I quite agree, Faramir, and I found this chapter to be very readable and interesting. I also see parallels with Greg Martin's chapter on "Music, Myth and Literary Depth", which also explores connections between Tolkien and Ralph Vaughan Williams, one of the English composers mentioned by Paul Smith.
I am also a great fan of the BBC radio play and have been privileged to hear the Cambridge Society perform part of it at "Tolkien 2005" in Birmingham. Paul Smith spoke and sang in that performance; his countertenor voice was wonderfully otherworldish for the Eagle's song.
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'Mercy!' cried Gandalf. 'If the giving of information is to be the cure of your inquisitiveness, I shall spend all the rest of my days in answering you. What more do you want to know?' 'The whole history of Middle-earth.. .'
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