I don't really like
May It Be....the coda with the Fellowship theme is nice though.
Foundations Of Stone, ahh, I love the way the music starts before the visuals do, and on further viewings it's like you already that you're zooming over mountains.
A reprise of the Gandalf v. Balrog music, but this time instead of etheral ooohs it goes to
battle music!
Booming brass, and violent choir as Angel and Demon wrestle within the depths of the earth! I love it!
And then the beautiful moment when the orchestra gives way and the choir is alone in the cavern with the lake and the falling star....
The Taming Of Smeagol, after a brief statement of the Shire theme to re-orient us after the fury of the last track we get a choral piece that isn't in the film, a nice melody that turns menacing (?with hints of Gollum's theme from Fellowship underneath the end?), some suspense music as Gollum's second theme plays as he stalks down the cliff. Then a rapid, dissonant piece as he attacks the Hobbits, then quiets again as they resume their trek to Mordor...
One interesting thing about the album is that, unlike FOTR, it's not in chronological order beyond these first two tracks. Shore used a lot of 'mini-suites' for TTT and ROTK.
ttbk