Cheap Cds - The Lord of the Rings - The Two Towers

Back to The Lord of the Rings - The Two Towers - The Complete Recordings

Spotlight customer reviews:
Customer Rating:

Summary: A true work of musical genius
Comment: The Complete Recordings for Howard Shore's Lord of the Rings scores are, with little exageration,
works of art. With the Fellowship of the Rings set released at the end of 2005 and the Return of the
King set due for release this year, we will have access to the entire score for the Extended trilogy
of films. And I, like many others, am glad for it.

Howard Shore did an incredible job
with these films. The music covers such a vast array of emotions, the epic battle for Helm's Deep
weaves a tapestry, here we have the rising and falling etheral theme of the Elven warriors, then the
primeval crashing drums of the orcs of Isengard, now the heroic horns of the riders of Rohan... it
truly is something to behold. And behold it you will, for this music conjours images in your mind,
from the very grand to the very small (the Shire theme, harking back to the Hobbits old live is
heard now and again and immediately the minds eye summons images of green fields and pipe smoke).

I cannot recommend this highly enough. And if you haven't, I would suggest you also
pick up the Fellowship of the Rings...

The accompanying booklet is also fascination,
discussing the use of leitmotifs and describing instruments and performers. Really quite something.

Customer Rating:

Summary: an amazing masterpiece.. but...
Comment: This review was first written to tell every soundtrack lover to buy this thing. However... />
Like most people who love movie soundtracks and/or the Lord of the Rings trilogy, I adore
the soundtrack written for the three LOTR films. I also bought the (theatrical) trilogy soundtrack
box set as soon as it came out, a few years ago. This box set included the original soundtracks of
the theatrical version of the three LOTR films.

Now that this majestic box set
appears, I feel ripped off. Ripped off again, because the same thing happened when the LOTR movies
were being released on DVD, with newer and supposedly better versions coming out every 2 years it
seems. After the what most people considered to be the ultimate trilogy DVD box set with 12 discs,
there's still going to be another version with both theatrical and extended versions of the film,
but what kills me, new extra's and documentaries...

I fully acknowledge the sheer
genius of this soundtrack. But I can't give it more than 3 stars for the sole reason that the whole
industry built around Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy is going too far in my humble
opinion. People who fell in love with these films and the soundtracks are constantly asked to pay up
for the newest version of a release. Forced would be a better word. THere are a lot of people out
there who are willing to pay to own the "ultimate collection" (if even there's ever going to be such
a thing) and the record company, producers etc know it.

To sum up: brilliant
soundtracks without many -if any- flaws. The art work is also a feast for the eyes. But it's a real
shame that I had to pay for something of which I already owned, say, a third in the form of the
original soundtracks. So only three stars. Such a pity..

This review was basically a
plea for more transparency about what releases these companies are working on, even when another
release has only just reached stores. Should fans even go out and buy this box set? Or should they
wait for only 12 months or so, to buy a box set containing all three Complete Recordings plus
probably a tonne of art work and extra DVDs with documentaries, behind the scenes footage etc? WHo
knows. I'll be playing it safe and wait. But when is one really sure that the latest release is
going to be the ultimate one to own as an admirer or fan?

I guess we'll never know.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Another instalment of the musical masterpiece
Comment: The next instalment in the Lord of the Rings Complete Recordings treasure trove, as I said regarding
The Fellowship box set back in May:

The packaging design alone is absolutely gorgeous.
I love old, worn antique feel and that's how they've made this look. It is a pleasure to see and
hold and befitting the sublime, timeless quality of the award winning music within.

For
those who may be thinking "haven't they already released the soundtrack, like, ages ago?" let me
explain. The CDs that are usually released for a film contain music *from* the original motion
picture soundtrack but this is typically not the ENTIRE musical score used in the film, that would
require 1-3 hours of music and a CD only holds around 45 minutes of music so it is rather a
selection of tracks from the soundtrack that you get on these ordinary soundtrack releases. Due to
the phenomenal popularity of the LOTR films and music they can afford to release the entire musical
score in these deluxe box sets.

It contains 3 CDs with all the music from the score
including themes for Rohan and Fangorn Forest which we heard little of in the previously released
soundtrack, beautiful vocal pieces like Theodred's Funeral, Arwen's Fate, Haldir's Lament and all
sorts of titbits you can't believe weren't on the previously released soundtrack. There is also a
DVD of the entire score playing in superior sound and a booklet with commentary by Howard Shore
explaining the various musical themes and their rationale.
Shore approached the writing of
the LOTR score more like an opera than an ordinary film score and it shows, to think that when the
complete recordings for all three films are released there will be a set of over 10 hours of
thematic musical narrative is quite an achievement and I look forward to more musical inspiration to
come as these complete recordings are released.

Peerless music and first class
packaging design. I highly recommend buying this and enjoying an evening of Middle Earth fantasia
curled up in front of the fire.

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