Track-by-Track: Soundtrack Discussion and Analysis

[Encaitare]

The very first thing on the track is Elizabeth Fraser's solo lamenting Haldir:

Ar sindarnóriello mornie caita,
Ar ilye tier unduláve lumbule...

'And grey-country-from lies darkness,
And all roads down-licked [the] clouds...'

You'll recognize this from Galadriel's Lament. Sad stuff... poor movie!Haldir. The one problem I have with this is that I think she pronounces 'caita' wrong. According to the Quenya lessons we've been following, the first syllable of 'caita' should rhyme with why and not way. Just nitpicking, though.

The next section seems to have the Fellowship theme at its roots; the brash trumpets signify war more than the original theme does. The Isengard theme grows up underneath it and plays fully at 1:21. The Rohan theme is sounded on trumpet, and then fades.

We then turn to the Ents; the choir begins immediately, and is joined by another solo:

Chorus in Sindarin

rithannen i geven [2.18]
thangen i harn
na fennas i daur
ôl dûr ristannen
eryn...

Solo [Ben del Maestro] in Sindarin

...echuiannen [2.58]
i ngelaidh dagrar
ristar thynd, cúa tawar
dambedir enyd i ganed
si linna i 'waew trin 'ylf
Isto i dur i chuiyl
i ngelaidh dagrar

Translation

'Earth shakes
Stone breaks
The forest [is] at [your] door
The dark sleep is broken
The woods...

... have awoken
The trees have gone to war
Roots rend, wood bends
The Ents have answered the call
Through branches now the wind sings
Feel the power of living things
The trees have gone to war'

Word-for-word translation:

'Shaken the earth
broken the stone
at door the forest
sleep dark broken
woods awoken
the trees make-war
rend roots, bends wood
answered Ents the call
now sings the wind through-the branches
have-knowledge [of] the strength of-the living-creatures
the trees make-war'

I love the way the choir builds, joined by both the high solo and the lower mens' voices -- it's like the hobbits and the Ents together, almost. The moving violins under the brass really do give the impression of the chaos that is going on, especially when the dam is broken.

I can't tell what the choir at 4:00 is saying -- is it a repetition of the above? It's difficult for me to make out.