In acknowledgement of the various reviews I found on Amazon in regards to this particular soundtrack, I found most of them to be positive and agreeing in my opinion of the music, however, there were a few excessive and crazy fans who wanted “12+ hours of symphonies,” and I thought geez, poor Howard Shore. Knowing music well myself, having written music and actually having played a classical instrument for ten years, I know it’s difficult to complete one song successfully without creating 12 hours of music. I agree that perhaps they didn’t include all of the great music, but they didn’t put in all bad music either. What I’m saying here is this, is be reasonable guys and gals; the movie’s only 3+ hours long, and I think the extended editions are approximately six hours long, so 12+ hours of music would be a little excessive….just a teeny bit…

Don’t get mad when I say that, just think outside the box of your LOTR obsessive compulsiveness when it comes to wanting 12+ hours of music; I understand your love of these movies and there music because I love them a lot myself, but when you make a review, make legitimate accusations and understand that they aren’t going to put out twelve hours of music on a CD unless it’s something that’s classic and the composer’s really famous and been dead for hundreds of years….

So aside from my opinion of some of the reviews on Amazon.com, I would like say that I looked at the Return of the King Soundtrack, enhanced CD, limited edition that I had purchased a few months before the movie came out on DVD. It includes an approximately 14 page booklet in color, some small collector’s stickers and is graced by what appears to be a green leather-bound cover. I particularly enjoyed the enhanced edition because of these additions as well as the fact that there was an accompanying DVD slideshow with a new song on it by Howard Shore featuring Annie Lennox. My only wish is that they had included that song on the main soundtrack CD. They could’ve had another great hit. Into the West was a captivating piece of music with a modern voice that almost brings us home to the real world; it’s bittersweet in that sense, but I think reminds us of the enchantment of an idealized childhood and the magic that each of us has within us. The piece also wakes us to the reality of death, but adds that child-like feel of death being sleep, or a journey to another land, as Frodo, Gandalf and the elves make.

Instrumentally speaking I love Return of the King. I have a hard time ultimately choosing between this one and the Two Towers, especially as to saying which one’s “better,” but Return of the King is classic in that it returns to many of the main themes included in the first two soundtracks. It’s almost blasphemy to say “try and make a comparison and say which collection is the better of the two soundtracks.” Two Towers has a different feel to it, as well as a different artist for the end song. If I were reviewing the Two Towers soundtrack, I’d have to say that Shore chose a fabulous singing voice for “Gollum’s Song” (Emiliana Torrini) gave me chills. But as I was trying to make an attempt at explaining before, the subtle difference in the mood and style of the music makes it impossible to compare. Each soundtrack has its own strengths and weaknesses.

Return of the King holds a lot of promise for me as something as near to classical music as a soundtrack can get. It is still noticeably soundtrack music, but Shore has characteristics of older music that bring listeners that old time feel of more classical pieces. I’m not trying to say however that it compares to that of Beethoven or Dvorak, but Shore holds fort on his own as a great instrumental composer. I’m particularly partial to the violin solos throughout the three soundtracks because of my experience playing the violin and the swells of passion within the dynamics of the music.

“The Fields of Pelennor” is a piece that for the first 1:24 seconds sounds very much like “old school” classical music if you will. Shore also adds dissonant, yet powerfully effective voices to this composition that reflect a similarity to some Russian choral music that I can’t pin down the name of at the moment, but it has structural elements and sounds of older pieces, yet a modern spin with the “there’s something scary going on here, and everything’s about to come and attack us” kind of music that you might hear in any sort of action packed film, but Shore’s subtle and effective combinations help create his own individualistic style.

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