In the last decade, Howard Shore is among the very few Hollywood film music composers to become a 
household name. Although he has been in the business since the 1970s and racking up over 80 film and television credits, Shore’s name rose to international stardom in 2001 when he carved the musical landscape for Peter Jackson’s THE LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy. Shore won three Academy Awards, three Golden Globes, and four Grammys just for those three films.
Since then, he has enveloped himself in the world of high drama, scoring such emotional (and suspenseful) rollercoasters as THE DEPARTED, GANGS OF NEW YORK, EASTERN PROMISES, A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE, and EDGE OF DARKNESS, among many others.
Recently, he has added his name to another viciously famous franchise, THE TWILIGHT SAGA, providing the score to what will undoubtedly be a summer blockbuster, ECLIPSE. Shore has had his share of skeptics questioning his rationale for taking on such a project, but with one listen to the score, any doubt melts into the “twilight.”
The ECLIPSE score, at its core is a tumult of extreme emotions, where at any given time, it is simultaneously sincere, alluring, and terrifying. Shore makes extensive use of solo piano for character themes, displaying a naked vulnerability uncapturable by any other instrument. And his penchant for heaving violins and cellos are the earth Stephenie Meyer’s characters trod upon. ECLIPSE can pounce on you like a ravenous jaguar, cloud your judgment like a dense fog, or tantalize your senses with kaleidoscopic color-tones.
Howard Shore is a master of creating realms where nightmares and fantasy bleed together, and where beauty and the beast often inhabit the same body. While his time is strongly in demand, we did manage to obtain a bit of time to chat with the man who casts a twilight shadow on ECLIPSE!
How did you come into working on the ECLIPSE project?
They just asked me to work on it, and that was pretty much it. It really was as simple as that.
With NEW MOON, Alexandre Desplat admitted that he ignored Carter Burwell’s score for TWILIGHT and did not even see the first film. Did you follow that same mentality with ECLIPSE?
No, I actually did some pretty thorough research. I like to read a lot, and I knew the story. I was really interested in it from a dramatic point of view. And I felt that the story expands with the third film. I did the research and fell into a very interesting creative process. It was a pleasure to work on.
And I found both guys’ scores to be very good. Carter’s was such a good score, and Alexandre’s was just beautiful.
How was the experience tracking for songs through ECLIPSE?
I worked with Emily Haines and James Shaw of the group Metric, and Metric was a group that I had researched and felt that they would be good collaborators for this project. I asked them if they would be interested in writing with me, and the three of us created the song “Eclipse (All Yours).” I actually like the collaboration of working with different artists.
And that is something that you see less and less of in Hollywood. Back during the heyday of James Bond, you would almost always see a composer co-write the movie’s theme song.
Yes, yes! I enjoy that very much.
Listening to the ECLIPSE score, I noticed that you made Jacob the primary musical character, while using Bella as a sort of surrogate, bookending character.
He’s an important part of the story, and his character is an important element in the arc of the story. The timing was right in the third part to work with Jacob’s feelings and the dramatic arc of Jacob’s story. The Jacob character wasn’t really developed until the third film. It just felt right.
Since there were no previously established themes for Jacob, Victoria, Rosalie, Jasper, and Jane, did you feel any weight to present them in a proper fashion?
Definitely. I write how I feel where the emphasis is. And the emphasis for this part of the story might have been different from what had come before. So it just felt right for me to focus on and emphasize certain themes in the story.
Do you find yourself becoming emotionally invested in scoring these extremely dramatic films?
I do, I do become emotionally invested. I want to write and feel the drama. Music is essentially an emotional language, so you want to feel something from the relationships and build music based on those feelings.
And that’s why I think ECLIPSE is right up your alley as a perfect project.
Yeah, it is. Film music is essentially the essence of what it is, writing to the emotional impact of the story.
It seems very important to you to make your music available to the public, and that is something you do 
not see many composers strive for. What is the rationale behind releasing things like the complete scores for THE LORD OF THE RINGS, and the HOWARD SHORE: COLLECTOR’S EDITION, and things like that?
It is important to me. I like to do good versions in the print medium and complete recordings, and full CD releases of scores; also archival releases of scores, rarities CDs. There is actually a rarities CD we are releasing with the Doug Adams book, MUSIC OF THE LORD OF THE RINGS. I do enjoy working on all aspects of that music. I like the details, yes.
Next year is the 20th Anniversary of THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS. Are you planning on doing something special for that?
I am, actually. I think there is an A&E special being filmed, which I am participating in.
Is there something buried in your psyche that draws you to these realistic-fantasy worlds; places you would like to visit, but places where you would never like to live?
[Laughs] I don’t know…maybe.
Read a full, track-by-track review of THE TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE – THE SCORE here!
Learn more about Howard Shore at IMDB and at his official website.
Comments
I'm very excited about this score. Howard Shore is amazing!!!
I like that he did the research, Carter Burwell's score was so much better than Alexander's. I felt that New Moon suffered from not having the same composer or at least one that built on the existing score.
I love howard shore, but i hate bella's character in new moon movie... in the book, bella was great, but in the movie, no coments... please dont make twilight saga a 100% POP
I'm dissappointed. If he did the research, then he would know that Jacob is NOT the primary character in this story. New Moon was Jacob's time. This is the development of Edward finally admitting he can't live without Bella, as well as developing more of the Cullen's back story and having them unite with all the wolves. Also whomever wrote this story, or created this web page, needs to research that they put a fanmade trailer on with scenes from New Moon etc.......so what the frell? A score that focus's on Jacob and only adds Bella as a supporting feeling?? I have a feeling I will be severely dissapointed in the score. I was with New Moon's, it sounded like elevator music and actually was a great distraction in the film. I heard Metric's title song, it was annoying. I'm frightened.
Oh and one more thing. Carter Burwell, is the only one who created and made Bella's Lullaby. It is integral in all the books, Edward is always humming, playing it etc. In his research did he even acknowledge Carter's Lullaby? Or like in New Moon was the Lullaby completely ignored as if it no longer existed. I have always been perturbed by that lack of continuity.
I love Howard Shore's music and I am so excited to see what he does with Eclipse. I think it is fun to have a different composer for each of these films because each one is so different. I will have to say, I did prefer Desplat's score over Burwell's. Looking forward to hearing Shore's interpretation!
I hope the score is good. I loved Carter Burwell's score, but I felt Alexandre Desplat's was, for the most part, generic and uninspiring
I love Shore's music but I'm little worried about Eclipse. Jacob is NOT center of the story. Bella is and always will be. Shore may know the story but he obviously doesn't get it and he doesn't get Twilighters. If this was any other movie no one would probably care much but he entered Twilight universe and he should be more careful. He just probably managed to make Team Edward really angry with this (which makes the majority).
I'm sure this score will be beautiful but I've always felt that music is an important part of story and therefor must be done with great delicacy and care and I have already lost a lot of my faith and "Yey,Shore is composing for Eclipse!!!" enthusiasm because of this Jacob-centric music. And that just makes me sad.
The glaring fact that everyone seems to be overlooking is that Mr. Shore is NOT telling his own version of the story. The composer's job is to reflect and amplify the images on the screen. If he is writing music that heavily leans towards one character, it is because the director has made that character integral to his vision of the story. If you wish to point fingers at someone for "ruining" a movie you haven't even yet seen, please point them at the director. The composer is not autonomous in his storytelling technique.
I agree with you Mark about composer's job but this isn't any movie. It's Twilight movie. You may not know that but Twilight fans are among the craziest and we care about every little detail. And pushing jacob in front just isn't right. This is Bella's story. I don't know how much screen time will jacob have in this movie. Most likely more than necessary. But the center of the story is still Bella and her love for Edward and in this movie she decides to be with him - to marry him and become vampire. This is much more important than Jacob's character development and yet Shore somehow forgot about that and didn't even bother to give Bella and Edward their own theme. It's one thing to give someone more 'music-time' but to forget about another one completely is just wrong. I expected more from the great composer who gave us The Lord of the Rings score.
Twilight had Bella's Lullaby - piece that symbolises Bella falling in love. New Moon had The Meadow - piece that symbolises Bella's lost and her trying to live again. So one would expect that Eclipse piece would be about Bella having to make decision. But no, we get Jacob's theme. For the love of all that his holy! Can this "shoving-jacob-down-our-throats" get any worse?
When I found out that HS is composing music I started jumping around because I was so happy. His LOTR score is a masterpiece. But after seeing the name "jacob's theme" on the soundtrack and reading this I'm just really disapointed. It just felt right? Really? Because it just feels wrong to me and I'm sure to many others. Yes, J has a big part in the story but not nearly enough to focus almost exclusivly on him. Edward is just as important if not even more, but above everyone else is Bella. Her story. Shore should focus on her and her character development. I think that we had more than enough of jakey's development in NM. It's Bella and Edward's relationship that didn't get enough of it and yet they didn't get a theme. A big failure, HS!
I know that this is just music but I always connect tracks with the scenes in the movie and I don't think that I'll enjoy listening the "jacob music" even if it's a masterpiece. I was really looking forward to some E&B music but now I'm just really sa
yo, solamente estoy esperando que salga eclipce para correr al cine a verla. me encantan todas sus peliculas
I didn't actually care much for Burwell's lullaby. It doesn't, to me, sound like something Edward would hum Bella to sleep with. Desplat's Meadow is "the lullaby" in my own head.
Honestly, people. We haven't even seen the movie yet. These "themes" tend to be fairly subtle, and just evoke the feeling of the character when he or she is central to a scene. Jake's having his guts ripped out in this film. Give him a few bars, for heaven's sake.
Howard Shore is an amazing composer, and the Twilight saga is incredibly lucky to have him work on one of their films. I have faith that he didn't let the series down.
i love burwell's bellas lullaby, desplat was fine but the lullaby should have been added in new moon for it is special for Edward and Bella,so Shore again going to ignore the lullaby as though it never existed even though Edward hummed it many times in Eclipse. this is so wrong.
Howard Shore is AMAZING!!!!!!!!! I am so excited to listen to his score!!! I own a lot of his work and they are all beautilful and emotional. This was one of the reasons I am so jazzed for the opening of Eclipse. I agree with everything Shore said!!!
Thank you for taking the time to review the new score for Eclipse. I have been a Howard Shore fan since his days at SNL; and I have used his works to teach film music and careers in music to students, and other film music for piano, band and orchestra. He obviously takes these novels seriously, and I believe his music will meet or surpass the standards set by Burwell and Desplat: all three Oscar nominees or winners. Chosing a theme for Jacob is brilliant. If this were the Ring Cycle, and he had unlimited time and budget, we'd have themes for all the characters summed up in an overture as in Gotterdamerung, a ballet as in Faust, a fight scene con brio, and a finale ultimo. If Oscar turns a blind eye, so be it, but we'll be all the richer.
i love shore!! i've cried endlessly with "hope and memory" from LOTR score and many others but i agree with whoever said that they should respect burwell's lullaby coz that was very important in the books and for me that is what it's missing beetwen the two caracters...that intimacy that the lullaby brings to the story..in my opinion..
When will the directors and composers start to listen to the fans? The score is supposed to be subtle, but true Twihards have repeatedly commented that ignoring Bella's Lullaby in NM and now, Eclipse, is a HUGE mistake?!? I loved, loved, loved Burwell's score. Beautiful, haunting, lovely, overall impressive. It's only maybe the 3rd movie score I've ever bought to listen to. I have not and will not buy the NM score - it wasn't bad, but I didn't think it fit...and was so frustrated that it totally ignored Burwell's score. Continuity people!!! Let's hope that the Eclipse score is better than that of NM...and I hope they seriously consider Burwell for BD!
was shocked about Jacob's theme. Hey, who is the main character of saga?! Where is Edward's theme? Why Summit tries so hard pimp Jacob? If he could be star he already would become!
i am very excited about this score also, i haven't really fallen in love with these movies but howard shore is amazing and on just that fact alone i can see myself floating away with his wonderful talent i can't wait to hear it with the movie playing this should be awsome.
Uh-oh: Eclipse's Jacob's Theme sounds better than NM *but* all too similar to Desplat's score - which I found an utter snore.
Bordering a bit on measuring contest/trying to gain credibility - esp. with the hip edge to the OSTs - by bringing big name scorers. We get it - yay, you can play in the same pool as LotR et al. but can we quit it with the EPIC ROMANCE 'TM' sound. The investment in the series' relationships is the key NOT the m-drama props or horror tropes.
I give up on getting another one like Burwell's. Interestingly, I get more feeling out of scores for movies like The Host (the South Korean film, not Meyers title in the works) or A Tale of Two Sisters - than 99% of Hollywood films at present, whose scores tick all the technical boxes but lack any real soul, and so end up totally transferrable to any other similarly concepted movie.
Btw, maybe HS used Jacob as a sound touchstone because his character gave him emotional access to the film? JB'S why I kept reading the
Only watching this movie because of his score.
Why can't you people get it correctly? He won three Oscars, two for best score (Fellowship of the Ring; Return of the King) and one for best original song (Return of the King). Two Towers did not get nominated or win any awards. Get your facts right.
Actually, RJ, you misread the statement. It reads: "Shore won three Academy Awards, three Golden Globes, and four Grammys just for those three films."
Two Towers DID win a Grammy, thus its inclusion in that statement is correct.
Howard, Howard, how could you stoop so low:(
And yes, Two Towers did get nominated and win awards. 2 Oscars. No, not for the score (this due to a rule by which a score containing music from a previous score was not allowed to win again, which was overturned in time for RotK). Yes, I believe the score won a grammy, but really, it was easily the best score that year, being part of the collective score of all three films, which is, and many would agree, the best score of the past ten years. I think it's the best film score ever.
And Twilight sucks you guys.
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