> Personally, I think the score from Lord of the Rings has
> characteristics in common with Zimmer's scores: long ostinatos and very
> heavily orchestrated.

That's a pretty big stretch. Although there are instances of ostinato in LOTR, that's hardly the signature sound of those scores. It's not even a minor defining characteristic. LOTR is predominantly driven by representational (and more importantly, vastly different) melody and harmony - something Zimmer's score cannot claim.

"Heavily orchestrated" is also too broad a characteristic. Shore's are heavily orchestrated, yes, but they utilize the full range of the orchestra and aren't confined to the bass region.