Track-by-Track: Soundtrack Discussion and Analysis

[Elladan and Elrohir]

WOOHOO!!!

Sure, we knew it was probably coming sooner or later, but man, that's awesome! Now, along with saving up to buy the Extended Edition Collector's Gift Sets, I can also start saving up for the Complete Music Soundtracks! Bravo!

[Encaitare]

That full-score box set sounds awesome... I'd better start scrounging for money.

This track is, of course, from the part when Pippin goes off with Gandalf to Minas Tirith, leaving Merry behind. We have strings playing a hobbity tune that I think I recall from FotR, and the clarinet plays a sad variant of the Fellowship theme. The music then grows, beginning to introduce the Minas Tirith theme. This is followed by the Rohan theme on French horn, and a closing mainly on strings. (It's a short track, and pretty straightforward.)

As E&E brought up, the title of the track doesn't really make sense to me. I guess it could correspond with the scene in the EE, in which Merry talks about how he and Pippin used to do everything together. That could be the "memory" and Gandalf taking Pippin away could be the "hope," but it's a stretch.

[Lathriel]

I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!! (about the CD set)ok, I better now. I will also have to begin scrounging money together.

Hope and Memory...nice and short. I like how it begins so urgently and then the music slows down for the hobbit theme then it speeds up,only to slow down again for a version of the fellowship theme/Minas Tirith theme. I like how these two themes are woven together into one track.

Maybe it is called Hope because Gandalf and Merry Hope to arrive at Minas Tirith in time and Memory because Merry remembers when he and Pippin were in the Shire and how he had always looked out for Pippin.(He tells Aragorn this in the EE I think)

[The Tennis Ball Kid]

I think the "Hope" comes from the alternate cut of this scene, if you'll recall the theatrical trailer, there was a version of this scene where Merry says "You will see the Shire again"; Shore probably named the track at a point when they were still using it. And the memory part is fairly straight-forward then, pertaining to Merry remembering....


As for the music, it's lovely, one of the few tracks that can actually bring a tear to my eye. You can just feel Merry and Pippin's agony at being seperated.



ttbk

[Encaitare]

First we have the Minas Tirith theme on horn, with sustained strings. The music we next hear is reminiscient of the Mordor theme, I think. At 0:54, it gets exciting, with a bolder rendition of the first theme. At 1:15, the choir comes in with this (bold text is what is actually sung):

Revail vyrn dan minuial
ú galad, ú vin anor hen
Cano an dregad
ú natha ored
Gwanwen ost in giliath
Dannen Osgiliath

(Sindarin)


Black wings against a pale morning
There is no more light, not in this sun
Call the retreat
There will be no warning
The citadel of the stars is gone
Osgiliath is fallen

The Minas Tirith/Gondor theme is played more slowly, and then a horn fanfare brings us up to this solo:

Mennen nored dîn [choir: 2.15]
Gwanwen i 'ûr bân
Sílant calad Dûn [solo: 2.02]
Tollen Rochon 'Lân

(Sindarin)

Their race was over;
All courage gone.
A light shone in the west -
The White Rider had come.

I love how the orchestra drops to such a piano that the vocals are the focus of the moment, when Gandalf fends off the Nazgul. It seems that the soaring vocal solo is another theme pertaining to Gandalf -- we hear it when he is on top of Orthanc, just after he falls, and now.

At 2:35, a more triumphant rendition of the theme is played; this is from when Gandalf and Pippin arrive in Minas Tirith, so we're going back in time a little bit from the last part. The track ends just as they come to the White Tree... which is incidentally the name of the next track.

[Lathriel]

I really like the solo from Ben del Maestro in this track.
I also like the Gondor theme, although its too bad Howard Shore didn't try to get some exotic instrument to represent Gondor. But then the classical instruments do seem to fit Gondor. The stately theme certainly fits the Gondorian attitude. You can hear the pride they have for Minas Tirith.

I like the Lyrics, I didn't really know what they meant before. Thanks Enca for providing like usual.

[dancing spawn of ungoliant]

The first 55 seconds of this track make me feel horribly uneasy. It's a really unpleasant part to listen to but it fits nicely to the film. I bet those Gondorian soldiers were feeling a bit uneasy, too, while keeping watch in Osgiliath.

At 1:15 begins a theme that is titled as "Minas Tirith Song" in the sheet music. I love the majestic part from 1:38 to "Mithrandir's Song" (~2:00) and Ben Del Maestro's solo. My favourite has to be Gondor's theme, though. It gives me shivers when at 2:53 the d minor chord (the sheet music has no f in that chord so there are just d and a, but anyway...) turns into Bb major. I wish they had played that whole theme louder so I didn't have to turn the volume up every time I'm watching that part of the movie (though I should probably blame those people who mixed and mastered the score).

I think the brass are an excellent choice for Gondor. As a country which has fought for ages against Mordor, it's theme should have enough feeling of an ancient and noble culture and the bold wind instruments do that perfectly.