
Editor Lothelanor
redactie@elanor.be
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This was great! All the emotions are so accessible, but so deep and true to the story also. Even my ten year old brother could tell what part of the story we were at by listening to a little bit.
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Very good version of the story, great classical music, sounds like an movie soundtrack.  Best of the music I've heard out there inspired by this masterpiece of a story.  Thank you, Mr. Peters! God bless.
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If you're into the the Lord of the Rings you probably know that there's a lot of 'fan' based music out there and while some of it is pretty good, the majority of it isn't. A lot times you get the epic 'rock n roll of the rings'style. (Gosh, I hate those!) I'm sorry but rock n roll and the Lord of the Rings do not match. Other times you get the cheesy 'fan fiction' ballads. (Annoying) And then every once in awhile you'll get a nice Celtic/Folk style piece which is pretty good but you never really hear anything too professional. I guess what I'm trying to say is that good fan music is usually few, far and in between. So where does 'Journey of the Ring' stand in the line of all this? Way up front. This CD is the most original, professional and enjoyable piece of fan music I've ever heard. Most of the time when you buy a CD there's usually only a few good tracks out of the whole bunch. But with 'Journey of the Ring' practically every track is memorable and moving and it does an outstanding job of taking the listener through the many locations and events of J.R.R. Tolkien's books. It really doesn't even sound like 'fan' music. It's more like the 'unofficial soundtrack to the books'. While it may have the structure and flavor of a soundtrack, it differs from a movie soundtrack in that there are no images to go with the music. Soundtracks have kind of a curse where the listener can't help but see in their mind the scene from the movie that fits the track. It is almost as if a soundtrack is incomplete because the movie half of it is missing. But in the case of 'Journey of the Ring' that curse does not exist because without pictures the listener must use his own imagination to put the music to the words of the books. Now one may try and compare this CD to Howard Shore's movie soundtracks but if you stop and think about it, how can you compare them? Howard Shore has his vision of the books, Jonathan Peters has his. Sure we may all think that no one can beat Howard Shore's Hobbit theme but I look at it as a fresh approach to the subject. A chance to re-enkindle the wonder which the books brought to us. And boy does it do it in a sweet way. I put this CD on my "must own" list of fan music and soundtracks. Congratulations to Mr. Peters for this outstanding achievement and I look forward to his future projects. This is one composer to keep your eye on.
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