Lord Of The Rings - The Fellowship Of The Ring, The [ECD] - Original Soundtrack

...my opinion the soundtrack to Lord of the Rings is his greatest work, his most diverse and original-sounding ever.

The first in the trilogy, 'The Fellowship of the Ring' introduces Celtic music for the Hobbits with song contributions from Enya, and very powerful, mystical choral tracks winning Shore his first Oscar. The subsequent soundtracks for The Two Towers and The Return of the King are more intense but equally brilliant with ...
...to know the story of Lord of the Rings, one of the great things about it. You can merely put it on as background music, marvel at the light momemts, and feel the dread of its darker mood-swings.

The music follows the adventures of 'The Ring of Power' from the safety of Hobbiton, to the darkness and fire of Mordor. Howard Shore's music shows this with his light-hearted variations on the Hobbit's theme that skips and dances, giving the ... more

PRICES:
This CD can be found on the net with at least 4 different covers and even a leather-bound one. That's why I found it so difficult trying to find out if this version was the same as the other pictures I've found. And this is why Ciao finds the cheapest price of this CD to be £10.99 when I've found it to be £5.99.

Amazon.co.uk £11.99

WHSmith.co.uk £12.99

CD WOW! £5.99

So I suggest CD WOW! is the best place to look for this brilliant CD.

ABOUT THE CD:
The covers I've seen include the one on this listing of Aragorn, and also a plain brown one, a montage from the movie in light green, and one with the 4 Hobbits on it. The wonderful booklet inside has words to the choral pieces, and more importantly translations to the Elvish words that are invaluable. They give so much more meaning and importance to the mysterious words that otherwise sound like a flood of welsh.

Audio CD (November 20, 2001)
Number of Discs:1
Label: Warner
ASIN: B00005QZWI
Catalogue Number: 9362481102

ABOUT THE COMPOSER:
The music is composed by HOWARD SHORE who has also scored "Silence of the Lambs", "Seven", and more recently "Big", "Mrs. Doubtfire", "Philadelphia", "Cats and Dogs" and "The Aviator". However, in my opinion the soundtrack to Lord of the Rings is his greatest work, his most diverse and original-sounding ever.

The first in the trilogy, 'The Fellowship of the Ring' introduces Celtic music for the Hobbits with song contributions from Enya, and very powerful, mystical choral tracks winning Shore his first Oscar. The subsequent soundtracks for The Two Towers and The Return of the King are more intense but equally brilliant with at least 95% new musical material. Given that each film is three hours long with music present for a good proportion of screen-time, the scoring task is considerable and gains Howard Shore my admiration.

ABOUT THE TRACKS:
1. Prophecy, The
2. Concerning Hobbits
3. Shadow Of The Past, The
4. Treason Of Isengard, The
5. Black Rider, The
6. At The Sign Of The Prancing Pony
7. Knife In The Dark, A
8. Flight To The Ford
9. Many Meetings
10. MEDLEY: Council Of Elrond, The/Aniron (Theme For Aragorn And Arwen) - Enya
11. Ring Goes South, The
12. Journey In The Dark, A
13. Bridge Of Khazad Dum, The
14. Lothlorien
15. Great River, The
16. Amon Hen
17. Breaking Of The Fellowship, The
18. May It Be - Enya

ABOUT THE STORY:
This CD does not require you to know the story of Lord of the Rings, one of the great things about it. You can merely put it on as background music, marvel at the light momemts, and feel the dread of its darker mood-swings.

The music follows the adventures of 'The Ring of Power' from the safety of Hobbiton, to the darkness and fire of Mordor. Howard Shore's music shows this with his light-hearted variations on the Hobbit's theme that skips and dances, giving the film it's characteristic atmosphere of community amoung the Hobbits, and their excitement at the coming of Gandalf to Bilbo Baggin's Eleventy-First Birthday Party. 'Concerning Hobbits' is one of my favourite tracks, and is full of green grass and spring and harmony.

However the tone darkens as the Black Riders hunt Frodo Baggins for the Ring, building up into a haunting lament for Gandalf in 'Lothlorein' which is sung completely in Elvish and sent shivers down my spine.

My favourite track of all is Enya's 'May it be'. Her voice is perfect for this soundtrack and she helped compose this song. It's words wish hope for the Hobbits (May it be an evening star shines down upon you, may it be when darkness falls your heart will be true...) and the choruses are again in Elvish and brilliantly memorable.

MY THOUGHTS ON THIS ITEM:
This is a great collection either for fans of Lord of the Rings or simply music-lovers. It has moments of brilliant light, hiatus and darkest depths. This music is what gave the film it's atmosphere in the first place, and without the action to distract you, you can appreciate it in it's entirity.
 

...less