Continuing last week's review, this review is on Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring's Disc 2 of its 3 disc complete edition. This disc focuses mainly on the middle section, and it's quite brilliant. I'll skip the introductions; that was saved for the previous review.
Track Listings:
Weathertop: *****
The Caverns of Isengard: *****
Give Up the Halfling: *****
Orthanc: *****
Rivendell: *****
The Sword that Was Broken: *****
The Council of Elrond Assembles: *****
The Great Eye: *****
Gilraen's Memorial: *****
The Pass of Caradhras: ****
The Doors of Durin: *****
Moria: ****
Gollum: *****
Balin's Tomb: *****
Weathertop opens the disc in a great way; the powerfully disturbing and frightening choral work for the Nazgul is highly impressive, and is done highly intelligently here. It's perfect for the moment: Frodo and the hobbits being attacked by the various Nazgul and being saved by Aragorn. Though it may be brief, it's power and memories held within the track are excellent, and it's definitely one of the highlights of the incredible score.
The Caverns of Isengard finally gives the Isengard theme the exposition it deserves. While the track meanders about at first (in a nice way, mind you; it's still well-done meandering), the theme finally gets an excellent statement at around 1:32, and though it lasts briefly, it isn't a shame because it leads into yet another excellent theme, the theme for Gandalf. Or, it seems like the theme for Gandalf. It's well-hinted at here, and though it is ended very abruptly for yet an even more powerful brass statement for Isengard's theme, with the percussion spilling out its industrial power in an even more authoritative way than usual. It ends on a beautiful note - literally. The final 15 seconds or so are a brief two note statement that carries so much emotion it's impressive. All in all, this is one of the best tracks yet and it introduces the Isengard theme in a great manner.
Give Up The Halfling opens in a stunningly somber piece, with some of the instrumentation reminding of James Newton Howard's usual solemn string work. It ends after a while, and segues into another fascinating bridge to the Nazgul theme. The Nazgul theme this time is heightened to stunning intensity, with the brass providing excellently fast-paced bass lines and the strings heightening the tension. As the theme reaches an incredible climax, the horns kick in with noble power. The final minute is a little underwhelming, though the majority of the track is incredible.
Orthanc is a surprisingly brief but powerful track. Clocking in at a mere 1 minute and 6 seconds, it's the shortest track in the second disc but also one of the highlights of the score. It introduces yet another fresh brass theme backed up by choir. At 0:40 comes another excellent theme, with the beautiful strings carrying it to the end. Though it ends rather suddenly, it's still a fantastic track.
Rivendell is a great theme that opens in a brief reprisal of the shire theme, before launching into the ordinary album version of Many Meetings. Its strings, meshed beautifully with the elven vocals and various other instruments make a stunning piece, making yet another highlight of many in the second disc. Various reprisals of the hobbit theme and the shire theme elevate the track to even more emotional and touching heights, meant to symbolize the happiness the fellowship felt as they were united.
The Sword That Was Broken opens in a quick flash of the Rivendell theme, though it quickly segues into a more mature and dark theme played on the french horn, accompanied by strings. At about 1:28, brief flashes of a dark and foreboding brass theme are played, which are echoed later. It's a little difficult to say what themes these are, as they all seem to be original; some parts feel like reprisals of the Rivendell theme, though some seem altogether fresh. Either way, this is yet another great "filler" track, where music just needs to be to fill up a moment. Howard Shore handles this surprisingly well, and creates some surprisingly memorable music for such mundane moments. Though the track name may suggest a hinting at for the theme of Anduril, there never is one.
The Council of Elrond Assembles is yet another fantastic track. It introduces another excellent theme, this time sung by a solo female vocalist. The lyrics aren't distracting, and it's pushed to greater heights by the beautiful strings and choral backup. It's truly a beautiful track, and is hard not to love. My brother claimed it was too repetitive for his liking; while it certainly is quite repetitive, I didn't find it a big problem. The theme is simply wonderful.
At around 2:17, the theme ends, to be replaced with the typical Lord of the Rings fantasy filler stuff. It's not bad, but it isn't exactly amazing either, and it brings the track down from being a massive highlight for the score.
The Great Eye opens with a foreshadowing at the theme for Minas Tirith, a surprising idea, as Minas Tirith doesn't appear until the third installment. Nonetheless, it's a great idea, and it shows how early Shore had ideas for later installments. It lasts a good one minute or so, a great way to open a great track. While it takes a little while for the track to pick up from there, it eventually bridges the gap into the Nazgul theme, this time by the strings. Eventually, it segues into the Orc theme, at around 2:55. This ends quickly, and segues into another wonderful string theme, that hints slightly at the fellowship theme. The fellowship theme is then played several times by other instruments, and finally closes with a segueing into the hobbit theme. The themes mesh together several times, alternating between one and the other, before concluding the track with a victorious cymbal crash. A beautiful track.
Gilraen's Memorial opens with a very somber choir theme. It's very dark and sad, and is appropriately depressing. It immediately segues into a much happier track: The album version of The Ring Goes South, one of the most iconic tracks in history. It's so popular that it shows up almost everywhere - I once heard it in the beginning of a plane ride, broadcasted through the intercom to suggest we were taking a long journey south. Either way, it's fantastic, and obviously one of the highlights to the score. The track concludes with the incredible brass presentation of the truly beautiful Fellowship theme, with the dissonant strings providing good buildup. It's truly great work.
The Pass of Caradhras opens in a briefly lighthearted manner, before becoming much darker at around 0:33. Its dissonant brass end to the buildup is difficult to swallow, though the track becomes great later. It has a calmer feel with beautiful strings and pleasant fluff making it good for easy listening… at least until 2:38, where the Isengard theme kicks in again. It ends at around 3:25, where another great string theme picks it up. It escalates in nobility and power, and eventually ends in another underwhelming mass of brass dissonance. The track ends in another underwhelming string bit, making this one of the worst tracks on disc 2. While it's not really too bad at all, it lacks the power and sense of direction the others do.
The Doors of Durin opens in a great way, with brass and strings again carrying the powerful themes forward; Some of the choral work is truly impressive, especially at the 1:40 mark. Afterwards, it descends into the regular ambience Shore often does for this score. It's not bad at all, and continues to impress. Later, some of Shore's more intense, "scary" work begins at 4:30 or so, with some great string dissonance. It segues into some powerful percussion, with more orchestral dissonance furthering the horror factor. It's nothing you'll want to listen to again, but it very well symbolizes the giant squid monster that shows up at the Doors of Durin. The percussion beat is rather impressive and should've been more apparent elsewhere, though it never does. Shore's constant use of orchestral dissonance is a little bit frustrating at times, though it is admittedly very apt for the moment. It's the skill that Shore demonstrates in his dissonant horror and initial choral work that narrowly scrapes a 5 star rating for the track.
Moria is a quieter piece, with more ambient strings apparent here. The choral work is also quite fascinating, providing apt backup feel. It's not a half bad piece, due to its impressively done ambience. Sadly, it doesn't do anything all that interesting either, meriting a mere 4 star rating for its lack of stuff happening.
Gollum briefly introduces his theme, a theme apparent in the initial Prologue theme of the first disc. Again, the track is a little too brief for its own good, with some brief string themes, and a wonderful restatement of the hobbit theme at the end. All in all, this isn't a half bad piece, meriting a 5 star rating for its trouble.
Balin's Tomb opens in an incredible manner - an amazingly powerful reprisal of one of the fellowship themes. It's truly amazing, managing to be both grand and sad at the same time. This is the longest track on the album, at 8 minutes and 30 seconds. After the initial power of the opening, it becomes more dark, and at 3:05 or so it becomes much more intense, featuring surprisingly fast-paced string bass themes. It's the action beats and fantastic vistas where Shore succeeds most in scoring, and he does an incredible job here, with impressive false buildups at 4:00 or so. The way Shore uses the dissonant brass is admirable, as it very well symbolizes the beasts that the fellowship must face. While it is a little bit repetitive and at times rather frustrating, it works well. The action and relentless barrage of dissonant brass chords ends at around 6:00, with some truly gorgeous string themes and beautiful brass backups. The final one minute or so reintroduces the fellowship theme again, with even greater heights than before, and concludes the track, and the disc, on this great feel.
All in all, this disc continues more of Shore's incredible skill; his ability to easily convey the power of action scenes, the emotion of touching scenes, the simplicity of ambient scenes, and his capacity of creating memorable themes are all demonstrated to a huge degree with his work in the second disc. It's highly impressive.
The Good:
- Incredible emotion
- Powerful themes
- Great continuance of the themes
- Orchestral dissonance used well
- Choral tracks are impressive
- Orchestral harmony is phenomenal
- Weathertop
- Gildraen's Memorial
The Bad:
- Orchestral dissonance can be annoying as well
- Some ambience falls flat
Disc 2 carries on the quality of Disc 1, only with more excitement and power to it. If you adore Lord of the Ring's fantasy scores, but disliked the introductory feeling to Disc 1 of Fellowship of the Ring, then Disc 2 should satisfy; it contains every great theme in it (besides the concluding themes), and is filled with excitement, intensity, power, horror, emotion, and orchestral harmony. Simply put, Disc 2 is phenomenal - and better than the first disc.
Disc 2: 10/10