The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (soundtrack)

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The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
The Hobbit - The Battle of The Five Armies OST(Standard Edition).jpg
Soundtrack album by
Released8 December 2014
Recorded2014
Studio Wellington Town Hall, Wellington
Length94:01 (standard)
108:12 (special edition)
Label
Producer
Howard Shore chronology
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
(2013)
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
(2014)

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the soundtrack album to the 2014 film The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies directed by Peter Jackson, which is the third and final instalment in the The Hobbit trilogy. The score was composed by Howard Shore and released through WaterTower Music and Decca Records on 8 December 2014, in a two-disc format and in both standard and special edition.

Contents

Background and release

Howard Shore recorded the score during September 2014 at the Wellington Town Hall, where The Desolation of Smaug (2013) was recorded. [1] Likewise, Shore further collaborated with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, the Wellington University Gamelan orchestra and London Voices, along with soprano vocalist Grace Davidson. [1] Billy Boyd, who played Peregrin Took in The Lord of the Rings , wrote and recorded the song "The Last Goodbye". [2] The soundtrack album for The Battle of the Five Armies was released on 8 December 2014 through WaterTower Music in two-disc formats in both standard and special edition. [3]

Reception

Christian Clemmensen of Filmtracks reviewed: "Middle Earth scores are so superior simply by their basic nature that even the diminished prowess of a work like The Battle of the Five Armies is, like its predecessors, a lock for any serious top-five list of scores from the year. This is the last goodbye for Shore and Middle Earth, and anyone who denigrates these scores due to high expectations needs to be reminded that, in the wake of greatness in The Lord of the Rings, we are extraordinarily lucky to have these subsequent works of art at all." [4] Jonathan Broxton of Movie Music UK wrote "With the conclusion of the Hobbit trilogy it is quite likely that we will never visit Middle Earth again, at least in the company of Jackson or Shore. This is it. We will never again have the anticipation of a new Tolkien-inspired work from the unassuming Canadian, and while I’m more than thankful for the 18 hours or so we do have, I can’t help but consider this to be a bittersweet moment, the end of an era. Looking at the direction film music is going, especially in mainstream films, I doubt we will ever hear a score like this again, and so my advice to you all is to savor this. Drink it in. Go there, and go back again, and again, and again." [5]

John Suchet of Classic FM wrote "This album is dominated by the battle music which is necessarily missing the ethereal and haunting qualities of Shore's best music. There's little that's surprising or new about this final instalment, but it's inspiring to revisit the themes and there's much to please the fans. At the end, the Hobbit, Shire and Ring themes all merge together to give a foretaste of what's to come in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, which is chronologically set after The Hobbit." [6] Matt Collar of AllMusic wrote "Once again showcasing his knack for delivering a soundtrack of lyrical mysticism and epic bombast, Shore delves into a layered orchestral sound. As befitting the ever-increasing darkness and danger of The Hobbit storyline, Shore's score for The Battle of Five Armies is full of dramatic, nail-biting moments of rising tension. There are also lyrical, vocal, choral-based sections that recall his Academy Award-winning score to Jackson's Lord of the Rings Trilogy. This is thrilling widescreen film orchestration." [7]

Track listing

Standard edition

Disc 1
No.TitleLength
1."Fire and Water"5:57
2."Shores of the Long Lake"4:01
3."Beyond Sorrow and Grief"2:50
4."Guardians of the Three"5:14
5."The Ruins of Dale"3:39
6."The Gathering of the Clouds"4:07
7."Mithril"3:08
8."Bred for War"3:19
9."A Thief in the Night"4:14
10."The Clouds Burst"4:12
11."Battle for the Mountain"4:38
Disc 2
No.TitleLength
1."The Darkest Hour"5:31
2."Sons of Durin"4:23
3."The Fallen"4:56
4."Ravenhill"5:47
5."To the Death"5:13
6."Courage and Wisdom"5:09
7."The Return Journey"4:16
8."There and Back Again"4:19
9."The Last Goodbye" (Written and Performed by Billy Boyd)4:05
10."Ironfoot"5:03

Special edition

The two-disc special edition contains two bonus tracks and five extended tracks.

Disc 1
No.TitleLength
1."Fire and Water"5:57
2."Shores of the Long Lake"4:01
3."Beyond Sorrow and Grief" (Extended Version)4:11
4."Guardians of the Three" (Extended Version)5:47
5."The Ruins of Dale"3:39
6."The Gathering of the Clouds" (Extended Version)5:52
7."Mithril"3:08
8."Bred for War"3:19
9."A Thief in the Night"4:14
10."The Clouds Burst"4:12
11."Battle for the Mountain"4:38
Disc 2
No.TitleLength
1."The Darkest Hour"5:31
2."Sons of Durin"4:23
3."The Fallen"4:56
4."Ravenhill"5:47
5."To the Death" (Extended Version)7:22
6."Courage and Wisdom"5:09
7."The Return Journey"4:16
8."There and Back Again"4:19
9."The Last Goodbye" (Written and Performed by Billy Boyd)4:05
10."Ironfoot" (Extended Version)6:11
11."Dragon-sickness" (Bonus Track)3:51
12."Thrain" (Bonus Track)3:24

Charts

Chart (2014–15)Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA) [8] 74
Australian Classical/Crossover Albums (ARIA) [9] 1
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria) [10] 35
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) [11] 38
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia) [12] 83
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100) [13] 43
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) [14] 25
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE) [15] 45
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade) [16] 37

Accolades

OrganizationAward categoryRecipientsResult
Denver Film Critics Society [17] Best Original Song Billy Boyd, Philippa Boyens, Fran Walsh Nominated
International Film Music Critics Association [18] Best Original Score for a Fantasy/Science Fiction/Horror FilmHoward ShoreNominated
Saturn Awards [19] [20] Best Music Howard Shore Nominated
Online Whale AwardsBest Music in a FilmHoward ShoreWon

References

  1. 1 2 "Exclusive: recording has begun on the score of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies; Hobbit Movie News and Rumors". Theonering.net . 16 September 2014. Archived from the original on 20 October 2014. Retrieved 27 July 2017.
  2. "Our final trip to Middle-earth to finish with "The Last Goodbye" sung by Billy Boyd". TheOneRing.net . 20 October 2014. Archived from the original on 20 October 2014. Retrieved 22 October 2014.
  3. "The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack - Special Edition". WaterTower Music. 8 December 2014. Archived from the original on 17 February 2025. Retrieved 3 July 2025.
  4. Clemmensen, Christian (24 January 2015). "The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (Howard Shore)". Filmtracks . Archived from the original on 6 June 2025. Retrieved 6 June 2025.
  5. Broxton, Jonathan (21 December 2014). "THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES – Howard Shore". MOVIE MUSIC UK. Archived from the original on 6 June 2025. Retrieved 6 June 2025.
  6. "Howard Shore: The Hobbit - The Battle of the Five Armies". Classic FM . 15 December 2014. Archived from the original on 6 June 2025. Retrieved 6 June 2025.
  7. Collar, Matt. "The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack] Review". AllMusic . Archived from the original on 6 June 2025. Retrieved 6 June 2025.
  8. Ryan, Gavin (24 January 2015). "ARIA Albums: Taylor Swift 1989 Is Back At No 1". Noise11. Retrieved 24 January 2015.
  9. "The ARIA Report: Week Commencing 5 January 2015" (PDF). No. 1297. ARIA. 8 January 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 January 2015. Retrieved 24 January 2015.
  10. "Austriancharts.at – Soundtrack / Howard Shore – The Hobbit - The Battle Of The Five Armies" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
  11. "Ultratop.be – Soundtrack / Howard Shore – The Hobbit - The Battle Of The Five Armies" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
  12. "Ultratop.be – Soundtrack / Howard Shore – The Hobbit - The Battle Of The Five Armies" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
  13. "Dutchcharts.nl – Soundtrack / Howard Shore – The Hobbit - The Battle Of The Five Armies" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
  14. "Offiziellecharts.de – Soundtrack / Howard Shore – The Hobbit - The Battle Of The Five Armies" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
  15. "Spanishcharts.com – Soundtrack / Howard Shore – The Hobbit - The Battle Of The Five Armies". Hung Medien. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
  16. "Swisscharts.com – Soundtrack / Howard Shore – The Hobbit - The Battle Of The Five Armies". Hung Medien. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
  17. Tapley, Kristopher (7 January 2015). "Denver critics nominate 'American Sniper,' 'Birdman' and 'Inherent Vice". HitFix . Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 7 January 2015.
  18. IFMCA (2015). "2014 IFMCA Awards". IFMCA. IFMCA. Archived from the original on 7 April 2015. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  19. Blake, Emily (4 March 2015). "2015 Saturn Awards: Captain America: Winter Soldier, Walking Dead lead nominees". Entertainment Weekly . Archived from the original on 10 March 2024. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
  20. Cohen, David S. (26 June 2015). "Guardians of the Galaxy, The Walking Dead, Interstellar Shine at Saturn Awards". Variety . Archived from the original on 9 April 2021. Retrieved 19 April 2024.