The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (The Complete Recordings) [Soundtrack, Box set, Collector's Edition]

Howard Shore | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 20, 2007)
• Original Release Date: November 20, 2007
• Number of Discs: 5
• Format: Soundtrack, Box set, Collector's Edition
• Note on Boxed Sets: During shipping, discs in boxed sets occasionally become dislodged without damage. Please examine and play these discs. If you are not completely satisfied, we'll refund or replace your purchase.
• Label: Reprise / Wea
• ASIN: B000V6BE6M
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Music
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (97 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,064 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

This five-disc set caps off the "complete recordings" series, which offers extensive versions of Howard Shore's score for the Lord of the Rings trilogy. The main problem lays in its being the last installment: Most of the main characters, along with their themes, have been introduced in the previous two sets, creating a certain sense of familiarity. But there is still plenty to please fans here, and then some. Though it includes the climactic trek to Mount Doom, the overall mood is less dark than in The Two Towers. The London Philharmonic Orchestra handles the heavy lifting, with help from adult and children's choirs, and well-selected guest stars. Soprano Renée Fleming, for instance, lends a particularly eerie, otherworldly touch to disc 1's "The Grace of Undómiel," and disc 4's "Mount Doom" and "The Eagles." Meanwhile, flutist James Galway provides a quasi-spiritual counterbalance, a musical ray of hope on tracks such as disc 3's "The Mouth of Sauron." And of course, Annie Lennox's Academy Award–winning "Into the West" is here, incorporated in disc 4's "Days of the Ring." Finally, the fifth disc is a DVD-Audio that includes the score in super-duper surround sound. It may seem like overkill, but too much is never enough for LOTR fans--and besides, people buying this set are exactly the kind of people who own the type of equipment required to make disc 5 explode. Finally, the packaging includes new artwork and liner notes written by Doug Adams, an expert on the music from LOTR. --Elisabeth Vincentelli

Product Description

The final film in the Lord Of The Rings blockbuster trilogy features the climax of the epic journey that brought Tolkien's world before our very eyes. The Complete Recordings series featuring the soundtrack albums have been hits and award winners. Now with The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King featuring Into The West by Annie Lennox, this album from the series' composer Howard Shore is sure to score with movie fans. For fans of The Lord Of The Rings films, and those who purchased last year's The Fellowship Of The Ring The Complete Recordings and The Two Towers The Complete Recordings, this incredible package completes a now classic set of soundtracks.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

165 of 181 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars White shores are calling ... November 20, 2007

By G. Kroener

Format:Audio CD

Four years it has been now; four years since The Return Of The King graced our theatres, destined to become the second most successful film of all time, garning eleven Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director for Peter Jackson. And, not least of all, two for Howard Shore and his never resting mind. Four years full of studying Tolkien, labouring over dozens of different cuts and scrutinising every thematic approach in each scene, making absolutely sure it relates correctly and pushes all the right buttons, Howard Shore's labour of love comes to a glorious, and well- deserved end.
The End? Not really. For three years now, Howard Shore himself supervised the production of these Complete Recordings, and it speaks for his character that he didn't give this project out of his hands.
So, here we are, holding The Return Of The King in our hands, and the question is today as relevant as it was four years ago - maybe even more, since we can now judge the full vision of Howard Shore: does it hold up? Did Shore do justice to his own brilliance, did he actually manage to bring the full spectrum of themes to a logical, conclusive, satisfying end?

If the last 20 years of film making have taught us anything, then it's certainly a strong reluctancy to set our hopes for sequels or prequels too high. How many times did we have the highest hopes for a single project, and it didn't only fail, but also had that uniquely ability to not only tarnish the film itself, but all previous entries as well?
That is the most important lesson, and it also reveals a very important aspect of creativity: dazzling the mind with a lot of flash is easy; illuminating the mind with structure demands far more from any artist. That today's movies fail to give us amazing eye candy can't be expected anymore, but amongst all the FX artists doing their magic and sound effect guys blasting the theatre's speakers, where's the story, the gravitas, the ingenuity?
So, am I trying to ease you into the message that Howard Shore actually didn't really deliver this time? No. I want to show you the vast deepness of the chasm on whose edge Howard Shore stood.

Obviously, Lord Of The Rings is not the first movie series with sequels that are better than the original. Motion picture history is littered with improved second parts. The difference, however, is that usually, when a composer delivers an improved sequel, it feels like revisiting the previous score. The composer develops themes by reconsidering the first installment. He might take the score from film one from A to B, and the second score from A to C.
In Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers, Shore went from point A to B and B to C, respectively. Themes continued developments without a recap, drawing fresh connections while pushing the old in new directions; the palette widened, incorporating a grander sense of scope and advanced realisations of the styles.
Return of the King takes us triumphantly to point D, which logically expands the compass even further. Shore has built his emotional arc through nearly eight hours of music before reaching this score, and now, as we reach the destination, everything is touched with a sense of gravity. We've earned this voyage; we've come to its conclusion naturally, and the effects are nearly overwhelming.
Nowadays, it's an easy task to find film scores with beautifully soaring themes and powerful action. Nearly every film score today appears to see its task in creating music that is soaked with emotional highlights, moments of pathos and orchestral clashes of almost orgiastic proportions. But in 90 % of those cases, an essential element is lacking: the music and the film don't *earn* these moments, resulting in an atmosphere of fakeness and emotional pretentiousness.

This isn't the case with Lord of the Rings, and especially not with Return of the King. Two scores and six hours of music steadily, subtly and systematically build into this archetectural masterpiece.
Return Of The King has a different vibe from the very first bar. Orchestrations and compositions are a lot more diverse and intricate, and even the palette of soundscapes is more elaborate.
This is largely due to the fact that in Return of the King, Howard Shore combines and collides his themes to bring them down to a common denominator, to bring the stories to their logical climax. For instance, in "A Coronal Of Silver and Gold" or "The Land Of Shadow", the 5/4 beat of Isengard meets the Fourth Age Of Mordor theme, and the Orc theme of Isengard meets the Threat Of Mordor motif, indicating that Isengard's power and creatures have now been fully consumed by and integrated under the eye of Sauron.

From the very beginning, Return of the King builds on The Two Towers' maturity, and adds an amazing layer of thematic and textural developments. The bridging is absolutely seamless - the first 30 seconds of "Roots and Beginnings" sound like a direct continuation of Two Tower's end credits.
This score has a distinct touch of understated grandesse, which roots in Howard Shore's inherent subtlety, and which is perfect because the movie isn't about heroic, uplifting battles, it shows a world in decline and its hope of revival.
Everything builds into this, and the true meanings of all themes are revealed. Right in the opening sequence, "Roots And Beginnings", the essential meaning of the Ring's Seduction theme is presented. Or the ringwraiths; listen to Fellowship's "The Nazgul", Two Towers' "Wraiths On Wings", and then "Shieldmaiden Of Rohan", and you will not only see, you will understand. That's also a feelings very few scores can create.
When Aragorn bows to the four hobbits during the coronation scene, you hear the exact same short piece that plays when Frodo says "I will take the ring" during the Council Of Elrond; these are the moments that reveal a true genius of musical storytelling.
And amongst all these intricacies, Howard Shore never loses the focus on the heart of the tale. That is why the emotional climaxes reaches their full blossoming in the listener's mind, and each one stabs right into your heart, unfolding a deep satisfaction.
As you know by now, this gem includes four CDs, one DVD with the score in Surround Sound, and a more than intriguing booklet by Doug Adams, who guides us through the soundscapes of Middle-Earth.
Also, like Two Towers, this release includes countless additions that didn't make it into the film. These additions are sometimes of bigger, often of shorter nature, but they all glue together some score parts that appeared incoherent in the film. In the best sense of the word, they give the score even more time to breathe and to shine.

I don't think there has ever been a film score that lived and breathed quite like The Lord Of The Rings trilogy, and The Return Of The King especially. Every piece of music has its meaning, talks to you, and leaves you deeply satisfied.
Unlike the Ring films themselves, their scores, or more precisely their themes, may never become part of popular culture, and in times where this is considered the knighting for any film score, Lord Of The Rings doesn't need to, since it has an entirely different goal, and works on an entirely different level.
If you wanted to place "The Return Of The King" in film music history, you will have to go back to the glory days of film music in the 50s and the 60s, when there was no difference between classically trained composers and film composers, when those great musicians didn't need to worry about sales or becoming part of pop culture, but instead created music through which their films lived, breathed and acquired true greatness. Spartacus, El Cid, North By Northwest, Ben Hur, Jason and the Argonauts, that is the royal company in which The Lord Of The Rings does not need to feel ashamed.
You could even say that The Return Of The King goes back to 18th/19th century opera in terms of how dozens and dozens of meticulously interwoven motifs not only shape the actors' performance, but also tell the story on their own. In this light, Shore's Ring trilogy has even an advantage over scores like Ben Hur or King Of Kings.
Howard Shore's masterpiece combines genuine opera with a glimpse of Golden Age, and this is an achievement for the ages.

29 of 30 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantabulous! November 24, 2007

By Robert Thorbury

Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase

I have been greatly looking forward to a complete "Return of the King" soundtrack ever since the movie came out, and I realized how wonderful Howard Shore's music was. What sheer delight, being able to sit in my living room for two hours last night, and again this afternoon, with two cats vying for space in my lap, the sound of knitting needles softly clacking nearby, during lulls in the music, while listing to the heavenly strains of melody wafting from the speakers. The only thing missing was the fireplace and a couple of burning logs.

I would argue for this being the greatest score ever written for a film sequel, except that technically it isn't. Peter Jackson set out to produce a single, gigantic epic, which he then broke into three parts for convenience. In much the same way, J. R. R. Tolkien wrote the original novel half a century ago but split it into the familiar trio. Thus, when Howard Shore was asked to create the music, he had the luxury of thinking in terms of the whole trilogy, and began to lay the groundwork in "The Fellowship of the Ring" right from the beginning. This gave him a tremendous advantage over, say, John Williams, who was at the mercy of George Lucas coming up with a new Star Wars script every few years. He had to make up the music as he went along.

According to the "making of the music" video in the extended DVD version of "Fellowship", Shore knew from the outset that he wanted to create an opera. If you read the excellent notes which come with the music boxed sets for all three movies, you'll know that he heavily employed a 19th century technique called "leitmotif", wherein every character of note, and every place, gets its own theme, and all of these melodies are skillfully woven together. By "The Return of the King", all the pieces were in place for the grand climax of the epic.

The beauty of this composing technique is that I could sit there with my eyes closed, and follow the progression of the movie. Certain visions and bits of dialog would pop into my mind. I could see Deagol plunge into the water and lose hold of his fishing pole, only to find the Ring embedded in the mire instead -- to his undoing. Or how about when the treasonous Saruman is standing atop Orthanc, up to his old tricks, trying to sow dissent among the ranks of his opponents? Or that wonderful extended scene where Sam and Frodo see the sun shining for one last, forlorn moment upon a floral crown atop the fallen head of a Gondorian statue at the Cross-Roads?

My favorite track of all is "The Lighting of the Beacons". I've seen that scene probably three times more often than the rest of the movie in its entirety, and the music plays a huge part of that. Another good one is "Osgilliath Invaded", which features boy soprano Ben del Maestro's ethereal voice soaring above Pelennor Fields, figuratively speaking, as Gandalf rides forth from Minas Tirith, light streaming from his staff, to dispel the Nazgul on their fell beasts and thus rescue Faramir's band.

And, of course, there is the whole sequence of Sam and Frodo on the side of Mount Doom: "Then let's be rid of it, once and for all. I can't carry it for you, but I can carry YOU!"

If you've watched the "making of" videos for the extended "Return of the King" DVD, you may recall that Annie Lennox was working on a second recording, called, I think, "Live for the Day", but this never made it into the movie. I was kind of hoping maybe they'd slip it into the boxed set, alongside "Into the West", but no dice. They did, however, include something just as nice: "Bilbo's Song". I listened to it twice, feeling utterly haunted by the melody. What a great way to finish the journey.

As with the other two boxed sets, the packaging is very attractive. I have a minor complaint about the CD pegs being a hair too tight, but no matter. Be aware, too, that the DVD is two-sided, which means there is no label side to absorb grease from one's hand inadvertently brushing across it. It's happened to me a couple of times already. That also means being extra careful when you twist the DVD off its rubbery peg, lest you get fingerprints on the surface.

The notes for all three movies keep referring to a book called "The Music of The Lord of the Rings Films". I hope this becomes available sooner rather than later. There are very nice PDF booklets available for download giving a track-by-track discussion of the music in all three films -- but this would mean listening to the music in front of my computer. And that isn't always practical. Perhaps it's time to invest in a nice color printer.

But why spend any more time reading this, when you could be listening to the music instead? It was well worth the price for me. Go for it!

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Cinematic Score Masterpiece! November 21, 2007

By Michael Longstreet

Format:Audio CD

Howard Shore's Academy Award winning score for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of King was released in 2003. That was a typical standard release, only containing a fraction of the film's actual music. Finally, the film's score takes its rightful place in cinematic music history with this 4-disc masterpiece recently released from Reprise Records.

Shore's brilliant blending of themes occurs in this final chapter of the film trilogy, more so than either of the two previous releases. The Fellowship theme, after forming and then breaking, must draw itself to a new level of focus as they reach Mount Doom. The Elves' theme bestows its final gifts to Middle-Earth, receding into the West. Isengard's theme must meet its fateful demise, but not before incorporating those themes into Sauron's theme near the end of the story.

The themes of men, Rohan and Gondor, each given isolated themes in the previous releases, now join forces assuming lead roles in the preparation for war with Sauron's forces. The theme for the Ring itself is also brought to its climax as its fate is decided on Mount Doom. The three main Ring themes now interact with each other, creating a musical fusion that beautifully haunting.

As Middle-Earth survives the War of the Ring and enters its Fourth Age, Shore grants the surviving culture's themes peace and prosperity and maintains the aesthetics of each society. Men are granted respite; the Elves, peace; Hobbits, wisdom; and Ring to its fate, destruction.

Released in a beautiful boxed set, Shore's score is recorded on four discs. Disc five is a DVD audio disc that contains the entire score in Dolby Digital Surround Sound, Dolby Digital Stereo Sound, Advanced Resolution Surround Sound (24-bit), and Advanced Resolution Stereo Sound (24-bit). The set also comes with a detailed 45-page booklet about the score for the third film, along with Shore's inspirations for some tracks, new instruments used during the scoring process, a list of performers, and much more.

It's really difficult to say which tracks are standouts over others because the entire score is fantastic. Disc four's "Days of the Ring" (which is actually the film's end credits) features Annie Lennox's Academy Award winning song "Into the West."

This is truly a fantastic piece, I've been waiting for its release ever since the Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Complete Recordings came out two years ago. It's hard to express just truly how moving this music really is. If you're a fan of Lord of the Rings, or even just a fan of score music like me, then you'll definitely want to pick up this set.