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Old 12-03-2005, 01:27 PM   #217
Encaitare
Bittersweet Symphony
 
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Join Date: Jul 2004
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Sting Track 11: Shelob's Lair

The music in this track is super-creepy -- I think we can all agree on that! Like much of the music in Mordor, it's not necessarily the kind of thing you'd listen to for pleasure, but it definitely fits what's going on in the movie.

We begin with the lower voices, which are then joined by the upper strings in a very tentative style. Around 0:36, the pace picks up slightly, increasing the feeling of nervousness. (That little slidey noise at about 0:48 is very funky -- I envision the violinists just sliding a finger right up the E-string. Brief silence is followed by a re-entry of the lower instruments; the notes sound like slow, creeping footsteps. The upper strings enter frantically as Frodo runs. At 1:47 there's that cool tremolo and glissando that's been alerting us for much of the soundtrack that something particularly nasty is happening. And the track continues in a like manner. I won't bore you by listing every single entrance. The next important part comes at 3:30, where the horns play a more prominent part as the tension melts away -- Shelob has been driven off. Go Sam!
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