Track-by-Track: Soundtrack Discussion and Analysis

[Encaitare]

When I get around to watching the DVD, I will definitely tell about it here or start a new thread for it. In a little while you'll probably be able to buy it separately, like the National Geographic DVD which came in the FotR box set.

It's time for Track 4: The Treason of Isengard -- I apologize for not posting it yesterday; I have been a bit busy with New Year's and all!

The track opens with soft vocals which sound very mysterious. At this point in the movie, Frodo is still kept a little in the dark, so he is worried about what is going to happen. Yet as the music progresses and as Sam and Frodo travel through the sunlit Shire, it becomes somewhat lighter; again we hear "In Dreams," the Shire theme (1:26), this time on French horn, which becomes the Fellowship theme on various instruments, but only a couple at any one time. The Fellowship in its earliest stages is beginning with the two hobbits.

Then the Fellowship theme is heard again at 2:00, as the style of the music changes completely: it becomes far more serious in tone, and full of brass to announce Gandalf's presence. As it moves on to Saruman, there is a crescendo which heightens the tension and sense of danger. The choir sings the following in Black Speech, part of the poem of the Ring:

Ash Burz-Durbagu burzum-ishi [3:10-3:16]
Daghburz-ishi makha gulshu darulu. [2:55-3:09] [3:17, 3.21-3:29]

One for-Dark-Lord in-darkness
in-Mordor where shadows lie.

Or, to put it in normal terms, One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne / In the land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.