Symphony No. 5 "Return to Middle Earth" - Johan de Meij | GUHO & GUK

PART I: Miri na Fëanor - Jewels of Feanor (00:00)
PART II: Tinúviel – Nightingale (5:55)
PART III: Ancalagon i-môr – Ancalagon the Black (12:40)
PART IV: Arwen Undómiel – Evenstar (19:20)
PART V: Dagor Delothrin – War of Wrath (25:40)
PART VI: Thuringwethil – Woman of Secret Shadow (39:15)

The piece ‘Return to Middle Earth’ from Johan de Meij comes with a complicated story based on the novels of J.R.R. Tolkien “The Silmarillion”. The book ‘The Silmarillion’ is set more than 8,000 years before ‘The Lord of the Rings’. Back then, the Valar, the gods of Tolkien's world, lived in Valinor. One of them was Morgoth, an evil Valar who had settled in Middle Earth and whose goal was to destroy all the creations of the good Valar. After their awakening in Middle Earth, the elves, fair and immortal beings, were invited to live among the Valar in the lands of Valinor.

PART I
This story is full of intrigue and betrayal. The King's son Fëanor received great knowledge from the gods, making him one of the greatest craftsmen in Valinor. This power enabled him to make his most precious creation, the three Silmarils, whose sparkles you can hear rippling through the orchestra. Morgoth later stole these precious gems, and Fëanor died in an ambush while trying to recapture them.

PART II
This story tells the passionate love story between a human, Beren, and an elf, Luthien Tinúviel. In this part of the symphony, the soprano soloist creates the magical atmosphere of Luthien's enchanting song and the light dancing through the foliage.
When Beren asked her father, King Thingol of Doriath, for Luthien’s hand in marriage, he was put to the test: he had to steal one of the Silmarils from Morgoth's iron crown.
On his quest, Beren was captured by Morgoth and later rescued by Luthien. The pair stole one of the three Silmarils from Morgoth's crown, and returned to Doriath.
While fleeing from Morgoths forces, Beren was mortally wounded. Luthien was inconsolable, trading her immortality as an elf to spend a few more moments with Beren. This is why, at the end of this movement, you first hear a moment when the soprano soloist sings completely alone as a symbol of Luthien's grief. Then a pensive chord is heard from the choir and orchestra representing the reunion of the two lovers.

PART III
Ancalagon the Black was the most feared dragon in the history of Middle-earth. During Morgoth's war against the Valar and elves, he was a secret weapon that seemed unstoppable, until the arrival of Ëarendil. Ëarendil, a descendant of Beren and Luthien, was half human, half elf, and inherited from his parents the stolen Silmaril. To end the years of war, he enlisted the Valar’s help. Hear the dragon screeching through the saxophones, feel the tension during the battle. Halfway through this movement, the moment when the dragon retreats for a moment is mirrored by a solo by the English horn. This lull is followed by the resurgence of the hellish battle.
In the end, Ëarendil and the eagles managed to defeat Ancalagon. With crushing force, the giant dragon crashed into Morgoth's castle, completely destroying it.

PART IV
This quiet part tells the love story of Arwen Undomiel, daughter of elven king Elrond. Arwen fell in love with a human, Aragorn, heir to the throne of Gondor. After having defeated Sauron and destroying the One Ring, Aragorn and Arwen became king and queen of Gondor. Again, you can hear the sparkle in this play. Aragorn eventually died of old age. Like Luthien, Arwen chose to give up her immortality as an elf for her lover. In the end, she died of a broken heart.

PART V
In part three, Ëarendil asked the Valar for help in the war against Morgoth, the War of Wrath. When the Valar arrived in Middle-earth with their army, the ground literally trembled. Fearing the power of the Valar, Morgoth threw all his forces into battle. Three horns foreshadow the horror. The violence of the fighting can be heard in the thumping rhythm of the orcs, driven by orcish drums. Along all sides we hear war and destruction, while the threat of the approaching orcs is expressed by the chorus, culminating in an impressive apotheosis.

PART VI
This sixth part is a lament. Thuringwethil was a mysterious and dark creature, a vampire. She possessed a cloak that allowed her to sneak through the darkness unseen. We can, as it were, discern her trailing cloak through the mysterious sounds of the orchestra.
Sent out by Sauron to gather information about the elves, Thuringwethil was caught by Luthien. She transformed into a bat, but was quickly killed. Luthien used her cloak to slip into Morgoth's castle unseen, saving Beren.

Symphony No. 5 "Return to Middle Earth" - Johan de Meij
Concert: GUHO & GUK, Return to Middle Earth - Bijloke Gent
Conductors: Dimitri Bracke & Joris Derder
Soliste: Dorine Mortelmans
Live mixing by Arco Music, Jelle Tassyns (due to some technical difficulties, the audio isn't always representative)
Video by Brecht Dhuyvetters