[this cue is led into by two (as of yet) unreleased compositions: the development of the hobbit theme as Merry and Pippin discuss how the fires of Isengard will spread...and after the scene cuts to the fighting at Helm's Deep, an elegaic string piece that incorporates Aragorn's theme as Théoden calls for a retreat...
Aragorn tells Haldir to fall back, the music fades out...]
[0:00]Haldir has just been wounded; the camera cuts between Haldir dying, Aragorn rushing to his side and images of the dead Elves. Elizabeth Fraser, with counterpoint from a mixed choir, sings the Lothlórien theme....[0:39]
Lyrics are from
Namárië:
ar ilyë tier undulávë lumbulë and all paths are drowned deep in shadow;
ar sindanóriello caita mornië and out of a grey country darkness lies
Rather than underscoring the action of the battle here, Shore gives an elegy for the fallen Elves. The melody is the Lothlórien theme, in the same setting that was used for Gandalf's Lament in
Fellowship of the ring.Also reprised from
Fellowship is Elizabeth Fraser's voice as the solo.
According to Shore the lament in
Fellowship was diegetic; i.e., the Elves are actually singing it in the trees, rather than it being merely musical underscore. Thus, as the same voices are recalled here, we're hearing what will be sung in Lórien because of the death of the Elves.
[0:39]...horns creep in as Aragorn lets go of Haldir. [0:45]A rough statement of Aragorn's theme is heard as he fights his way to a ladder and leaps...[0:54]Quick rendition of the Riders of Rohan motif as the gate is defended...[0:57]...slight jump ahead to Aragorn and a few Elves running to the back gate, underscored by a brassy continuation of the Riders of Rohan motif.[1:08]
[Aragorn and Gimli, to the heroic strains of the Fellowship theme, defend the causeway...]
[1:08]A descending brass phrase (last heard during the Warg attack) plays twice over the Isengard 5/4 percussion as the Uruks prepare their ballistae to fire. [1:21]A small jump ahead, to the ladders being raised...the Isengard theme plays on the low brass, while the percussion continues. The music fades as Legolas manages to knock down one of the ladders...[1:37]
[variations on the Fellowship theme that I can only describe as...'swashbuckling'
...are heard as Legolas throws down a rope and hauls his friends up...]
[1:39]Deep brass and strings play a V phrase as Théoden calls for retreat...[1:47]A horn statement of the Rohan theme leads into...[1:55]...a quick three notes from Aragorn's theme as he is shown leading the men back to the keep....[1:58]...and then a final trumpet solo of the Rohan theme.[2:09]
*********************************************
[Treebeard has just discovered the fate of the forests next to Isengard. The Huorns have begun to move. But his business is with Isengard tonight...]
[2:09]"...with rock and stone." A low chord throbs several times....[2:18]As the Ents emerge from Fangorn a boys choir sings the Reclamation of Nature theme over light percussion...[2:58]"...the last march of the Ents." The Ents are now advancing towards Isengard; a boy soprano soars over a mixed choir, building to a crescendo and mixed right into...[3:12]
[3:12]...brass variations on the Reclamation of Nature theme accompanied by an agressive string ostinato as Treebeard hurls a large stone to free a fellow Ent from some Orcs and Merry and Pippin throw rocks...[3:18]...a trumpet phrase builds to...[3:27]...a trill as some scaffolding is cast into the caverns....[3:30]...while Saruman watches the destruction continue, the brass, strings and a percussion ostinato build to build...a peak.[3:48]"Break the dam. Release the river." Strings take up the Nature theme, and the percussion ostinato beats away.(there is a bit more music in the film than on the album here)[3:59] Isengard is flooded. Mixed choir joins a furious orchestra, building and building to incredible intensity...and fading out after a gigantic crescendo in order to transition to the next scene.
There are two main ideas at work here:
1. Choral lyrics from
The Ents:
rithannen i geven Earth shakes
thangen i harn Stone breaks
na fennas i daur The forest [is] at [your] door
ôl dûr ristannen The dark sleep is broken
eryn... The woods...
...echuiannen ... have awoken
i ngelaidh dagrar The trees have gone to war
ristar thynd, cúa tawar Roots rend, wood bends
dambedir enyd i ganed The Ents have answered the call
si linna i 'waew trin 'ylf Through branches now the wind sings
Isto i dur i chuiyl Feel the power of living things
i ngelaidh dagrar The trees have gone to war
These have appeared earlier, at the Ent Moot (
Treebeard; 0:00-0:53) and when Gandalf speaks in Fangorn about how "the Ents will wake up and find that they are strong."
Both of those instances use the more Ent specific thematic material rather than the Nature theme.
2. The Reclamation of Nature theme.
The Reclamation of Nature theme -represents Middle-earth's resistance to the evil and industrialization embodied by Sauron etc. In the score, it is used when the people of Middle-earth selflessly give their aid to this cause, choosing to place themselves and their lives in opposition to the encroaching Shadow and in line with the will of Nature.(which in turn leads you back to Eru... )It is linked to Tolkien's concept of Eucatastrophe...not that it is the "Eucatastrophe theme" per se....it's about the choice that enables the Eucatastrophe.
(Shore read the books!
)
It has appeared, thus far:
1. For choir and boy solo when the Moth comes to Gandalf at Isengard.
2. In the low brass, when the Moth returns with Gwhair.
3. When Merry and Pippin distract the Orcs in order to allow Frodo to escape at Amon Hen.
4. A brief statement by solo woodwind when Merry and Pippin discuss the living trees of the Old Forest and Fangorn.
Returning to the track at hand and the Ents...
The boys choir is associated with purity in Shore's work...whether it be the false purity that the Ring seduces with....or the actual purity of Nature.
The flooding of Isengard is operatic, biblical...the full cleansing wrath of the natural world upon the the twisted metal and barren rock that Saruman would have made it.
ttbk
Magpie's Nest: Isengard Unleashed (lyrics)
Doug Adams:
LOTR Package Update?; April 13, 2006 (discussion of Nature)