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All of the cues included on this compilation except "The Fellowship" from the first score and "Gollum's Song" from the second feature a deviation from the traditional arrangement of the orchestra, spreading the violins out between the two sides of the stage for additional depth in the recording, perhaps attempting to compensate for the lack of immensity heard in the original versions. Shore's music is, of course, very layered and thick, so this arrangement, along with the usual wet, naturally echoing atmospheric mixing of all of Prague's recordings, causes Shore's compositions to rattle the walls with the powerful ambience they demand. The ensemble for this 2-CD set includes 87 orchestral musicians, 100 voices in the choir, and several male and female vocal soloists. The selection of cues is strong throughout, with no notable omissions, though like the short single-CD highlight presentations of the original recordings, some liberty has been taken with the edits and arrangements of the cues. If you have those original CDs for the trilogy memorized, then you will encounter two or three changes in direction here to allow the Prague performers the opportunity to round out the album a bit better. From Fellowship of the Ring, "The Fellowship" takes the finale cue and edits it down to a very strong suite to open the product. Other cues from the first score mostly represent the first half of the work, but these passages remain intact. The last moments of "Concerning Hobbits" feature an additional, third phrase of the ascending and descending flute figure that works surprising well. The solo boy's lament sequence at the end of "The Bridge of Khazad Dum" was perhaps this compilations most notable recording of an unreleased cue at the time, lovely as always. Perhaps the only substantial weakness of the set is the shortness of the overall representation from The Two Towers, which contains arguably some of the best singular moments from the three scores. From this middle score, the major new themes are accompanied by the two battle highlights from the end of the film. The fiddle performances in "The Riders of Rohan" and the operatic tone of the vocals in "Evenstar" are both satisfying. Some tempo issues in the Orc music in the middle of "Forth Eorlingas/Isengard Unleashed," as well as an absence of much slamming depth in the anvil substitute, are inadequate, but the choral highlights of this assembly compensate well. From The Return of the King, fair and spirited treatment of the rousing Gondor theme in two cues is followed by the soothing "Twilight and Shadow" and "The Fields of Pelennor," the latter opting to perform some material that unfortunately does not include the best battle motif from that scene.

The lengthy, final score cue from The Return of the King is an interesting arrangement of the whole trilogy's music. It includes an outstanding baritone voice for the king's brief vocals but then cuts the original cue short, instead closing out the "Finale" with an abbreviated performance of "The Fellowship" from the opening track on the first CD in this set. Worthy of a reprise, the Prague ensemble handles the "Breaking of the Fellowship" cue well, particularly in the motivating, drum-backed string performance of that theme. The songs are perhaps the most fascinating aspect of the set, with instrumental versions of all three accompanying their appropriate sections of the album. In the case of "Gollum's Song," the track seems to be simply the instrumental backing of the vocal version, with the rotation of solo duties beginning with and returning to a tragic violin and featuring a beefy performance by brass in the middle section. A flute replaces the voice in the first rendition of "May it Be" and a very elegant cello serves as the soloist in "Into the West." On the vocal side on the second CD, Tara Scammell's performance of "May It Be" is remarkably Enya-like, perhaps due to the overlay of the voice several times in mixing (the quintessential Enya technique). Helen Hobson's performance of "Gollum's Song" is impressive given the difficulty of merging the dialogue and singing in that piece, and her performance of "Into the West" gives listeners the opportunity to hear someone less harsh than Annie Lennox provide a fairy-tale ending (though Hobson does border on getting carried in her "popified" twists of note late in that song). Overall, you have to applaud all of the efforts that went into this album, because in order to attain the same depth of Shore's original compositions, the orchestra, choir, vocal solos, and extensive flute solos had to be recorded separately over two months and carefully edited to the same end as the originals. For any fan of Shore's The Lord of the Rings albums, even the complete recordings and their incredible 5.1 surround presentations, this Silva Screen and City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra collaboration is a very entertaining listening experience. Those who have always criticized the extremely wet mix of the original recordings will be pleased by the fact that the reverb is not as pervasive here, illuminating individual lines of performance like never before. With attention to precision that is rarely heard in re-recordings these days, this set even eclipses Silva Screen's own previous recordings of famous trilogies, ranking a notch above their strong compilation of music from The Godfather and well above the sometimes synthetic endeavors for other franchise re-recordings. Don't expect these recordings to be identical to the originals, especially in terms of consistent tempos, but this presentation is certainly worthy of your attention.  ****   @Amazon.com: CD or Download

Total Time: 102:10