AMG Review of Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers -- The Complete Recordings

William Ruhlmann
All Music Guide

When it opened in theaters, #The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers ran one minute short of three hours; the subsequent DVD version added another 44 minutes. An even greater increase is seen here. The single-disc soundtrack album that was released initially crossed the 70-minute threshold, but this expansion, following a similar one for the first installment in the trilogy, #The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, adds much more material. In fact, at three hours, eight minutes, and 44 seconds, it goes on longer than the theatrical version of the movie itself and contains some music not actually heard in the film. Also included is a 45-page booklet featuring extensive liner notes by Doug Adams going into great detail, with sheet music examples, about composer Howard Shore's approach to writing music for the epic story. Much of the music is extrapolated from themes created for the first movie, but this score is more various, appropriate to a film in which the protagonists split into different groups and pursue separate adventures for much of the screen time. While there are light, even-toned sections, there is also much dramatic, stirring music, in keeping with a film that, after tracing the complicated fantasy plot, settles at its conclusion into a structure familiar from many Westerns -- in effect, the Indians attack the fort, and the cavalry saves the day. After that resolution, however, the overarching quest for the ring remains, and the score concludes with Björk sound-alike Emiliana Torrini plaintively singing "Gollum's Song," which expresses hopelessness. It's a downbeat ending that looks forward to the resolution of the story told in the final film. In addition to three CDs, the package also includes a fourth disc repeating the entire score in DVD-audio with a 5.1 Surround Sound mix.