Track Listing

1. A Storm Is Coming
2. Hope And Memory
3. Minas Tirith-Feat. Ben Del Maestro
4. The White Tree
5. The Steward Of Gondor-Feat. Billy Boyd
6. Minas Morgul
7. The Ride Of The Rohirrim
8. Twilight And Shadow-Feat. Renee Fleming
9. Cirith Ungol
10. Anduril
11. Shelob's Lair
12. Ash And Smoke
13. The Fields Of The Pelennor
14. Hope Fails
15. The Black Gate Opens-Feat. Sir James Galway
16. The End Of All Things-Feat. Renee Fleming
17. The Return Of The King-Feat. Sir James Galway, Viggo Mortensen & Renee Fleming
18. The Grey Havens-Feat. Sir James Galway
19. Into The West-Performed By Annie Lennox

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #14825 in Music
• Released on: 2003-11-24
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Enhanced, Soundtrack

Amazon.co.uk Review
Elegant and eloquent, Howard Shore's score for The Return of the King shies away from excessive epic bombast. The composer weaves into the fabric familiar leitmotifs from the earlier two scores--such as the heroic "Fellowship" theme and the stirring "Rohan" theme--but now they are presented with a reflective sense of finality. Shore's distinctive orchestral palette for the trilogy has always featured voices--either solo or choral--as a key musical colouring, and here the professionals (including soprano Renee Fleming) are joined by Billy Boyd and Viggo Mortenson, who provide small but effective contributions.

There is martial music, naturally, while the Mordor sequences--such as "Minas Morgul" and "Shelob's Lair"--elicit some terrifying orchestral drama. But the score's overall tenor is more meditative than either of its predecessors, ultimately emphasising the poignancy of farewells more than exterior spectacle as it reaches a suitably and satisfyingly Wagnerian climax in "The Grey Havens". Only the obligatory song tie-in, "Into the West" (sung by Annie Lennox), is a middle-of-the-road disappointment after all that has gone before.

This single disc presents only selections from a much larger work. Hopefully, the complete scores for all three films will soon be released with the same sort of lavish attention paid to John Williams' comparable Star Wars cycle. Only then will the magnitude of Howard Shore's achievement be fully evident: at the very least, like Williams a generation earlier, Shore has given musically aware filmgoers a brief respite from wall-to-wall product-placed pop and thudding drum machines. --Mark Walker

Customer Reviews

Return of the King - Enhanced CD
Howard Shore has done it again!
This is a superb soundtrack, with hautingly beautiful music and some incredible singing from Ben del Maestro, Renee Fleming and a stunning finale from Annie Lennox. It also contains some surprises. Billy Boyd and Viggo Mortensen feature as well, and some beautiful flute renditions from Sir James Galway.
I had expected this to be darker, almost depressing, knowing the way the book progresses, but this soundtrack has echoes of the past within it. Familiar themes from both The Fellowship and the Two Towers are interwoven here as well, to leave this listener at least, moved to tears in places. The track entitled 'The Return of the King' in particular weaves a powerful spell with words in Sindarin sung by Aragorn, now Elessar. In this track alone the album would be worth its cost.
Buy it, listen to it, absorb it, as the trilogy reaches its wonderful climax.
Truly, Howard Shore and Peter Jackson have woven a spell worthy of Tolkein.

Thrilling, engrossing, makes you tap your feet
I have found that all of the Lord of the Rings soundtracks have stood out from other films in every way. You can never grow bored of it and you find it stuck in your head after listening.
Return of the King is different from the other two soundtracks. There is more chanting and Celtic tunes on flutes. It's concluding song is by Annie Lennox, which I think to be the best of the three songs.
My favorite tracks are Minas Tirith and the Pelennor fields. Minas Tirith has the compelling music of Gondor and your mind becomes filled with your panoramic memories of the film, when the Fell Beast descends on Faramir's Gondorian knights as they gallop frantically from the fallen and ruined city of Osgiliath to Minas Tirith the City of Kings. The Pelennor fields leaves you imagining the vast hordes of Orcs faced by the 6000 Rohirrm. A chilling chanting echoes as the riders prepare to charge headlong into the fray.
If you are a fan of the Elven music, then the track Twilight and Shadow features with the Evenstar tune and if you want to remember the most emotionally gripping moment of the film then flick to the Return of the King track.
Great music, great composer, great trilogy!

A pure masterpiece!
I've just heard some samples from the new Lord of The Rings - The Return of The King soundtrack, and it has just blew me away.

This soundtrack just builds of the previous two scores. Howard Shore has created a masterpiece of work for the Lord of The Rings. This score will go down in history as one of the best movie scores ever produced.

The tracks that stand out on The Return of The King are: "Minas Tirith" - part of which you can hear in the trailer for the film; "The Fields Of The Pelennor"; "The Black Gate Opens" - which has the same theme as "Into The West" and "The Grey Havens" which has the same musical feel as "The Breaking of The Fellowship" and "Samwise The Brave" from the previous two scores, and will no doubt leave a few people in tears when the film ends - me included!

When I first heard that Annie Lennox was had been asked to sing / produce the final song, I thought it was a bad move, but after hearing some of the song "Into The West", it just fits perfectly.

If you haven't bought any of The Lord of The Rings soundtracks, you are missing out on something very special.