The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the soundtrack album to the 2013 film The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug directed by Peter Jackson, which is the second instalment in The Hobbit trilogy. The film score is composed by Howard Shore and released through WaterTower Music and Decca Records on 10 December 2013. Ed Sheeran wrote and performed the song "I See Fire" which was released as the lead single from the album.

Background and release

Howard Shore who composed music for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) returned to score The Desolation of Smaug. He recorded the score at the Wellington Town Hall during September and October. The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra performed the score, which cancelled their concert in New Zealand to prioritize recording the film's orchestral portions. The Gamelan orchestra from the Victoria University of Wellington performed additional orchestra while the choir portions were performed by London Voices and Tiffin' boy choir. It was orchestrated by Conrad Pope and James Sizemore, with Pope conducting.Conrad and Sizemore's orchestrations were supervised by Shore and based on his detailed sketches and orchestral mock-ups. According to the documentary as well as Doug Adams, the reason for the change in orchestration duties was to accommodate the faster post-production process on the later two films. Besides the orchestra and choir, the score accompanied vocal and instrumental soloists, namely soprano Grace Davidson and singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran.

Sheeran performed the song "I See Fire" which was featured in the end credits. The song was released as the lead single from the album on 5 November. The album was released on 10 December 2013 through WaterTower Music and Decca Records in two-discs in both standard and special editions.

Reception TheOneRing.net described the score of The Desolation of Smaug as "extraordinar[ily good]" with many new themes, noting in particular the Smaug theme which powerfully "dominates the later scenes", and the Tauriel theme which recalled "many a swashbuckling adventure from cinema history". Christian Clemmensen of Filmtracks wrote "Like The Return of the King and An Unexpected Journey, therefore, The Desolation of Smaug merits a split rating. You have to keep your perspective when approaching this work, tempering your expectations and accepting the benefits along with the drawbacks." Jonathan Broxton of Movie Music UK wrote "What Howard Shore is achieving through his Lord of the Rings music, and now through these Hobbit scores, is nothing short of remarkable – a truly immersive world of music which follows a strict leitmotivic design, but is fluid enough to introduce themes for new characters, places and concepts as each new film requires, without compromising the integrity of the work as a whole. While the music in The Desolation of Smaug doesn't have the crowd-pleasing memorability of some of the other works in the series, while doesn't have as much choral bombast as previous entries, and while the inherent darkness of many of the themes and performances may be off-putting to some who need more lightness in their music, its intellectual design is utterly flawless, and its orchestration is consistently interesting. This is one of the scores of the year."

A critic from Classic FM wrote "There are snatches and remnants of themes from the previous scores to be picked out here but the overwhelming atmosphere is generally more dark and brooding than triumphal - lots of snarling brass and low rumbles." James Southall of Movie Wave wrote "The Desolation of Smaug doesn't have that memorable theme, but instead it has some very fine set pieces and probably around an hour of music that's consistently good.  That means that overall it's a distinct step up over its predecessor – it suffers from the same faults but Shore injects that little bit more energy into a higher portion of it.  It still needs an album producer to go through it meticulously and chop out the fat, but there's more than enough here to make it worth persevering, however hard that is at times." Melissa Redman of Renowned for Sound wrote "Shore has once again created a wondrous soundtrack which will enrich and enhance the film and the audience's emotions throughout. Whether you love music score soundtracks or not, The Desolation of Smaug is definitely one to take notice of." Adrian Horan of York Vision wrote "Shore does a magnificent job in capturing the essence of The Desolation of Smaug in his soundtrack. He stays comfortable in some parts, using old tricks in a new setting; in others, he experiments with what he has learnt across his time as a composer, daring to be different in some aspects, paying off entirely."

Track listing

Standard edition

Special edition The special edition contains one bonus track and twelve extended tracks.

Charts Chart (2013–14) PeakpositionAustralian Albums (ARIA) 60Australian Classical/Crossover Albums (ARIA)ARIA Report. ARIA Charts. Retrieved 30 March 2014. 2 scope="row" scope="row" scope="row" scope="row" scope="row" scope="row" Irish Classical Albums (IRMA)TOP 10 CLASSICAL ALBUMS, WEEK ENDING 9 January 2014 . chart-track.co.uk. Retrieved 20 January 2014. 7 scope="row" scope="row" South Korean Albums (Gaon)GAON ALBUM CHART (in Korean). gaonchart.co.kr. Retrieved 20 January 2014. 84 scope="row" scope="row" scope="row" scope="row" scope="row" US Billboard 200 39US Independent Albums (Billboard) 4US Top Current Albums (Billboard)Top Current Albums : 28 Dec 2013. Billboard biz. Retrieved 20 January 2014. 34US Top Soundtracks (Billboard) 6 Chart (2021) Peakposition scope="row"

Accolades Organization Award category Recipients ResultDenver Film Critics Society Best Original Score Howard Shore Houston Film Critics Society AwardsTapley, Kristopher (December 8, 2013). "2013 Houston Film Critics Society nominations" . HitFix.com. Retrieved January 25, 2014. Best Original Song Ed Sheeran ("I See Fire") Grammy Award Best Song Written for Visual Media Ed Sheeran ("I See Fire") Motion Picture Sound Editors Golden Reel AwardsBest Sound Editing: Music Score in a Feature FilmMark WillsherPhoenix Film Critics SocietyBest Original ScoreHoward ShoreSatellite Awards Best Original Song Ed Sheeran ("I See Fire") Saturn Awards Best Music Howard Shore St. Louis Gateway Film Critics AssociationBest Musical ScoreHoward Shore

References