Howard Shore: The Lord Of The Rings - The Fellowship Of The Ring (2LP, soundtrack) [WATERTOWER MUSIC]

Why you'll love it

WaterTower's 2LP set of the score that won Howard Shore the Academy Award and the Grammy, eighteen cues across four sides. It finishes with Enya's "May It Be," which was nominated for an Oscar too.

This edition

• 2LP set
• Eighteen tracks over four sides
• WaterTower Music pressing (cat# R1 48110)

About the album

Howard Shore spent years with Tolkien's world before a note of this score was heard, and it shows. Working with Peter Jackson, he built a whole musical language for Middle-earth, giving each culture its own sound: pipes and fiddles and gentle strings for the Shire, choirs singing in Tolkien's invented languages for the elves, brass and pounding percussion for Mordor and the forces of Sauron. It was recorded with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the London Voices, and the themes introduced here run through all three films.

"Concerning Hobbits" is the tune half the world can hum, "The Bridge of Khazad Dum" is a full-blown thrill ride, and "Lothlorien" and "The Breaking of the Fellowship" will put a lump in your throat if you let them. Enya's "May It Be" closes the set, and Elizabeth Fraser of Cocteau Twins sings on "Lothlorien." It won the Oscar for Best Original Score and a Grammy, and it still sounds like the start of a very long walk. Second breakfast is optional but recommended.

Tracklist

Listen

On WaterTower Music (cat# R1 48110), a reissue of the 2001 soundtrack.