Lord of the Rings [Box set, Limited Edition, Import]

Some of the songs (the folk-type Shire songs) were very much as I had imagined them -- one of them even uses the tune I had expected it to, although Tolkien does hint at it in the text (Sam's troll song).

Others, like the a capella choral pieces (Lament for Theoden/Mounds of Mundburg) took me much further than my musical imagination could have taken me by myself. They sound very Brittenish to me, as in Benjamin, but I suspect they also hark back to traditional modes of music from northern Europe. They sound as if they're being sung from a great distance, which gives them just the right ethereal quality, and a sense of looking back to a distant and legendary past (Tolkien wrote them to show us what the bards sang long after the battle of the Pelennor Fields was fought -- he uses the theme of "how will we be remembered in song and story" throughout LoTR). The more serious pieces took a bit of getting used to, but now these unexpected tracks are among my favourites. The Lament for Boromir and the Lay of Luthien (Westron version) are beautiful, while the duet between the Ent and Entwife is poignant in the extreme!

I hope you enjoy this as much as I did. My musical tastes range from Bach to reggae, from ska to Mahler, and if yours are wide too, then you probably will.

Then I put in "A Night in Rivendell" and had the same reaction. But now these are some of my favorite cds and I listen to them non-stop. My favorite song is "Lament for Theoden". As the choir sings, you feel of the great sorrow of Theoden and his people as he rides off to war not knowing his fate but not expecting to ever return. Then as they sing of his departing, you can hear the horses hoofbeats and the urgency to get to Gondor. This cd set is worth it only if you listen to this song.

If you do not appreciate classical music, the this set is probably not for you. But if you do and you also enjoy the works of Tolkien, then the Tokien Ensemble is a must.