Customer Reviews

Music Inspired By J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

There are a couple tracks that I'm not too happy with, such as "May it Be" and "Aniron", which were simply done far better on the Fellowship of the Ring Soundtrack by Enya, and "Fog on the Barrow-Downs", which has some good moments, but is completely ruined by the out of tune piccolo (At least, I pretty sure it's a piccolo, or else a flute or a recorder.)

Nonetheless, I really like some of the tracks, such as "Sing Hey," "I Sang of Leaves of Gold," "Ever On and On Goes the Road," "Annon Edhellen" and "Bilbo's Song", which features a really nice saxophone solo. I also quite like the men's vocals in "Gandalf" and "Riders of Rohan," which are delightful, in my humble opinion. Those seem to be closer to the heart of Professor Tolkien's works, as they are done in the style of old Gregorian chants, which was the kind of music Tolkien imagined with many of his poems in the text.

I like that they classify it as music INSPIRED by the Lord of the Rings, rather than as Middle Earth Music, where many of the songs simply wouldn't fit.

Overall, some things a bit clumsy, but not a bad album. I got my copy at Wal-Mart for eight dollars, and I think it was worth it in some cases. But feel free to have your own opinion on it.

A friend of mine actually gave this CD to me, thinking I would like it, since I am somewhat of an amateur musician. He mistakenly bought it, thinking it was the original mp soundtrack from "LotR: The Fellowship of the Ring", but boy was he wrong! Honestly, I'm not sure how to describe the "music" on the cd, but after about 2 minutes of listening to the first few tracks, I had to shut it off, fearing I was about to suffer a fatal brain hemorrhage. From the anti-melodius tunes, to the unbearably awful intonation of the group, everything that could go wrong, did. DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT mistake this CD for Howard Shore's wonderful original score....

I know that nobody that wrote a review, liked. Well I love it. I will say this. It is not music for people who don't like fast, upbeat music, will not like it. It is very beautiful, even though they didn't stay strict to the poems. it is very beautiful. I am music, even though totally great,this music does not sond out of tune! My favorite is Fog on barrow-downs. But i also like them all. The coolest thing ever is that the sound of fireworks in Gandalf's fireworks sound like they are zooming over your head and the sound of horses hooves galloping sound so real in Riders of theoden. I love music. It may not be written by howard shore, but it's fantastic. The singers did a spectacular job and so did the flutest/flutests.

Although the music sounds really nice for about 30 seconds of each "song", suddenly it dissolves into a morass of cacophony. The gothic vocals are wonderful, transporting you to another realm, when suddenly you are thrust into the depths of musical hell with a horrendous screeching guitar line. On one song, the flute was so out of tune that my teeth began to ache. Although the thought was a good one, I think too much ... cocaine annihilated any possible future for this cd. Please avoid at all costs -- unless you want to use it as a coaster or to dress up for Halloween as the worst audio experience EVER.

...I know whether or not something is music or not; let me just say that the only songs I actually listen to are: 1- Sing Hey, 4- I Sang of Leaves of Gold, and 5- Ever on and on Goes the Road...Too much Modern-earth and not enough Middle-earth.

I a an obsessive Tolkien fan. Even so, I found the music of the Tolkien Ensemble to be pretentious and the melodies wandering and unfocussed.
I was disappointed.
There is no "feel" for the people, i.e., Elves, Dwarves, Men, or Hobbits, to whom the music is ascribed. There are too many basses and baritones, insufficient sopranos, too many accidentals, and no harps (!). I actually winced at one note in the duet between the Ent and the Entwife which is written to be flatted, why, I cannot fathom. High notes emphasize small words - of, on - and more important words are hurried together because the composer seems not to have taken the natural rythms of Tolkien's poetry into account. A much better effort is Broceliande's "The Starlit Jewel" with music written by Marion Zimmer Bradley and others.

I REALLY ENJOYED THE WESTWIND ENSEMBLE'S "A CHRISTMAS TRIBUTE TO MANNHEIM STEAMROLLER", BUT THIS IS AN EMBARRASSMENT TO THE MUSIC
OF THE "LORD OF THE RINGS". IT IS A COMBINATION OF JAZZ, WEIRD
NEW AGE INSTRUMENTATION THIS IS POORLY DONE, AND SINGING THAT IS OUT OF PLACE AND NOT TRUE TO THE CHARACTER OF THE "AGE OF MIDDLE EARTH". IF YOU WANT TRULY THE VERY BEST MUSIC FOR THE
LORD OF THE RINGS AND MIDDLE GET DAVID ARKENSTONE'S "MUSIC INSPIRED BY MIDDLE EARTH". THIS IS TRULY WONDERFUL MUSIC. I REALLY WISH DAVID HAD DONE THE SOUNDTRACK, IT WOULD HAVE BEEN MUCH MORE REALISTIC AND "MIDDLE EARTHISH".