Search - Leonard Rosenman :: J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord Of The Rings: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

Best part of this sub par movie

J. K. Moser | Flemington, New Jersey USA | 05/11/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The animated 1978 Lord of the Rings movie disappoints in almost every aspect of its production except the music. Rosenman is able to capture almost as well as Shore the spirit of Tolkien. Unfortunately it doesn't always ring true, because unlike the recent LOTR trilogy scores, Rosenman doesn't use actual elvish and dwarvish in his chorale pieces. This detracts somewhat from the overall listening experience. Rosenman's main theme is enchanting and my only criticism of that, is that it is underused. The other problem Rosenman has, is that this score does resemble some of his other work most noticebly Star Trek IV. Overall this is a fine score, not a great one, but it is enjoyable."

For those fanatics of the movie only

TrezKu13 | Norfolk, VA | 10/04/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

"What happens when the guy who did the theme for "Combat!" does a fantasy film's theme? Voila!



This soundtrack is really a hit and miss, as far as most soundtracks go. I only bought it because I consider the animated LOTR to be one of the most "craptastic" films ever made, and my cult love for it went that far. The problem with this soundtrack is two-fold, however:



On one hand, it is like many film soundtracks in which you would probably have to see the visuals in order to fully enjoy it. Otherwise, its just a bunch of notes. Some tracks do actually suit well on their own, particularly the last three tracks and "Mithrandil," but otherwise you would probably have to be a fan of the movie before venturing to buy this.



The funny thing is...the main theme actually isn't all that bad...but yet again there's a catch. On it's own its a good theme, and the tracks that are easy to listen to on their own are good as well...but when you actually SEE the movie you realize how poorly placed they are. "The Dawn Battle/Theoden's Victory" is EXTREMELY melodramatic in the film, with lots of wind instruments playing a loud, sad song as the orcs slowly advance on our heroes. Heck, just listen to the first few seconds of "History of the Ring" - that's how the movie opens folks, an artillery barrage from every instrument in the orchestra.



Like I said, if you loved the movie and never read the book in your life, I would suggest buying this. If you didn't like the movie, it's not worth your money. Might have not been worth my money...oh well!"

Read carefully

M. Stough | Chicago | 05/17/2006

(1 out of 5 stars)

"While this looks like the "original soundtrack", Read carefully and note that this is a Japanese reissue and doesn't sound anything like the soundtrack I was anticipating from the movie. My error in not reading the details, but the CD cover and wording of the page are somewhat misleading."