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 | Title : The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (Limited Edition)
Author : Shore, Howard
Release Date : 20021210
Binding : Audio CD
Regular Price : $29.98
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Editorial Reviews :
Howard Shore's music for the massively successful first film chapter of Tolkien's Ring saga won him the Oscar® for Best Original Score, something of a surprise given the music's ambitious scale and determinedly dark overtones, factors that handily blurred the line between typical film fantasy music and accomplished concert work. Its sequel takes the same, often Wagnerian-scaled dramatic tack, following the film's story line into even more brooding and ominous dark corners. The previous film's Hobbit-inspired pastoralism is supplanted here by rich ethnic textures that expand the musical scope of Middle-earth and the World of Men; the Hardanger, a Norwegian fiddle, represents the Rohan and the North African rhaita colors the Mordor theme, while log drums, dilruba, wood xylophone, and cimbalon add intriguing textures elsewhere. The score's looming orchestral clouds are brightened by Shore's masterful choral writing, which infuses ancient liturgical influences with various solo turns by Isabel Bayrakdarian, indie-pop star Sheila Chandra, Ben Del Maestro, and Elizabeth Fraser. 'Gollum's Song,' the composer's concluding collaboration with lyricist Fran Walsh, is delivered with Björkish, postmodern angst by Emiliana Torrini, and helps punctuate the story's modern sense of allegory.
Buyer Reviews :
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers soundtrack (limited edition) is 1) an excellent score cd 2) a worthy companion to its predecessor the Academy Award winning The Fellowship of the Ring. Howard Shore returns to write the music for the next chapter of Jackson's films. The Two Towers has a mixture of new and old themes. Enya, a fixture on the Fellowship soundtrack is not featured on the Two Towers soundtrack. The Fellowship theme, the Isengard theme, the Rivendell theme, the Mordor theme, and the Hobbit theme all make reappearances, but added amongst them and comprising most of the cd are new themes. The Rohan theme is a very Vikingish theme replete with strings and percussion. Treebeard's theme, is a very soft kind of 'forresty' music with a chorus to give it a mysterious air. It has many of the same qualities as the Ewok theme in Return of the Jedi. Arwen's theme is different from the first soundtrack, first because there is no Enya and second because its more of a melancholy love theme. Gollum's theme matches the character, kind of slimy sounding. As in the Fellowship, Shore uses different choirs very effectively, giving the elves an ethereal sounding choir, etc. The limited edition also contains a bonus track from the extended Fellowship movie. 'Farewell to Lorien' is a fine addition particularly if you can save it to your computer and place it back in the Fellowship as I did. The only complaint I have about the Two Towers soundtrack is the second to last track 'Gollum's Song' sung by Emiliana Torrini. I found this song to be out of character with the rest of the cd and didn't much care for it. Unlike Enya's 'May It Be' from the Fellowship soundtrack, 'Gollum's Song' employ's no elvish and really just sounds creepy. Fitting for Gollum but not I think for this cd. However, it does not detract at all from the listening experience. The Two Towers is an excellent cd, and while it does not surpass the Fellowship of the Ring soundtrack it is its equal.
(by greenlantern2000)
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