Overview

Long before Peter Jackson announced his intention to direct a film based on The Hobbit, Sierra Entertainment produced a platforming video game based on the book. A three-man team led by Rod Abernethy scored the soundtrack and found much inspiration in J.R.R. Tolkien's work. The now defunct publisher made the soundtrack freely available through their official website and largely impressed consumers.

Body

The main theme for the soundtrack is introduced with "Prelude". Here, Abernethy's team combine whimsical and epic elements beautifully to portray a humble Hobbit going on an epic adventure. While simple, the flute melody draws listeners in and proves unforgettable, while the dashes of orchestration capture that spirit of adventure. The thematic basis of the soundtrack is also strengthened with the delightful hummable melodies of "A Walk in the Shire", the nostalgic falling strings of "A Hobbit's Tale", or the surprising turns of "Lianna's Theme".

Setting tracks such as "Lost in the Cave" and "Sneaking Through Elvish Halls" impress for the way they integrate organic and world instruments to capture a fantasy setting. They maintain the whimsical and humorous qualty of the Tolkien's story, while detailing specific situations. Later in the soundtrack, tracks such as "Inside the Misty Mountains" capture the darker side of Bilbo's journey with their spine-tingling chants. Even eight years on, such tracks sound well-produced and it is easy to see why the soundtrack won awards.

Action cues such as "Combat in the Lone Lands" and "Combat in Mirkwood" showcase the strength of the Northwest Sinfonia under the baton of Jason Graves. They're bold enough to make an impact without distracting from the light-hearted feel of the overall soundtrack. Other interesting action themes include "Battle of Lake-Town" with its integration of the main theme and "The Battle of Five Armies" with its rhythmical impetus. But interestingly, the team still retain a foreign to the soundtrack by fusing these orchestrations with performances of exotic instruments from around the world.

Not all the tracks on the soundtrack hit the mark. The cinematic "Flight of the Dragon" loses the fantasy feel in favour of standard Hollywood suspense and action scoring, while the ambient "The Trolls" sounds derivative due to its emphasis on now-dated sound libraries. Furthermore, many of the tracks on the soundtrack are brief cinematic cues and leave listeners longing for more musical exploration. This is especially dissatisfying in the cases of "Travelling to Rivendell" and "Dwarves at Work", which were full of promise.

Summary

The Hobbit will appeal to the listener on a number of levels: entertaining them on a stand-alone level with rich melodies, immersing them into the game experience with fitting soundscapes, and evoking emotions with fantasy textures. It's only deficiencies is that it lacks somewhat in length and suffers slightly from age. It would be interesting to see what Rod Abernethy and Jason Graves would produce if either of them revisit the franchise for its inevitable film-to-game adaptation next year.