J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord Of The Rings: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack [Soundtrack]

Leonard Rosenman | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 24, 1992)
• Original Release Date: November 15, 1978
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Soundtrack
• Label: Intrada Records
• ASIN: B000000O7G
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #372,687 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. History of the Ring

2. Gandalf Throws Ring

3. The Journey Begins: Encounter with the Ringswraiths

4. Trying to Kill Hobbits

5. Escape to Rivendell

6. Company of the Ring

7. Mines of Moria

8. The Battle in the Mines/The Balrog

9. Mithrandir

10. Frodo Disappears

11. Following the Orcs

12. Fleeing Orcs

13. Attack of the Orcs

14. Gandalf Remembers

15. Riders of Rohan

16. Helm's Deep

17. The Dawn Battle/Theoden's Victory

18. The Voyage to Mordor/Theme from the Lord of the Rings

Editorial Reviews

Import reissue & the worldwide CD debut of Leonard Rosenman's soundtrack to Ralph Bakshi's 1978 cinematic interpretation of J.R.R. Tolkien's epic fantasy. 15 tracks. 1997 pressing. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Rosenman Music Sounds Great, Love the Unreleased Tracks, August 14, 1999

By 

Matt Howe "outloud98" (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord Of The Rings: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Audio CD)

I had this LP when I was a kid. It's still in pretty good shape, but dragging out the turn-table to play it is a pain! I'd been meaning to replace it with a CD for years...and then for a while this disc was not available. I'm glad I waited because now it is, and with unreleased tracks now included!

Leonard Rosenman's music for this mediocre film is fabulous! And it sounds great since (according to Rosenman in the interesting album notes) it has been remixed for this album. We get more of the male-chorus tracks. VERY cool.

I'm very pleased with this CD. I've been playing it as I'm re-reading THE TWO TOWERS right now. I hope the new LOTR movie does a better job than Ralph Bakshi's did! But again, no complaint about the music here!

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Quite different from Howard Shore's version, January 20, 2002

By 

Larry Bridges "thebachelor" (Arlington, MA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Lord of the Rings (1978 Film) (Audio CD)

First, I should point out that this is **not** the product page for Howard Shore's soundtrack for the new Peter Jackson-directed film "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring." This product page and this review are for Leonard Rosenman's soundtrack for Ralph Bakshi's 1978 animated feature "The Lord of the Rings." Bakshi's film, which I regret never having seen, is hated by many fans of the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, although it is widely acknowledged that the film has some virtues. On the evidence of this CD it would appear that to a great extent the film's incidental music is, in fact, one of its virtues.

Rosenman's score is quite a different listening experience from Shore's. This "Rings" is far more dissonant, revealing Rosenman's background as an avant-garde composer. There are fewer easily hummable melodies than in Shore's score, and choral singing is somewhat less prominent. There is, however, a lament sung in Lothlorien, and in scenes involving the Black Riders the chorus sings "Mordor... Mordor..." quite chillingly (arguably achieving a more frightening effect than Shore's choral theme for the Black Riders). During the Battle of Helm's Deep (the climax of Bakshi's film, a planned sequel to which was never made) the chorus sings a more elaborate Orc battle-song. Rosenman's score also contains fewer pleasant-sounding passages than Shore's, perhaps because the larger scale on which Jackson's version of "LOTR" is conceived allowed Shore to luxuriate over such pleasant stretches of the story as the sequences in the Shire and Rivendell.

Tolkien purists will find several reasons to criticize the lament and the battle-song, both of which, however, I enjoyed. The lament features a children's chorus and an adult one, both representing Elves of Lothlorien. An analysis of all of Tolkien's writings indicates that there would not have been nearly as many Elf-children in Lothlorien at the end of the Third Age as this chorus would have us believe. This can be forgiven: many of the writings in question were not published until the 1990's, long after the production of Bakshi's film, and the children's chorus tugs on the heartstrings in the intended way. More seriously, the lament is sung in English. In Tolkien's books and the various theatrical and cinematic adaptations thereof, English supposedly represents a fictional ancient tongue called the Common Speech, which most Elves of Lothlorien did not speak. In Shore's score a lament is sung in Lothlorien in two Elvish languages, which makes better sense. Moreover, Rosenman's statement in the liner notes that the lyrics (which he did not write) of the lament are "a true piece of poetry" is, in my opinion, an overstatement. I like the Tolkienian grandeur of the lines "...long may your name be sung / Through kingdoms of starlight / And realms of the Sun," but the concluding lines, "You will dwell in our hearts forever / Never more will we stand alone," seem to me too hackneyed to be moving (and are sung a little too loudly and forcefully).

What may infuriate Tolkien purists most, however, is that Rosenman invented the language for the Orcs' battle-song (except for the word "Mordor"). This seems quite inappropriate for a film set in a fictional world whose creator invented about fifteen languages for the use of its inhabitants. Shore's score is more linguistically faithful to Tolkien's creation; all the singing in Jackson's film is in one of Tolkien's invented languages or in English.

Nonetheless, the tremendous energy of the Helm's Deep sequence, including the singing of the Orcs, is one of the main attractions of Rosenman's score. This passage will be a tough act for Shore to follow when he scores Jackson's version of the Helm's Deep sequence in "The Two Towers"; however, I am certain Shore is up to the task. In any case, Rosenman's score is a work of high artistic integrity, full of enjoyable moments and fully worthy of Rosenman's illustrious record as a film composer.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Music to accompany your journey to Middle Earth, July 21, 2000

By 

J. Collins "Paradise Bar & Grill" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord Of The Rings: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Audio CD)

Leonard Rosenman's original soundtrack was not one of the things that struck me when I saw Bakshi's "Lord Of The Rings" film, some 22 years ago. At the time, I was just "getting into" Tolkien, and though Bakshi's film wasn't entirely true to Tolkien's stories I still collected all the memorabilia related to the film, including this soundtrack.

Now that I've read the LOR trilogy a dozen or more times, I find that there is no music fit to accompany this pasttime other than Rosenman's terrific score. From the spritely and adventurous music of the "theme" to it's reprise in "Voyage To Mordor," there are many terrific passages that evoke a feeling of "being there." Much of this soundtrack is ominous or threatening in tone, but there are moments of sublime calm and frolic as well.

The standout piece is obviously "Mithrandir," an elegy for the fallen Gandalf as sung by the elves of Lothlorien. An exquisite arrangement that includes both a children's and an adult chorus, the harmonies and golden voices intertwine, building to a moving climax. It is an unforgettable piece that can alternately raise goosebumps or move you to tears.

While the music is expertly performed and intricately arranged, there is a slight "sameness" to much of this recording. This is not a drawback, at least for those of us who are reading as we listen. Though the music follow's Bakshi's film and moves along much more rapidly than any reader could follow with text, this disc can be played over and over.

As anticipation of the live-action films for LOR grows, this soundtrack is a great way to 'refresh' your memories of earlier 'visits' to Middle Earth. Or perhaps it would prove to be an excellent complement to your first literary excursion into Tolkien's fantasy classic.

-Mic