Even though the tracks which correspond with our heroes in Mordor are generally not favorites of mine, this one is plain awesome in all its creepy glory. The first thirty seconds or so feature a solo -- a variant of the Ring theme -- on English horn. Strings move tentatively underneath; their erratic motion takes away the sensation of a metered piece and makes everything seem very free of form. The English horn then moves into a melody that seems related to the Shire theme... and ta-da! We then have the French horn on that same theme. This is the part when Frodo turns Sam away (cue book fans: "Huh?"), and the music is quite sad to match. The strings join the English horn on melody a la Shire music, rather than doing a tremolo underneath as they often do for Mordor, and indeed as they do at the end of this track. At 1:20, the string part initially reminded me of the music when the Fellowship is on Caradhras. But instead, we hear another rendition of the Ring theme on brass.
So, as my 8th grade history teacher used to say: "Questions? Comments? Short stories?"
