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The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
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Composed, Orchestrated, Conducted, and Produced by:
Vocals Produced by:
Paul Broucek
Performed by:
The London Philharmonic
Orchestra
The London Voices
The London Oratory School Schola
Solo Vocals by:
Emilia Torrini
Elizabeth Fraser
Isabel Bayrakdarian
Sheila Chandra
Ben del Maestro
Choral Text by:
J.R.R. Tolkien
Philippa Boyens
Fran Walsh
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LABELS & RELEASE DATES
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ALBUM AVAILABILITY
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The regular 2002 album originally priced between $15 to $17 in the stores
is the regular U.S. release. The 2002 limited release is indicated by a higher price and a
sticker indicating its "limited" nature on the front plastic. The musical contents are
the same on all the 2002 products except for the inclusion of one bonus track on the
limited editions. The value of the different cover inserts (on the trading block) is yet to
be determined. They could very well end up useless unless you acquire a whole set of 5
covers.
The 2003 trilogy set is essentially the original three albums from the films combined into
one package (with no extra music). The 2006 set includes the complete recordings, priced
initially for between $55 and $65 (the list retail price for this set is $15 higher than
the complete set of the first score in 2005), and features the DVD with 5.1 Dolby Digital
surround sound along with three CDs that offer 188 minutes from the score in 16-bit stereo
sound. Other higher resolution variants on sound quality exist on the DVD. (See review for
details.)
The 2010 Howe Records album called "The Rarities Archive" was only available
in the back cover of the Doug Adams book The Music of The Lord of the Rings
Films: A Comprehensive Account of Howard Shore's Scores. That book had an
MSRP of $60 but initially sold new for under $40.
The 2018 complete set is a re-issue of the 2006 product but with a Blu-ray
disc rather than a DVD for the surround sound option. It debuted for $80 but
went out of print after about a year, escalating in price to $350 or more.
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AWARDS
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Winner of a Grammy Award.
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ALSO SEE
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Buy it... on the 2006 or 2018 complete sets if you seek one of the
best scores of the digital age of film music in a DVD-quality
presentation that will, if you are properly equipped, stun both you and
the people living down the street.
Avoid it... on the 2006 or 2018 complete sets if you do not use a
surround sound system for your regular listening enjoyment and would
prefer, in terms of content, the 73-minute 2002 album of highlights from
the score.
BUY IT
 | | Shore |
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers: (Howard
Shore) To the joy of crowds around the world, the 2002 sequel to The
Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring followed its
predecessor by only a year, proving that gone were the days of
multi-year waits for fans of popular fantasy motion picture franchises.
It had then seemed that only yesterday Peter Jackson's incredible The
Fellowship of the Ring had taken the world by storm, and yet Jackson
and his co-writers and co-producers had already been working on the
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and The Lord of the
Rings: The Return of the King extensively while the first film's
final touches were being applied. Much of the success of the franchise
is owed to the significant planning of the three films in the late
1990's, especially in relation to the intelligent adaptation of J.R.R.
Tolkien's extremely long and complex tale. The reasons for the
prosperity of The Fellowship of the Ring, both in terms of awards
and popular opinion, transcended the usual technical categories of
motion picture production, though few can argue that Howard Shore's
music had little impact on the film; his music had become the first
fantasy epic to win the Academy Award for Best Original Score in years.
Because of the rapid rollout of this series of films, Shore was already
in the process of writing the music for The Two Towers when
he won that award. He had considered the trilogy an ongoing process
of four to five years of writing and recording, and much of the material heard
first in The Two Towers was already conceived and partially
developed before The Fellowship of the Ring was even recorded.
Audiences responded overwhelmingly well to the composer's highly
intellectual and stunningly diverse approach to the first score, even
beyond the expected rush of attention caused by new age sensation Enya's
involvement with the project. Shore managed to single-handedly put John
Williams' Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone onto a distant
back burner, despite the maestro's score serving as the basis for most
of the film score hype generated in advance of the 2001 holiday season.
In short, Shore had unleashed the first entry in a trilogy of music
already destined to be deemed a modern classic. It is recommended, for
proper discussion of the background of these scores, that you read the
Filmtracks review for The Fellowship of the Ring before
proceeding. As with the expanded edition DVD of The Fellowship of
the Ring, collectors had been falling over themselves to obtain more
of Shore's music for that film, and luckily for them, the hasty release
of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers would at least partially
satisfy their needs in the short term. Shore ensured the continuation of
his mind-boggling, epic sound by utilizing the London Philharmonic in a
massive coliseum and later mixed the sounds of the two different
choirs (children's and adult). The scale of the second project is no
less diminished, and no better evidence of that successive effort is the
replacement of Enya with several operatic voices of similar new age
style from around the world for this score. Shore also continued where
he left off in the grand scheme of his composition for the franchise. As
the broken fellowship's journey into peril continues, and the landscape
of Middle-earth descends further into darkness, Shore bolsters his music
with an increased size of scope and brazen thematic sweep. As had been
promised by those involved with the post-production of the film, the
score for The Two Towers is bigger, more diverse, and arguably
better than its predecessor. The instrumentation and use of voices is
more powerfully expansive than in the previous film, despite the
continuation of almost all of the solo elements from that score.
Instrumentally, Shore adds the Hardanger, a Norwegian fiddle, to
represent Rohan, while the North African rhaita reed instrument accents
the Mordor theme and log drums, dilruba, wood xylophones, and the
cimbalom for Gollum all provide a rich texture for the score. The heavy
emphasis on wood-related instruments for the representation of the Ents
is a logical move not overlooked by Shore. Once again, several solo
voices are mixed with the two choirs for the score as well, and the tone
of each is meant specifically for individual cultures or scenarios. The
lowest regions of the strings and brass receive greater roles in this
score (great examples exist on the former in "Where is the Horse and the
Rider?" and the latter in "Rock and Pool"), serving a cold dose of
momentum to the forces of Isengard and Mordor that grow stronger as the
story progresses. The heart of The Two Towers is undoubtedly more
sinister, but even in these ranks, Shore maintains a sense of harmony
that continues to entice the listener. Shore established in The Two Towers that the
original songs heard over the opening of the end credits were specific
to each film and not intended to mingle thematically with the other
scores. The performance of "Gollum's Song" by Bjork-inspiring and
longingly bitter-voiced Emiliana Torrini serves as the closing piece for
this feature, and Torrini's voice, as well as the others chosen for
performances in the score, are foreign enough in their general tone to
color Middle-earth (and even the world of men) with a fantastic edge of
mystery and intrigue. With the success of Enya's voice, Shore seemed
interested in keeping a vaguely Celtic sound to the vocals, which aided
in their smooth listenability. The choirs are again layered elegantly
with the orchestra, featuring the very wet, echoing ambient mix that
caused detractors of reverberation to denounce the first score as a
sonic mess. The use of the vocals to carry the melody of themes in
The Two Towers gave those identities far more sweeping
performances (of both lofty heights and quiet despair) that occupy
several major cues for the film. Especially effective is Shore's
technique of mixing the choirs and solo voices in The Two Towers
so that they are occasionally indistinguishable, with the solo identity
fading in and out to correspond with the action on screen. Technically
speaking, this score is, like the others in the franchise, a work of
marvel. Where The Two Towers differs from The Fellowship of
the Ring most significantly is in its demeanor. Gone are the fluffy
whistle performances of the hobbits' material, and the presentations of
the fellowship theme, the anchor of the first score, are sparse and less
blatantly heroic in most cases. Almost every theme from The
Fellowship of the Ring is indeed present in The Two Towers,
though the emphasis on each has been both switched and merged. As
Middle-earth descends into a war that brings all of its cultures
together, the music becomes appropriately muddy in its constructs,
whether that entails the overlapping of ideas or the simple, subtle
changes of notes within the progressions of a theme. It was noted in
The Two Towers that Shore extended Tolkien's fascination with the
number nine into his music; many of the themes and motifs exist in
multiples of three-note phrases, a creative nod to the author. Thus, what listeners received in the thematic placements
of The Two Towers amounts to a crossover score. Other than a
galloping fanfare for Rohan, there is no triumphant introduction for the
handful of new themes, and with sparse major statements of previous
themes, the score marches to its end with the obvious implication that
the musical journey is not over. That said, Shore does offer more than
enough blasts of harmony and melody throughout the center of the score
to appease the thematically-minded listeners. The new themes introduced
for the film are more obscure than some might have expected, due to the
interesting fact that their pronouncement isn't as bold in the early
portions of the score (and due in part to the necessities of the
scripts). To Shore's credit, however, the style of the composer's
extremely complicated sense of thematic manipulation (as well as the
more obvious minor-major key shifting techniques) that he employed for
the previous themes have carried over to the new ones, allowing them to
blend into the mix effortlessly for the listener. Whereas The
Fellowship of the Ring is a score with extended sequences of quiet
harmony and few non-stop series of full ensemble mayhem, The Two
Towers is a tumultuous experience by comparison. It dwells in the
depths of despair for significant periods early in the score before its
final half hour offers redemption in the form of action material that
eclipses anything heard in the previous score. Thus, while The
Fellowship of the Ring is consequently a more consistent listening
experience on album in its full three-hour duration, The Two
Towers presents material both weaker and stronger, and is
therefore a work that requires attention to some areas more than others.
Shore's enhanced role for the choirs is key to defining the highlights
of The Two Towers, and moments such as the crescendo of
magnificence at the start of "The Last March of the Ents" eclipse
anything heard before in the series. With this structure in mind, a
quick cue-by-cue analysis will help once again illuminate the score's
highlights (as well as thematic references), and the following track
titles refer to those found on the superior, complete score offering of
The Two Towers in 2006 and, more specifically, the set's 24-bit
DVD presentation.
One of the most effectively melodramatic themes in this
franchise is the one for the history of the ring, and it opens
"Glamdring" with all the sense of drama that the continuation of the
story requires. This theme is a constant in the three score, whereas the
related two themes for the ring (representing its evil and seduction)
receive curiously reduced development in The Two Towers despite
the approach to Mordor. The opening cue reprises the action of Moria
heard in the previous score's "Khazad-Dum" cue during Frodo's nightmare
sequence. The actual title sequence in The Two Towers is treated
to just a glimpse of the Rohan theme early in "Elven Rope," and in both
this cue and "Lost in Emyn Muil," short, diluted versions of the
hobbits' pensive theme are barely evident. Smeagol's theme cuts short
the pleasantries in the latter cue; this theme would be gradually
overtaken in The Two Towers by Gollum's official "menace" theme
(separate from the song at the end), and the cimbalom is the specific
instrument of choice to perform not only this theme, but eventually
accompany Gollum's character throughout the rest of the films. The
opening of "My Precious" begins to exhibit Shore's intent in combining
the ring's history theme with Smeagol's pity theme, an intriguing mix.
An ugly dance for the cimbalom is cut short by Sam's French horns to
signal an ensuing battle of wills. After the groaning of horns in their
lowest registers, "Ugluk's Warriors" reintroduces the material for the
Orcs and Isengard. These themes, guided by their pounding five-note
rhythm, are intentionally largely unchanged through the first two scores. The
remaining members of the fellowship are treated to a somewhat
diminished, but still impressive performance of their theme in "The
Three Hunters," followed by another noble hint of the Rohan theme. The
remainder of this cue provides a very interesting confluence of the
material for Isengard and Mordor, musically confirming the alliance of
the two towers. The pure evil of the chopping bass string performance of
the Isengard rhythm in the middle of this sequence is not to be missed.
Growing unease and panic punctuates the largely uninteresting "The
Banishment of Eomer." The dissonant, Orc-dominated battle music in
"Night Camp," one of the most disturbing cues in the score, succeeds a
short performance of the lovely nature's reclamation theme.
When the fellowship encounters the riders of Rohan for the
first time (in "The Plains of Rohan"), a new heroic offshoot of the
fellowship theme is explored, technically credited as the "fellowship in
Rohan theme." The combination of Isengard and Mordor rhythms in the
chase music of "Fangorn" is interesting technically, but difficult to
grasp on album. The introduction of the unique instrumentation for the
Ents comes later in that cue. Overlapping of the ring's history and
Gollum's pity themes continues in the unremarkable "The Dead Marshes,"
from which a lengthy amount of material was removed from the final edit
of the film; in this cue, a distant, rising tone is an eerie cousin of
Jerry Goldsmith's similar idea in 1994's The Shadow. In "Wraiths
on Wings," Gollum's pity theme and the ring's history theme ensue again
before a reprise of the Ringwraith material from the first film
accompanies their winged arrival. A new, ascending theme for Gandalf the
White is a short highlight in the middle of the cue by that name. A
short return to the whimsy of the hobbit's rural setting theme is a nice
break in "The Dream of Trees." An intriguing development early in "The
Heir of Numenor" is the mutation of the ring's previously existing
themes into a major key variant that becomes the "fate of the ring"
theme that celebrates the end of Sam and Frodo's journey late in the
third film. A continuation of the blending of the Orc and Mordor themes
later in the cue is redundant. As the Black Gate of Mordor enters the
scene, Shore's themes of evil, whether for the ring or the locations and
characters, start to churn indiscriminately. A new hobbit theme
accompany Merry and Pippin in "Ent-draught," and the cue represents the
return of the whistle and rhythmic movements from early in the first
score. The lighthearted cue is the only comical and harmonically
entertaining one in The Two Towers, especially when the Ents'
material takes charge in the instrumentation. Worn snippets of the
fellowship and Rohan themes open "Edoras," though the meandering
conversational material does lead to the first full statements of the
Rohan material by the Hardanger fiddle. The accompanying music for Eowyn
is heard prominently on horns late in this cue and the three separate
themes for her all represent not only the character, but Rohan's more
personal side.
The sinister, ultra-low register theme for Wormtongue
occupies the opening of "The Court of Meduseld" before charging choral
clusters help free Rohan's king from Saruman's mental grip. This turn of
events allows the Rohan theme to finally receive its full fanfare treatment in
"Theoden King," merging the voice of the Hardanger fiddle with bold
brass. The funeral scene for the king's son closes the cue with a highly
dramatic and striking solo vocal, followed by ethereal ensemble singing.
The transitional "The King's Decision" extends several themes in
fragments, but makes little impact outside of its ominous, minor third
progressions in the bass; similar material extends into "Exodus of
Edoras" until a combination of the Wormtongue theme with Isengard's
tones shifts the cue into a snarling menace. The Gollum material returns
in "The Forests of Ithilien," with the two halves of his musical
identities battling to a draw. In a moment of levity, Eowyn's material
finally makes a full appearance in "One of the Dunedain," though as the
conversation becomes serious, reminders of both Gondor's music and the
Elves return. Shore replaced Enya's prior love theme for Aragorn and
Arwen with the song "Evenstar," an interesting dismissal of Nicky Ryan's
writing and a lovely return to the pleasant tones of The Fellowship
of the Ring. The break is relatively short, though, for the combined
themes and rhythms of Mordor and Isengard are unleashed without mercy in
"The Wolves of Isengard." The presence of the Hardanger fiddle, mixed
brilliantly with the choir and orchestra in the pounding of that cue,
makes for one of the more cohesive action cues in the score. The
depressing "Refuge at Helm's Deep" is harmonically pleasing, though the
fragmented presentation of the fellowship and Rohan themes are appropriately sapped of
their spirit. The brief "The Voice of Saruman" is a strongly resolute
culmination of all the Isengard themes and rhythms into one powerful
call to war. In "Arwen's Fate," Shore brilliantly swaps the
instrumentation of the worlds of men and Elves so that Aragorn's
subconscious is represented by the solo female voice of Rivendell while
Arwen, facing her own departure, is represented by an orchestral soloist
for the first time. The formal Rivendell theme develops in "The Story
Foretold," followed by the Lothlorien and ring's history themes as the
journey is monitored.
In remembrance of the slain Boromir, a full brass
performance of the Gondor theme exists early in "Sons of the Steward,"
disintegrating later as reality sets in. The "Rock and Pool" cue is a
delicious little piece for fans of Shore's melodramatic bass tones for
Gollum and the ring's history themes, both of which intertwined in the
dark fabric of this mean-spirited cue. The battle between the two
musical halves of Smeagol/Gollum continues into "Faramir's Good
Council," in which the ring's seduction theme taunts Faramir. Aragorn's
heroic theme accompanies his ride to Helm's Deep in "Aragorn's Return,"
one of the few cues to feature a minute of truly optimistic music late
in The Two Towers, with even a noble phrase of the fellowship
theme resurrected for the occasion. The low-key "War is Upon Us" is
unremarkable in its boiling thematic fragments, though the use of choir
to boost the Ents' material is a plus. One of the highlights of The
Two Towers is "Where is the Horse and the Rider?," a lengthy cue of
stirring melodic exploration. Shadowy and hesitant renditions of the
themes for Rohan, the fellowship, and Eowyn are all harmonically
gorgeous, punctuated by a rising choral crescendo of solemn defiance in
the middle of the cue. The last minute of the piece offers a stuttering
version of the Rohan theme in a "call to arms" trumpet variation over
snare; the second of these calls, faster and more resolute, is one of
the score's more memorable bursts of energy. The Lothlorien theme is
translated into a march at the start of "The Host of the Eldar" as the
Elves arrive at Helm's Deep to assist. Frightened stirrings in the bass
region offer subtle Rohan phrases before "The Battle of the Hornburg"
kicks off the last portion of the score for The Two Towers and the
subsequent eight cues mark the extremely frenetic powerhouse of
climactic action music that really defines the score, for some
listeners, as the best of the franchise. The Lothlorien theme has
completed its mutation into a call of war at the start of "The Battle of
the Hornburg," which then succumbs to the five-beat rhythm and Isengard
theme (as the Rohan theme would as well at the end). The unstoppable
nature of the rhythm, like the Uruk-hai, prevails again in "The Breach
of the Deeping Wall." The explosive urgency lent by the relentless snare
and growling low brass in this cue makes for one of the most
harmonically forceful pieces in the score.
The fellowship's own Rohan theme is heard prominently
after the explosion in "The Breach of the Deeping Wall," as well as the
Lothlorien and original fellowship theme as the heroes regroup.
Depressed string performances of the Shire's music open "The Entmoot
Decides," and the gloomy tone carries over the Helm's Deep retreat
announcement. A short moment of light choral lament from the pages of
prior Elf contemplation accompanies Haldir's death in "Retreat,"
spurring a few bursts of retaliatory fellowship action before the Orcs'
material consolidates into a brutal brass performance of the Isengard
theme. Smart combinations of the Lothlorien, Rohan, and fellowship
themes exchange phrases as the front gate of the fortress is abandoned.
The mostly simmering "Master Peregrin's Plan" touches lightly on
fragments of several themes, concluded by a tragically rising, strong
figure to represent Treebeard's discovery. The first half of "The Last
March of the Ents" is one of the score's best singular moments, building
upon the previous hints of the nature's reclamation theme with full
choral and orchestral glory. Shore returns to breakneck, rhythmic action
mode in "The Nazgul Attack," reprising the Ringwraith theme, after which the cue
shifts into a lengthy choral crescendo of the nature theme for
Gandalf the White, announcing his arrival with reinforcements. An
agitated rhythm and an explosion of the Rohan fanfare greets "Theoden
Rides Forth" with optimism, and the subsequent solo performance by boy
soprano Ben del Maestro leads to a statement of Gandalf's nature theme
that stands above the battle's effects in the film. An elongated,
frantic, and intelligently layered version of the nature's reclamation
theme reaches an eventual climax at the end of the cue, as the Ents'
attack devastates Isengard's industrial complex. The twelve-minute "The
Tales That Really Matter" wraps up this middle portion of the journey by
reminding the hobbits of both their homeland and their mission. The
score's only truly positive and pleasing performances of three of their
major themes occupy the first minutes of this cue. One last flourishing
crescendo of brass action signals the end of the Uruk-hai in this
battle. A few light-hearted bars of both the Ents' and hobbits'
material, including the use of the whistle once again, accompany Merry
and Pippin's antics.
Pieces of "Gollum's Song" begin to mingle with Smeagol's
pity theme as Frodo and Sam are sent with Gollum to fulfill their
destiny. After the fellowship theme's final rendering to accompany
Gandalf's closing words, Shore offers the journeying hobbits one full,
though slower performance of their primary, pensive theme on innocent
woodwind. The cue closes with the battle between Smeagol's pity theme,
Gollum's song, and ultimately the winner, the ring's history theme.
These last moments of "The Tales That Really Matter" lead directly into
"Long Ways to Go Yet," the finale piece that signals the true end of
Smeagol. The prelude to "Gollum's Song," as well as the song itself, are
another highlight of The Two Towers, twisting such a sinister
declaration of betrayal into a harmonically beautiful and lyrically
enticing song that remains, despite the lack of an Oscar nomination, the
most memorable of the three to be heard at the ends of these three
films. Both the wordless vocals of the boys choir at the start and
Emiliana Torrini's solos in the actual song are built upon a foundation
of extremely resolute brass and strings, and the City of Prague
Philharmonic, for one of their numerous compilations of re-recordings on
the Silva Screen label, once replaced the vocal performance with a
yearning violin solo that is almost equally powerful. The remainder of
the end credits sequence offers closure to all three of the themes that
came together at Helm's Deep (for Rohan, the fellowship, and
Lothlorien), as well as a reprise of the Rivendell theme (once again on
solo woodwinds to explore Arwen's love for Aragorn). The score's most
ambitious and uninhibited brass performance of the Rohan theme heard
late in this cue is unfortunately lacking a prominent role for Hardanger
fiddle, a seemingly curious omission of musical character considering
Shore's definition of the people of that culture with that particular
instrument earlier in the film. Confirming its role as the title theme
for the franchise, the fellowship theme offers a noble conclusion to the
score. All things considered, Shore wraps up the score quite nicely. The
combination of outrageously strong action material and Gollum's alluring
piece cause the last third of the score to more than compensate for the
slower sequences in the earlier portions of The Two Towers.
Neither of the other two entries have the strength of the some of the
singular highlights heard in these cues.
Overall, there was understandably considerable comparison
between the two available scores in the franchise for The Lord of the
Rings in late 2002, and while most film score collectors agree that
both entries (along with The Return of the King) were superior to
anything from another composer in those years, there were usually
conflicting opinions about which of the two was better. In a very
general sense, it seems that The Fellowship of the Ring has a
slight edge because of its extremely consistent listenability from start
to end, including the extensive hobbit material that remains easy on the
ears. But The Two Towers, while taking a considerable amount of
time to build steam to its own highlights, kicks into a gear in its
final half hour that the previous score never touched (in terms of
propulsion and harmony at explosive volumes). Because each story becomes
more conflicted (until the lengthy epilogue in the third film), Shore's
use of the themes coincides with an increasingly muddy musical landscape
that will frustrate listeners waiting to hear clearly delineated
constructs in bold performance. The striking solidarity of "Gollum's
Song" and a few of the bursts of the new theme for Rohan are exceptions,
but, for the most part, The Two Towers requires a bit more
appreciation for the concepts in the film to enjoy its subtleties in a
listening experience. Once again not so magnificent was the initial
album situation for the score. As could be expected, Reprise Records
descended once more to the lavish depths of commercial despair, cranking
out several different retail album versions to catch the weary Tolkien
fan or Shore collector with an open wallet. Reprise churned out similar
stunts with the first album, pulling out every marketing gimmick in the
book to help catapult the albums for The Fellowship of the Ring
to incredible, lasting heights in sales charts. It was great to see
Shore's scores (all three of them, eventually) maintain their dominance
in sales for many years after their street dates, though before the
complete sets were released for all three scores, many fans held
significant disdain for the label, especially given the fact that it was
likely only involved in the franchise because of its association with
Enya (and they therefore held the album rights to her performances for
the first film).
For The Two Towers, Reprise once again opened the
floodgates of shameless commercialism. The regular $14 retail product
most usually found in stores contained almost all of the same Shore
score as the two limited, $23 and $30 albums: the store edition and the
internet edition. The regular release, not short on additional useless
gimmicks, offered the score in "only" a standard jewel case with one of
five two-sided "character cards," one online trading card from the film,
a screensaver, the "Making of the Score" video, and buddy icons. The
only extra music on the two limited editions is the impressive "Farewell
to Lorien" performance by Hilary Summers for the The Fellowship of
the Ring's expanded DVD edition. The store-found limited edition
came in a gold foil embossed, dark blue leatherette CD wallet containing
a 20-page CD booklet and also had a The Two Towers image gallery
and two exclusive online trading cards, as well as lyrics and poems. The
Internet limited edition featured deluxe leatherette packing, custom
"belly-band" artwork, the 20-page CD booklet, and all five of the
printed trading character cards from the standard jewel case editions.
With the Internet edition, you also got movie trailers, image galleries,
lyrics, poems, a score music video and the "Making of the Score" video,
screensavers, buddy icons, and, exclusively in the Internet edition,
printable maps of Middle-earth (and, more specifically, of Rohan and
Gondor... just in case you get lost someday), The Two Towers
print and color sets and two online trading cards. Just throw in fries
and a Coke and you're set. At least Enya was purged from the equation
this time around. With the attention to detail that Reprise paid to the
different leatherette versions of the limited edition, not to mention
the complete set to come, it was hard not to get the feeling that you
were comparing trim levels on a new vehicle purchase. For some, the
costs may as well have been the same. It is difficult to say which of
the above is the most offensive. If these people at Reprise really
wanted to impress those reading this far in this review, the serious
admirers of Shore's music and the greater film music community, then
they should have damn well flushed their trading cards down the nearest
toilet and spent the money it took to produce them on what everyone
really wanted: more music from the film.
Fortunately, Reprise did eventually provide the complete
scores, but they did so after many fans had already succumbed to the
fraud described above and purchased several of these gimmicks.
Compounding their error, Reprise once again required you to provide your
e-mail address, ZIP code, etc, before you could access any of the
special bonus material in 2002 and 2003. It begged the question: what if
you didn't have an Internet connection? No bonus goodies for you? The
previous year, Filmtracks tested Reprise's site by using a specially
tagged e-mail address to achieve access to the bonus material for The
Fellowship of the Ring. The account received a somewhat respectable
21 spam e-mails from them and Warner Brothers in the following year, but
who knows on what other distribution lists that e-mail address was going
to reside. Privacy policies aside, it is simply wrong to require
personal information from people in order to access material promised on
the outer packaging. And while on the topic of commercial fraud, this
review wouldn't be complete without an expansion of the rant you read in
the review for The Fellowship of the Ring regarding the
ridiculous trading cards. You get the oversized, double-sided ones in
the jewel cases (to hang on the wall, perhaps? To impress your
girlfriend?) and the plethora of online ones (a silly trend that the
Topps company had started with its eTopps phenomenon for baseball and
other sports cards at the time). Does anybody really give a shit about
these things? Is anyone going to be buying Beckett Price Guide magazines
in ten years just to see how much these things are worth? If so, then
get a life. As for the 73 minutes of new music on these albums, however,
Shore's contribution was good enough to overshadow Reprise's ludicrous
marketing of it. Issues regarding the extensive reverberation were more
common complaints from collectors, though the rich textures of the
instrumentation and an otherwise crisp recording quality combined with
the echoing mix to greatly enhance the fantasy element of the film.
Purists who appreciate every fine detail in the work lamented their
inability to hear individual instruments in the more intricate cues,
however. Another complaint about the original albums resulted because
the music was rearranged somewhat out of film order in the middle
portions of the products.
Discussion of the 2006 and 2018 Complete Sets:
The amount of unreleased music from The Two Towers at the time of
its debut was considerable. Shore originally conceived of four hours of
music for the second film alone, with over three hours actually
recorded. Having only 73 minutes of music on album meant that over 100
minutes of Shore's material for the film remained unavailable on
commercial album. Not surprisingly, badly produced bootlegs were fans'
initial response to Reprise's proliferation of buddy icons and other
senseless activities. Fans of the trilogy and its three extremely
popular scores received a gift from the heavens in late 2005, though,
when Reprise took a gamble on the complete recordings of The
Fellowship of the Ring, released on one stunning product. Despite
the immense expense incurred by all those involved with the set's
production, it performed better than hoped in unit sales, confirming the
viability of the continuation of set releases for the other two works by
Shore. Less than a year later, a nearly identical set for The Two
Towers was released, featuring the same format in presentation and
packaging as the set for The Fellowship of the Ring. As such, a
significant portion of the technical and background discussion that
you'll read below in this review will be very similar to relevant
information provided in the analysis of the previous score (so, once
again, reading these reviews in order is highly recommended). All three
films in the trilogy have experienced extended cuts on DVD, and the
original soundtrack albums, which contained significantly edited and
rearranged snippets of score that often made little sense when compared
to what was heard in the films, continued to suffer from inadequacy.
While this editing of music for the single-CD albums was necessary to
give fans what essentially amounted to a highlight album for each film,
those edits didn't have the luxury of choosing to include supplemental
material that Shore wrote after the theatrical releases to accommodate
Jackson's longer DVD cuts. Even at a price tag of $50 or more, the first
film's set caused a well-deserved frenzy, because of all three films, it
had often been said that The Fellowship of the Ring was the most
mistreated by its original album edit. Because the best portions of that
score were spread equally throughout its running time, that particular
set had a very notable impact on impressions of the work.
While some fans of the trilogy, individuals who must have
an insane amount of free time on their hands, have noticed that there
are small pieces of music here or there in the film that aren't included
on the set (usually just seconds in length), 99.9% of listeners will be
hard-pressed to find anything substantial missing from either of the
first two "Complete Recordings" releases. In fact, the presentation of
Shore's music on these three-CD sets is astonishingly loyal to the
films, including material that was often truncated or omitted from their
final cuts. Ironically, as to be expected from fickle collectors, the
majority of complaints relating to the music on the sets, while few,
were related to the inclusion of music that some people would rather not
have heard. As mentioned before, such grumpy folks need to be rounded
up, flogged in public, and forced to recognize that score fans are
almost never treated to such a product and should very well be
appreciative of the offering. As for the quality of the score itself as
heard on this set, there is little to critique about Shore's work that
hasn't already been mentioned; the complete recordings prove
unequivocally that Shore provided his mastery for this concept in great
quantities. The presentation does expose a few of the specific comments
made above about the score's merits (far more than the shorter highlight
albums). For instance, it became clear that The Two Towers, as
the middle child, suffers from some of the structural limitations of
accompanying a sequence of events that neither introduces nor concludes
its primary ideas. That very fact contributed to the score's lack of
Oscar nomination; only by circumstances of confusion over AMPAS rules
was the score not nominated for the award (despite the other two scores
winning the Oscar easily). Some collectors have insisted that the two
other scores were superior representatives of the entire trilogy because
they offer a more rounded inclusion of themes from the story. Without a
doubt, both The Fellowship of the Ring and The Return of the
King present far more extended sequences of beauty, from the playful
innocence of the hobbits' music from early in the first score to the
remarkable grace with which the story sails away at the end of the saga.
But this set's rollout of the action material from The Two Towers
gives it a unique quality that should not be overlooked.
As before, one of the few disappointments involving this
trilogy of work is the fact that Shore never intended to utilize the end
credit songs' themes outside of the films for which they were written.
Enya's "May It Be" doesn't return, nor is "Gollum's Song" clearly
defined in The Return of the King. There is no hint at the
material for the Grey Havens in this score either. The lack of
continuity for Gollum is perhaps the trilogy's biggest musical weakness,
for Shore's combination of motifs for the character in The Two
Towers is so captivating. The song performed at the end of the film
is a lyrical variation on two underlying motifs used by Shore throughout
the trilogy to represent the creature, and only because of Shore's
apparent resistance to cross-populating the scores with their song
melodies does "Gollum's Song," arguably fitting the "haunting"
descriptor better than anything else, seem somewhat neglected given the
character's ever-increasing role in the story. Nevertheless, the
complete set offers several opportunities to hear Shore adapt his
existing themes into strikingly enjoyable variants, and, as before, some
of these newly pressed cues are impressive. Many of them had pieces
represented by the commercial album, though an impressive snare and
brass romp like "The Breach of the Deeping Wall" was substantially new
to the ears. Most intriguing about the complete presentation is the
extent to which the rearrangement of the film's final 30 minutes of
score was executed on the single-CD album. The numerous lengthy
crescendos in those final four or five tracks on the original CD, even
including the final two cues (spanning the hobbit's final conversation
and the end credits), often exist in extended formats when returned to
their original recordings. This original format for nearly every
highlight is a pleasant surprise on the set, especially in the case of
some of the more harmoniously resounding battle preparation cues,
including the appearance of both trumpet calls to arms in "Where is the
Horse and the Rider?" Overall, The Two Towers is still a score
that you'll likely want to edit down onto your own compilation
(depending on how much enjoy the anvil-pounding Orc material and how
attached you are to rumbling underscore cues like "War is Upon Us,"
which have little impact).
At the very least, collectors now had in these sets the
complete palette from which to choose their own favorite material, and
given each cue's original, expanded format, the lead-ins and such will
be much easier to manage. Trying to compile music directly from the
DVD's 5.1 audio format will be a difficult exception, of course. This is
one of the few flaws with the complete set for The Two Towers,
flaws that are mostly the same, in a technical sense, as those on the
set for The Fellowship of the Ring. Spread over three CDs, the
chronological presentation is a welcomed move, though you still have to
forgive the lack of conclusive resolutions to the first two CDs (the
arrangement was meant to spread the music equally in length between each
one). A frequent listener of the single CDs will still take some time
getting accustomed to the rearrangement of the material back into
original order, and the all-new set of track names might again make
finding your favorite snippets of music difficult, especially if you're
not significantly knowledgeable about the specific names and places of
the storyline. The vocal performances in The Fellowship of the
Ring were a subject of some dissatisfaction for Shore, and they were
remixed for the collector's set (along with a few prominent instrumental
solos). The exact extent to which this same remixing process was
accomplished for The Two Towers is not as clear (perhaps it
wasn't as important a selling point to advertise), but, in general, the
massive choral performances have been set a bit further back in the mix,
allowing the orchestra a more clearly defined role. Because of the
relative lack of quietly lyrical passages in The Two Towers,
there aren't any solo performances that will strike you as much as the
resounding woodwind solos in the first cues of The Fellowship of the
Ring. The improved impressions are instead ensemble oriented.
Another interesting difference between The Fellowship of the Ring
and the two scores that followed is the amount of non-Shore material, or
lack thereof. The first score featured pieces written by Enya and Nicky
Ryan, or even the actors themselves, and while vocal performances by the
actors are still included in The Two Towers, they are as
contributions to an ensemble and are renditions of material written by
Shore himself.
Shore's stylistic choices were confirmed after the first
score's grand success, and purists will likely be pleased by the
consistency with which the score stays true to the composer's own
established sound for the trilogy. Along the lines of the source
material, for instance, there is no cue like the obnoxious "Flaming Red
Hair" hobbit party music in the first film to break up the listening
experience in The Two Towers. The set's DVD presentation benefits
the most from this consistency. Aside from the 180+ minutes of music
available on the three regular audio CDs, the set comes with a DVD that
features four different tracks of the same complete score. Your DVD
player or the software on your computer, as well as their ability to
function with the copy protection of the DVD, will determine which of
the four tracks you can enjoy most readily. From a technical standpoint,
the four tracks are divided into two DVD-audio and two Dolby Digital
presentations. The Dolby Digital options include a 2.0 encoding at 224
Kbps, offering a decent surround experience, and the 5.1 encoding at 448
Kbps, which will be a vast improvement for the majority of basic
surround sound listeners. Audiophiles, however, will go straight to the
DVD-audio options, which include "Advanced Resolution Stereo Sound" and
"Advanced Resolution Surround Sound," both of which feature 48 kHz,
24-bit encoding. This sampling rate may not seem much better than that
of the regular CDs, but the 8-bit increase to 24-bit overall will
provide a noticeable difference for non-Dolby listeners. The "Advanced
Resolution Surround Sound" DVD-audio presentation is the glorious
triumph of the set. If you have the six-speaker setup and playing
capability to truly take advantage of the Dolby Digital 5.1 or DVD-audio
tracks on these DVDs, then beware the consequences! Once you hear
Shore's score in this full surround sound (which is essentially not any
different from its clarity and scope in the film itself), it'll take you
a while to get used to hearing the plain old, flat 16-bit stereo
recordings on the regular CDs. The same could be said about any dynamic
orchestral recording, but in the case of these three scores, it's really
difficult to revert to the lesser sound quality. Many of the borderline
problematic mixing issues on the stereo CDs are solved by the 5.1
spread, and combined with an outstanding source recording, the listening
experience on the DVD is simply mind-blowing.
Among the highlights of the cues that will really
impress you with the enhanced sound quality, the aforementioned "The
Breach of the Deeping Wall," with its blazing snare rhythm and menacing
brass layers, will knock you off your feet. The full-fledged orchestral
force of the conclusion to "Theoden Rides Forth" will, like the slamming
music of the Orcs and Isengard from early in the previous set,
appropriately terrify your neighbors. With the success of the set for
The Fellowship of the Ring, and the equally impressive
presentation of this one, we can continue to hope that the entire
industry is headed in this technological direction, despite the
expensive consequence of forcing collectors to rotate out their older
collections for 5.1+ surround editions. Many fans have complained about
the DVDs in these sets, however, despite their spectacular listening
experience for those properly equipped. Those who viciously attacked the
set simply because of the ill-fated rubber knob that was meant to hold
the DVD in place in the packaging (and yes, it doesn't really work that
well on any of the sets) need some perspective. And those who claim that
that the DVD unfairly pushed the price of the set to its supposedly
"unreasonable" $50+ are likely lacking the capability to readily play
and enjoy it. Simply put, if they heard the 5.1 mix on the DVD and could
listen to it all day long, the DVD would be their primary reason for
buying the set. One very valid complaint has been made about the DVD,
however, and that involves the restrictive prohibition of certain
features on the product. Unless it relates to the copy-protection
features (and even there, it's questionable), there's no reason to again
disallow scanning within a track. Unlike The Fellowship of the
Ring, however, The Two Towers has shorter, more numerous
tracks, leaving fewer moments of soft choral beauty hidden after several
minutes of banging Orc rhythms. Some computer players, a tricky prospect
for any DVD like this in the mid-2000's, especially with 5.1 sound cards
and digital output jacks not readily available on non-Macs, will allow
you to override the prohibitive limits put on the DVD. Tests run on the
ever-popular VLC program allowed scanning, but also caused the 5.1 sound
to stutter-step at times, negating the gain. Even later in the 2000's,
there was no easy way to copy the highlights of the DVD's presentation
onto a drive for compilation enjoyment.
Also, while the work that Doug Adams does for the
45-page booklet in the 2006 set is astounding in its depth and
knowledge, the content will likely fly a few levels over the heads of
most regular collectors; you have to be very familiar with the films to
understand the character and location references. Still, Adams' work on
collecting and presenting all of this information makes for at least an
interesting read, even if it doesn't always connect in memory or
terminology. His efforts to combine all of this information for an
eventual book on Shore's trilogy of scores shows not only the complexity
of Shore's creations for the films, but also the continued demand for
the scores themselves. After the original album releases catered to mass
hysteria with nonsensical trading cards, it seems that we've swung all
the way in the opposite direction with the DVD sound and sensational
technical detail of notes. It does make a person wonder if there isn't a
happy medium ground someplace, and it also begs questions about when you
can actually have too much of a good thing. Since the three complete
sets for the franchise cater to the demand and hype of the trilogy's
followers, you really can't fault Adams or anyone else for yielding to
the temptation of producing the most technically perfect and thorough
soundtrack products in history. If any scores of the 2000's deserve such
treatment, it would be these. But if you never bought into the hype in
the first place, then will any of these complete sets be worth the cost
for you? That's hard to say. For some, the elusive missing cues will be
the attraction. For others, the DVD's 5.1 Dolby Digital or DVD-audio
sound will be key. But for many others, the highlight album that was
released in 2002, with its basic 16-bit stereo sound, will touch on all
the basics and provide enough of the best material to suffice.
Regardless of that answer, in terms of the extent of improvement over
the original albums, the complete set of The Fellowship of the
Ring remains a more vital upgrade to its material than The Two
Towers. The sets did become successively more expensive, further
pointing to the first one as the most necessary. The DVDs' audio in any
of these sets is a sonic marvel that shames regular 16-bit listening
experiences (not to mention the sampled-down mp3's that most people
enjoy nowadays), and it'll be a guaranteed joy to revisit them
frequently.
By the 2010's, the 2006 complete set for The Two
Towers had been out of print for years and fetched astronomical sums
on the secondary market, some approaching $1,000. The Rhino, Reprise,
and WaterTower family of labels resurrected the set in 2018 for an
additional run, offering the same musical contents and packaging, flaws
and all, but replacing the DVD with a Blu-ray alternative. This
re-pressing of the CD and DVD garnered less press attention than the
concurrent, all-new vinyl version of the set, which commanded ridiculous
prices immediately and was the subject of some dissatisfaction from fans
over flimsy packaging. The replacement of the DVD with a Blu-ray disc
potentially ensures a longer-term relevancy for the product, though do
not expect significant differences to be heard between the two
encodings. A technical comparison between the DVD MLP and Blu-ray DTS
versions of the same tracks yielded slightly more treble definition on
the Blu-ray version but not enough to be readily discernable. Since
Blu-ray players tend to be backwards-compatible, owners of the 2006 DVD
audio will be served just as well by retaining that product instead.
More important for fans was the opportunity to acquire the set for
reasonable prices another time. That said, the 2018 set for The Two
Towers was initially priced at $80, a considerable increase over the
2006 product. Unlike the re-pressing of the set for The Fellowship of
the Ring, though, this 2018 set and that of The Return of the
King suffered availability problems quickly and shot up in price to
over $300 before another two years has passed. By comparison, The
Fellowship of the Ring remained in commercial circulation for two
years after its release for under $60. It's rare that collectors get a
second chance at supremely outstanding products such as these sets, so
be sure not to miss them. These The Lord of the Rings offerings,
while not truly complete, are among the few soundtrack collectibles that
are worth premium pricing, and they are bound to disappear into the
insanity of the secondary market once more.
Discussion of the 2010 "Rarities Archive":
Those most familiar with the music of The Lord of the Rings have
always known that there exist alternate versions and unreleased
supplemental materials from Howard Shore's endeavors. A long rumored
additional CD containing these recordings was eventually incorporated as
part of a comprehensive book by Doug Adams titled The Music of The
Lord of the Rings Films: A Comprehensive Account of Howard Shore's
Scores and released in large hardcover form in late 2010. The book
itself is undoubtedly the most detailed analysis of every aspect of a
single piece of film music (assuming you consider the trilogy as one
whole) ever to be assembled, taking all of Adams' information from the
extensive booklets of the previously released complete album sets and
expanding upon it for over 400 pages. It's a beautiful book, including
color stills, sketches, studio photography, and samples of the score
sheets. For casual listeners and non-music majors, however, the amount
of discussion (and its technical nature) will be overwhelming and
perhaps unsustainable, especially if you already considered yourself
somewhat lost in the minutia presented in Adams' booklet notes for those
aforementioned sets. The section about the recording process is the most
intriguing, the controversial issue of the wet, concert hall-like sound
of the recording clearly addressed as the stated intent of the crew.
Without question, however, no matter your level of interest in the
background and nitty gritty of these compositions, it can be said with
certainty that no franchise of music better deserves such a treatment on
written page, and its debut coincided with reports that Shore would
collaborate once again with director Peter Jackson to score the pair of
The Hobbit films long overdue because of legal wrangling
involving the studio. Some of those who purchased the book for roughly
$40 did so specifically for the CD of additional music from the trilogy
stowed away in a pocket glued to the back cover. This, "The Rarities
Archive," includes a variety of alternate performances, initial
synthetic mock-ups, a trailer cue, and different edits of cues for
scenes that were altered in post-production. The music is followed by
about ten minutes of a recorded interview of Shore (conducted by Adams).
For enthusiasts of the franchise's music, this overall collection of
goodies is both fascinating and entertaining, though none of the
inclusions is particularly Earth-shattering.
Six tracks of music comprise the material from The
Two Towers on "The Rarities Archive." Nothing contained in these is
truly outstanding, however, especially compared to the additional
insight into the other two scores. The most interesting music comes in
the two tracks representing Arwen. Shore's music for the character
always had a very slow tempo and melancholy demeanor, though his
original demo version of her song (in "Gwenwin in In") is even more
restrained than the final incarnation. Its slowly rising figures almost
suggest the nature theme in this score. The album then includes the
complete recorded version of "Arwen's Song" in its later form; because
of edits to the film, this material was not featured in full. Clocking
in at over two minutes, its longer version here is as beautiful as
anything on this entire album. Much of the choral character of that
track carries over into the alternate arrangement of "Emyn Muil," which
does not include any radically new material, but does satisfyingly
transition between the unique identities of many characters. The
alternate recording of "The Eaves of Fangorn" does much the same, but
for the more bombastic themes in the franchise (including those for the
fellowship and Isengard). Of note in that cue is a particularly brutal,
chaotic conclusion. The other two tracks from The Two Towers on
this CD are more basic mock-up demos made by Shore and his associates on
a Synclavier system for filmmaker approval. The first one explores "The
Rohan Fanfare" and intriguingly introduces all of the theme's major
phrases but out of their final order; Shore seemed to have eventually
rearranged these phrases for the finished product, though casual
listeners may not notice the difference. More technically interesting
but not as appreciable on the album is the mock-up for "The Ent Theme."
It's not exactly a highlight of the trilogy to begin with, its awkwardly
lurching movements accurately conveying the characters but not
translating to a satisfying listening experience. The synthetic version
of this theme, however, is ironically more linear in its movements. On
the whole, this compilation's music from The Two Towers is well
rounded but brief. Paying the full price of the book simply for these CD
tracks may be too steep for all but the most enthusiastic collectors of
this franchise's music. Also to be considered is the fact that those who
exclusively enjoy the 5.1 surround sound versions of the complete sets
may have difficulty reverting back to standard stereo sound to
appreciate this additional music. Still, Shore's efforts for The Lord
of the Rings have proven to be peerless in the modern age of film
music (and perhaps ever, some would argue), and any new music from the
concept is welcome, in any form. @Amazon.com: CD or
Download
- Music as Written for the Film: *****
- Music as Heard on the 2002 and 2003 Albums: ****
- Music as Heard on the 2006 and 2018 Complete Sets: *****
- Music as Heard on "The Rarities Archive" Album: ****
- Overall: *****
| Bias Check: |
For Howard Shore reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.56
(in 25 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.32
(in 98,675 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
|
songs
soundhawk - May 31, 2009, at 8:50 a.m. |
1 comment (2343 views) |
i like it
Jimmy345 - May 2, 2007, at 5:52 a.m. |
1 comment (3068 views) |
What about Gollum??? Expand >>
roybatty - February 17, 2007, at 6:48 p.m. |
2 comments (5658 views)
Newest: March 25, 2007, at 9:46 a.m. by
Mister Frodo |
Audio Samples
▼
• 2002 Original Album:
• 2002 Limited Editions:
• 2006 Complete Set:
|
CD1, 6. The Three Hunters (0:33) |
MP3 (269K)
WMA (213K)
Real Audio (189K)
| | CD2, 13. Sons of the Steward (0:30) |
MP3 (254K)
WMA (200K)
Real Audio (179K)
| | CD3, 3. 'Where is the Horse and the Rider?' (0:28) |
MP3 (239K)
WMA (188K)
Real Audio (168K)
| | CD3, 6. The Breach of the Deeping Wall (0:30) |
MP3 (254K)
WMA (200K)
Real Audio (179K)
|
| | |
|
| 2002/2003 Regular Albums Tracks ▼ | Total Time: 72:46 |
• 1. Foundations of Stone (3:51)
• 2. The Taming of Smeagol (2:48)
• 3. The Riders of Rohan (4:05)
• 4. The Passage of the Marshes (2:46)
• 5. The Uruk-hai (2:58)
• 6. The King of the Golden Hall (3:49)
• 7. The Black Gate is Closed (3:17)
• 8. Evenstar - performed by Isabel Bayrakdarian (3:15)
• 9. The White Rider (2:28)
• 10. Treebeard (2:43)
• 11. The Leave Taking (3:41)
• 12. Helm's Deep (3:53)
• 13. The Forbidden Pool (5:27)
• 14. Breath of Life - performed by Sheila Chandra (5:07)
• 15. The Hornburg (4:36)
• 16. Forth Earlingas - performed by Ben Del Maestro (3:15)
• 17. Isengard Unleashed - performed by Elizabeth Fraser & Ben Del Maestro (5:01)
• 18. Samwise the Brave (3:46)
• 19. Gollum's Song - performed by Emiliana Torrini (5:51)
| |
|
| 2002 Limited Edition Albums Tracks ▼ | Total Time: 76:25 |
• 1. Foundations of Stone (3:51)
• 2. The Taming of Smeagol (2:48)
• 3. The Riders of Rohan (4:05)
• 4. The Passage of the Marshes (2:46)
• 5. The Uruk-hai (2:58)
• 6. The King of the Golden Hall (3:49)
• 7. The Black Gate is Closed (3:17)
• 8. Evenstar - performed by Isabel Bayrakdarian (3:15)
• 9. The White Rider (2:28)
• 10. Treebeard (2:43)
• 11. The Leave Taking (3:41)
• 12. Helm's Deep (3:53)
• 13. The Forbidden Pool (5:27)
• 14. Breath of Life - performed by Sheila Chandra (5:07)
• 15. The Hornburg (4:36)
• 16. Forth Earlingas - performed by Ben Del Maestro (3:15)
• 17. Isengard Unleashed - performed by Elizabeth Fraser & Ben Del Maestro (5:01)
• 18. Samwise the Brave (3:46)
• 19. Gollum's Song - performed by Emiliana Torrini (5:51)
• 20. Farewell to Lorien (Bonus Track) - performed by Hilary Summers (4:39)
| |
|
| 2006/2018 Complete Sets Tracks ▼ | Total Time: 188:12 |
CD1: (63:01)
• 1. Glamdring (3:50)
• 2. Elven Rope (2:19)
• 3. Lost in Emym Muil (4:14)
• 4. My Precious (2:56)
• 5. Uglik's Warriors (1:41)
• 6. The Three Hunters (6:12)
• 7. The Banishment of Eomer (3:54)
• 8. Night Camp (2:50)
• 9. The Plains of Rohan (4:14)
• 10. Fangorn (5:13)
• 11. The Dead Marshes (5:07)
• 12. "Wraiths on Wings" (2:07)
• 13. Gandalf the White (6:47)
• 14. The Dream of Trees (1:54)
• 15. The Heir of Numenor (6:50)
• 16. Ent-draught (2:53)
CD2: (63:59)
• 1. Edoras (4:34)
• 2. The Court of Meduseld (3:10)
• 3. Theoden King (6:12)
featuring 'The Funeral of Theodred' - performed by Miranda Otto
• 4. The King's Decision (2:07)
• 5. Exodus of Edoras (5:42)
• 6. The Forests of Ithilien (6:37)
• 7. One of the Dunedain (7:13)
featuring 'Evenstar' - performed by Isabel Bayrakdarian
• 8. The Wolves of Isengard (4:22)
• 9. Refuge at Helm's Deep (3:59)
• 10. The Voice of Saruman (1:11)
• 11. Arwen's Fate (3:58)
featuring 'The Grace of the Valar' - performed by Sheila Chandra
• 12. The Story Foretold (3:58)
• 13. Sons of the Steward (6:02)
• 14. Rock and Pool (2:54)
• 15. Faramir's Good Council (2:20)
CD3: (61:12)
• 1. Aragorn's Return (2:11)
• 2. War is Upon Us (3:35)
• 3. "Where is the Horse and the Rider?" (6:15)
• 4. The Host of the Eldar (2:50)
• 5. The Battle of the Hornburg (2:52)
• 6. The Breach of the Deeping Wall (3:03)
• 7. The Entmoot Decides (2:06)
• 8. Retreat (4:40)
featuring 'Haldir's Lament' - performed by Elizabeth Fraser
• 9. Master Peregrin's Plan (2:31)
• 10. The Last March of the Ents (2:31)
featuring Ben Del Maestro
• 11. The Nazgul Attack (2:45)
• 12. Theoden Rides Forth (5:47)
featuring Ben Del Maestro
• 13. The Tales That Really Matter (12:01)
• 14. "Long Ways to Go Yet" (8:05)
featuring 'Gollum's Song' - performed by Emiliana Torrini
| |
|
| 2010 Rarities Archive Album Tracks ▼ | Total Time: 79:13 |
The Fellowship of the Ring:
• 1. Prologue: One Ring to Rule Them All (Alternate) (5:57)
• 2. The Shire/The Hobbits (Mock-Up) (2:00)
• 3. Out From Bree (Theatrical Version & Alternate) (4:04)
• 4. Flight to the Ford (Alternate) (4:04)
• 5. Moria (Mock-Up) (1:45)
• 6. The Fighting Uruk-hai (Alternate) (1:47)
• 7. The Argonath (Alternate) (2:18)
The Two Towers:
• 8. Gwenwin in In ("Arwen's Song" Alternate/Mock-Up) (2:02)
• 9. Arwen's Somg (Complete) (2:11)
• 10. Emyn Muil (Alternate) (3:24)
• 11. The Rohan Fanfare (Mock-Up) (3:09)
• 12. The Eaves of Fangorn (Alternate) (5:29)
• 13. The Ent Theme (Mock-Up) (2:01)
The Return of the King:
• 14. The Return of the King Trailer (2:35)
• 15. The Gondor Theme (Mock-Up) (2:19)
• 16. The Muster of Rohan (Alternate) (6:44)
• 17. The Siege of Gondor (Alternate) (3:13)
• 18. Shieldmaiden of Rohan (Theatrical Version) (2:01)
• 19. Sammath Naur (Alternate) (8:53)
• 20. Frodo's Song ("Into the West" Alternate/Mock-Up) (2:23)
• 21. Elanor (Alternate) (1:30)
Interviews with Howard Shore:
• 22. In Conversation (Part 1) (5:06)
• 23. In Conversation (Part 2) (4:28)
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The original 2002 (regular) album's insert includes notes from director Peter Jackson
and album co-producer Paul Broucek. Also featured are lyrics from each of the ensemble vocal
segments from the score, as well as the Gollum song. Once again, a whopping two full pages of
credits add to the clutter and no track times are provided on the packaging, adding even this
fine point to the expansive woes of the original album.
Various useless goodies add to the cost of the 2002 limited album. The 2003 set includes general
notes about the trilogy. The 2006 and 2018 complete sets feature a 45-page booklet with
extraordinary notation about the music by Film Score Monthly regular Doug Adams. Those sets include
extensive packaging extras, with the three regular audio CDs existing in a smaller case that
can be stored separately from the massive book-like exterior.
A detailed, track-by-track analysis (a supplement to the notes on the complete 2006 set) was
available in Adobe Acrobat (PDF) format for download from Warner Brothers at the following URL:
http://download.wbr.com/lotr3/fotr_annotated_score_2.pdf. It was not included in the product
itself because of cost restrictions due to the booklet size and was available at that location
for about five years before being removed.
There exists no actual packaging for the Howe Records album contained
within the 2010 Adams book. It is initially difficult to extract the CD
from its paper sleeve because they are glued tightly to the inside of
the back cover.
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