The Hobbit

Orchestras play this as a suite that moves through the main themes of Shore's Hobbit film music, so the order and exact contents depend on the arrangement. Expect it to feel like a journey, with quiet, folk-like stretches and big brass climaxes.

The Shire music is the gentlest part. It is a warm, lilting tune, often led by solo wind instruments or strings, and it returns from Shore's earlier Lord of the Rings scores. If you have seen those films, it will sound like an old friend.

The dwarves have their own music. Their song about the misty mountains is a low, slow, serious melody that begins in a deep, almost chant-like way and builds as more voices join. In the concert hall, the orchestra's low strings and brass take over what the singers do in the film.

Watch for the grand moments, where the full brass section plays a broad theme that sounds like a call to adventure, and for the quicker, nervous passages that stand in for chases and danger. Because this is film music in concert form, the music often ends on a big, clear finish rather than fading away.

Howard Shore, who had scored the three Lord of the Rings films, returned to Middle-earth to write the music for Peter Jackson's three Hobbit films, released between 2012 and 2014. The films follow Bilbo Baggins as he joins a group of dwarves on a quest to win back their mountain home. Shore used some of his earlier themes and added new ones for the dwarves and their lost kingdom. Concert suites like this one let orchestras play highlights without the film. The arrangement on this page's program is credited to Wagner, and arrangers choose which moments to include.