Favourite soundtrack song?

[The Might]

Just purchased the soundtracks of all 3 movies and must say, there are some great songs. Some are a bit boring, but most of them are really nice.

I was wondering what your favourite song(s) of the soundtrack are?

I personally most like "Forth Eorlingas" (played in the TTT at then end of the Battle of Helm's Deep and "The White Tree" played in ROTK as the beacons are lit.

[Folwren]

I love those three soundtracks! Forth Eorlingas is a gorgeous song, I will agree. Unfortunately, I lost the TT soundtrack over a year ago and haven't listened to it in all that time.

My favoritest of all the songs, though, is Track 17, I believe, in the FotR Soundtrack - The Breaking of the Fellowship. It's soooo beautiful and emotionally charged and wonderful!

Although, the first one on the RotK soundtrack is good, too. I think it's called Foundations of Stone...? I like that a lot.

-- Foley

[The Might]

Agree
Breaking of the Fellowship is beautiful, especially the singing part at the end is really beautiful.

Also Into the West is great, I actually like it better then May It Be. Something about Lennox' voice that makes it more special, though Enya is also very good.

And Samwise the Brave always makes me think of the Hobbits going up Mount Doom, also a great song.

Anyway, all in all, I came to the conclusion that it was worth purchasing the soundtracks.

[Sauron the White]

My favorite is Annie Lennox doing "Into The West". Its simply beautiful. I tear up when I hear the first few bars being teased long before she sings it.

[Folwren]

Golly, when the end of the story is fresh in my mind I begin to nearly cry before the end of the Grey Havens (which is, in itself, a wonderful track), and when Into the West starts, particularly when she reaches the lines, "Why do you weep? What are these tears upon your face?" I am truly crying.

But then, the Grey Havens breaks my heart every time I read or watch is, so...it's little surprise that I cry.

-- Folwren

[Gwathagor]

The Return of the King (on ROTK)! I also really like the The Black Gate, if only for the stunning flute part at exactly 1 minute (1:00) into the track. Journey in the Dark is also a great track, as is Riders of Rohan. Got to love the Rohan theme!

[Gwathagor]

And Foundations of Stone is definitely the first track on The Two Towers soundtrack; but it is very good, as you say.

[The Might]

Yeah, know waht you mean about the flute part, it's in the movies as the eagles come to rescue the Hobbits if I remember correctly.

Also worth mentioning here is the beginning of Flight to the Ford.
I wish I would get woken up every morning by that, has a dreamy thing to it.
Also, just realised that in Isengard Unleashed starting with 2.10 you have the theme of the Ents marching to war against Isengard.
This is something I personally not like so much...all the songs are made of leitmotifs, think I read somewhere there are about 80 in total and each represents a certain person or place. And so for Isengard Unleashed you have fthe Elvish song played in the movies as the Elves are dying on the walls of the Hornburg, then the Entish theme.
I mean, it's a nice idea to combine them, but I for one, would like all these leitmotifs separate.

[Gwathagor]

No, the flute part is when Sam and Frodo are lying on the side of Mount Doom, and there are flaming rocks falling down through the sky.

[TheGreatElvenWarrior]

Well, I have burned copies of the soundtracks so I don't know all of the song names but...

In FotR I like tracks 2(it's called Concerning Hobbits I believe), 5, 9, 17and 18, Which is when the fellowship breaks and May it Be, they both make me cry.

In TTT I like track 17, its when Samwise gives his beautiful heart wrenching speech about what are they holding on to, it makes me cry every time I hear it.

In RotK I like Track 2, when Merry and Pippin get separated, also track 5, the steward of Gondor when Billy Boyd, who Plays Pippin sings the Edge of Night...It's so beautiful. I also like the ride of the Rohhrim...I think thats what its called, on track 7. My other favourate song is track 17, its so happy... And then you go to the grey havens and Into the West, the duo always makes me cry. Into the west has meaning to me as well, my mom and I were talking about our newly deceased cat, and how that song was kind of talking about him!

Not to mention the part of The Road goes ever on and on, which is not however in the soundtrack, but its in the movies and I heard that its on the complete collection for music too!

[The Might]

Oh, it seems it's been too long since I last saw the movies.

[Folwren]

No, no. I was thinking of the first RotK track. It's called A Storm is Coming, now that I look at it. I don't remember the song Foundations of Stone very well. That's when Gandalf and the Balrog fight, yes?

Can't stay longer to comment.

-- Foley

[Macalaure]

What I especially like about the Soundtrack is, that, while you know which song was featured during what scene, you don't necessarily need to connect the music with the actual pictures from the movie. You can just lean back and listen and have your own ideas in your mind at the same time. In the case of tracks which were used in scenes not from the book, I now even connect them with different passages. When listening to "The White Tree", for example, I now imagine the arrival of the Knights of Dol Amroth in Minas Tirith.

The mixing of the leitmotifs is sometimes done very well, sometimes not so much. In "Isengard Unleashed", I think, it makes sense to combine the two themes (the Elf theme at the beginning, of course, makes no sense) because in the story Isengard and Fangorn 'meet', so the themes should do so as well. But then there are also songs like "A Knife in the Dark", where the Nazgûl theme suddenly goes over into the Isengard theme, but for no reason at all.

My favourites are

Concerning Hobbits (of course)
The Shadow of the Past (this track gives me shudders)
The Treason of Isengard (I like the ring-verse-in-black-speech choir, as well as the ambiguous/threatening version of the Fellowship theme)
Flight to the Ford (my favourite among the songs which feature the Nazgûl-theme)
A Journey in the Dark / The Bridge of Khazad-dûm (I know it's fake-Khuzdul, but I think it sounds more than well enough / amazing atmosphere)
Amon Hen (I really like that small "Temptation of the Ring" motif at the beginning and how it develops. Personally, I happen to prefer the "Death of Boromir" music at the end to "The Breaking of the Fellowship" (I can't stand "In Dreams"))

Foundations of Stone
The Riders of Rohan, The King of the Golden Hall, Helm's Deep, Forth Eorlingas (I just love the Rohan theme. Of all leitmotifs used in the
Soundtrack, it's the one which goes through the most variations, I think.)
Evenstar (I have no idea why they use Old English for the songs about Arwen, but the atmosphere it conveys is very nice)
Isengard Unleashed (best song featuring Isengard theme, brilliant ending)

Hope and Memory (one of the shortest songs, but a little gem, I think)
Minas Tirith & The White Tree (of course)
The Ride of the Rohirrim (see above)
Shelob's Lair (it's a little too heavy on the string instruments, but to me, the ending is one of the most powerful parts of the whole Soundtrack)

Actually, I don't like the songs that are actually sung, at least when the language is English (except Gollum's Song). I think I once read somewhere that Gollum's Song was originally intended to be performed by Björk. Does anyone know whether that's true?

[The Might]

They first invited Bjork to sing it, but she declined as she was pregnant at the time, and instead they used Emilíana Torrini, also from Iceland I believe.
I like her voice.

I agree with the leitmotifs, sometimes their use doesn't make much sense.

What I however can't do is not think abut the movie when hearing the music. I mean, sometimes yes, but not for example with the White Tree, I always think of the beacons.

Also, I have a question, does anyone know why Requiem for a Dream is not on the soundtrack, I trecall this song having been used for the movie as well.

[Nogrod]

I normally tend to be swayed by a bit twisted harmonies - like when a choir or orchestra makes a proggression of beautiful chords with a little modernist dissonance into them.

But with Shore's compositions I seem to have been struck the most with the two quite archaic and moving solo-melodies.

First there is Eowyn's lament on the funeral which kind of let's shivers go through my spine everytime I hear it. There's simple beauty and emotional load in there. Sadly it's only on the extended DVD.

Secondly there is Billy Boyd's self-composed song which Pip sings in front of Denethor while Faramir and his men ran to the futile loss of life.

They're just beautiful!

As a nice sidenote I must say that "the Bridge of Khazad-Dûm" has an interesting kick to us Finns as the Maori-choir sings there repeatedly "musta-musta-musta" which in Finnish means "black-black-black". It really works!

[Nogrod]

Originally Posted by The Might

They first invited Bjork to sing it, but she declined as she was pregnant at the time, and instead they used Emilíana Torrini, also from Iceland I believe.

I think Emilíana Torrini is an Italian singer. I think I heard that sometime and her name certainly isn't Icelandic.

[Sauron the White]

I believe that Requiem For a Dream was only used in some of the early trailers before the had the Shore score in place. It also may have been used in the 18 minute Moria promo piece that was shown at Cannes and in some early sample reels for distributors. Requiem is popular as a stand in piece for music not yet written for many other films also.

this from Wikipedia

The soundtrack has been widely praised and has subsequently been used in various forms in trailers for other films and series, including The Da Vinci Code, Sunshine, Lost, I am Legend and the video game Assassin's Creed. More specifically, a version of the recurring theme was re-orchestrated for the The Lord of The Rings: The Two Towers film trailer.[2] This version is often known as "Requiem for a Tower". It has also been featured in many other commercials and trailers, and as remixes on other artists' albums. For example, psytrance giants G.M.S. are widely known for their mix of the song, titled 'Juice by GMS'. Lil' Jon's track, "Throw It Up", sounds very similar to the song for this movie. Many blame him for stealing or copying.

[Folwren]

O-oh! Nogrod! If you know some of the words in The Bridge of Khazad-Dum, what's Hugosanogi mean? My older brother named his frisbee (disk, whate'er you want to call it) that and he practically mourned when he lost it in one of the Great Lakes.

You can probably find Requiem for a Tower on youtube someplace.

-- Folwren

[William Cloud Hicklin]

Emilíana Torrini Davíðsdóttir is indeed Icelandic, of Italian extraction.

[Meriadoc1961]

This is very tough for me to answer. I really like Enya, so her songs are going to be at or near the top. I also find Gollum's Song to be haunting and moving. But I don't know if it is even there because I do not have the sound track, but i just love the elves singing as they are passing through the shire and when the Fellowship is in Lothlorien and they elves are mourning the fall of Mithrandil.

I also believe Billy Boyd gave an excellent performance.

Merry

[Lindale]

It's the elvish singing part in FotR for me, The Passing of the Elves I think it's called. I always thought, while reading the book before the movies, that the song A Elbereth Gilthoniel is a sad but terribly beautiful song, with the Elves' choir-like voices and harps and stuff. Not violins or pianos like the other classics, but something like Gregorian chant but with female voices included.

[The Might]

I think you mean Flight to the Ford or more likely The Council of Elrond

[Folwren]

No, I believe she's referring to a part of the Soundtrack that is seen in the extended version. Do you have the complete recordings, Lindale? And are you talking about the music that takes place in the part where Sam and Frodo whilst traveling through the Shire see the elves leaving? It is indee very beautiful.

-- Folwren

[Meriadoc1961]

Originally Posted by Folwren

No, I believe she's referring to a part of the Soundtrack that is seen in the extended version. Do you have the complete recordings, Lindale? And are you talking about the music that takes place in the part where Sam and Frodo whilst traveling through the Shire see the elves leaving? It is indee very beautiful.

-- Folwren

Folwren, you are right, I believe. That is so lovely and moving, as well as the singing of the elves in Lorien. I could easily get lost in that, if it was played longer...so moving!

Merry

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

I have to pop in, because I am currently listening to Helm's Deep - it's really a nice one. I don't know what's happening with me, but I spent this evening listening to a strange mix of CDs I haven't listened to for a long time (if you saw the mix...). I have Helm's Deep on a self-made CD with a choice of different songs (from LotR there is also The Uruk-hai and The Ride of the Rohirrim). I liked also the theme of Isengard in the movies, and the theme of the Black Riders as well.

Terrible. I actually just commended something from the movies. But really, for me the music was one of the best things on the movies (and certainly the best thing on TT) and it went well together with the movie. But let it be clear that it's not the Middle-Earth that I live in, so even the music does not belong in there.

[Meriadoc1961]

Originally Posted by Legate of Amon Lanc

I have to pop in, because I am currently listening to Helm's Deep - it's really a nice one. I don't know what's happening with me, but I spent this evening listening to a strange mix of CDs I haven't listened to for a long time (if you saw the mix...). I have Helm's Deep on a self-made CD with a choice of different songs (from LotR there is also The Uruk-hai and The Ride of the Rohirrim). I liked also the theme of Isengard in the movies, and the theme of the Black Riders as well.

Terrible. I actually just commended something from the movies. But really, for me the music was one of the best things on the movies (and certainly the best thing on TT) and it went well together with the movie. But let it be clear that it's not the Middle-Earth that I live in, so even the music does not belong in there.

Really? Not even the singing of the elves? Or for that matter, Bag End and Hobbiton?

Merry

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Originally Posted by Meriadoc1961

Really? Not even the singing of the elves? Or for that matter, Bag End and Hobbiton?

Actually, these are probably those I consider the least Middle-Earthish. That's not to say I don't like the music: as I said above, it's very nice - everything - and those I mentioned are the ones I liked the most of all. But especially the Shire is one of the things that is the least close to the Shire as I imagine it, and the singing of the Elves is definitely totally out for me. To the movie, why not. To the book, no way.

[The Might]

Of course this isn't really how M-e music would sound, except some parts, but still I think it goes well with the books, because it manages to transport the spirit the books also have, that mystical component.
As Tom Bombadil, the music doesn't come from M-e, but it is of M-e.

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Originally Posted by The Might

Of course this isn't really how M-e music would sound, except some parts, but still I think it goes well with the books, because it manages to transport the spirit the books also have, that mystical component.
As Tom Bombadil, the music doesn't come from M-e, but it is of M-e.

Just to make it clear, I personally don't think that the music from the films would be the music that they'd play in Middle-Earth (and it's even worse with the songs that actually are in the books and made it to the movies - I just did not imagine them like that at all! I have my own melody and even rythm and mainly the tempo of them; simply put, they made it all wrong! But I believe most of the people who read the books prior to hearing the songs in any interpretation have imagined the songs to sound some way, no?); but also the music does not go together with the world for me. Not at all, not even as "background" music. When I'm imagining Isengard, Lórien or Mordor, there is not the movie music playing in the background. It would have to be totally different music (if there were to be any).

[Sauron the White]

Having a copy of Poems and Songs from Middle-earth, I can say with utmost confidence that I am overjoyed the film soundtrack did not attempt to sound anything like that so-called authoritative music from the world of JRRT. Tolkien was a wonderful story teller with a tremendous imagination. He could create amazing characters, the most glorious settings, and give you everything you wanted in an epic tale. But music was not his speciality.

[William Cloud Hicklin]

I don't know if the Donald Swann settings can be termed "authoritative." They're, well, Donald Swann. Poppy Lieder-lite, just the sort of thing which might entertain an elderly man born in 1892 who even in his youth found ragtime distasteful!

However, the one really good piece in there, the haunting Namarie, is actually Tolkien. Or at least, he rejected Swann's original tune and hummed out the chant-like theme which Swann adopted- so the old Professor was not without his musical side.

Most of the songs Tolkien put in the book (and, it's often forgotten, they're *songs*) are hobbit-songs, and so it seems to me that the ideal settings should be in the style of genuine English folksong- genuine, and English, not the rather bogus 'Celtic' stuff one so often hears. In fact Tolkien himself intended The Stone Troll to be sung to, and himself sang to, the tune of "The Fox Went Out."

[Meriadoc1961]

I wish I knew "The Fox Went Out."

Merry

[William Cloud Hicklin]

Ah, then hearken to the good Professor himself singing Sam's troll-song to that tune...

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...arch&plindex=3

Notice BTW that JRRT slips easily into broad Brum instead of his normal Queen's English

[Folwren]

Shucks! I couldn't open it!

[The Might]

Great video, sounds a bit Irish doesn't it?

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Hey, how come you can see it and we not? At least personally I see nothing.

EDIT: okay, I deleted in the address everything after the number (beginning with the first "&") and it works. I'll look at it in a minute...

EDITEDIT: Hooray! That was wonderful.

And yes, as TM said, it sounds like being somewhat Irish. With the diction.

[The Might]

Maybe no flash plugin?
Though if you see YouTube videos, you should see it...

Try THIS

[William Cloud Hicklin]

No, not Irish, but the guttural R's common in England's rural West Country. Lots of folks complained that movie-Sam sounded Irish, but in fact he was doing a fairly decent (for an American) Wiltshire-Somerset.

[Mithalwen]

Guttural R? I think you mean a burr ..though it is sadly getting less common. However I had one as a child as early spelling proves - it was some time before I was persuaded that water was spelt with just the one R - and at that at the end....

A few of the Oliver settings still beat anything on the films hands down for me ..... to be vaguely on topic...

[Groin Redbeard]

'Into the West' is a good song, but my favorite would be 'The parting of the Fellowship.' It fills you with sadness that the Fellowship has broken, but gives you hope that they will meet again!