Leaving Rivendell

Last updated
Leaving Rivendell
Leaving Rivendell cover.png
Studio album by
Released2005
RecordedGermany
Genre Classical
Length69:00
The Tolkien Ensemble chronology
At Dawn in Rivendell
(2003)
Leaving Rivendell
(2005)
Complete Songs & Poems
(2006)

Leaving Rivendell is the fourth album by the Danish group The Tolkien Ensemble, with Christopher Lee as additional vocalist. [1] It features songs composed to the lyrics found in The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien and forms the end part of a complete musical interpretation of all lyrics in the book. [2]

Contents

The composer Stephen Eddins describes the music as "largely modal and melancholy". [3] In his view the album has the correct tone for accompanying Tolkien's poems, but the music is not in the main "strong enough" to attract listeners who are not already Tolkien fans. He prefers Peter Hall's settings to those by Caspar Reiff  [ es ], and considers Hall's "Song of Eärendil" to be the most successful track in the album. That setting is played on guitar by Hall and sung by the Scottish musician Nick Keir, and to Eddins it "sounds authentically rooted in Celtic folk music, with occasional eccentric and unexpected but effective harmonizations". [3] He admired the singing and playing of The Tolkien Ensemble, the Danish Radio Sinfonietta, and the Danish National Chamber Choir on the album; the conductor was Morten Ryelund Sørensen. [3]

Track listing

  1. "Riddle of Strider (II)" (Caspar Reiff)
  2. "Verse of the Rings (II)" (Caspar Reiff)
  3. "Bregalad's Song" (Caspar Reiff)
  4. "Legolas' Song of the Sea" (Caspar Reiff)
  5. "Song of the Elves Beyond the Sea - Galadriel's Song of Eldamar (II)" (Caspar Reiff)
  6. "Oliphaunt" (Peter Hall)
  7. "Ents' Marching Song" (Peter Hall)
  8. "Galadriel's Messages" (Caspar Reiff)
  9. "Song of Eärendil" (Peter Hall)
  10. "Song of Durin" (Peter Hall)
  11. "Tom Bombadil's Song (III) I Had an Errand There..." (Peter Hall)
  12. "Wight's Chant" (Peter Hall)
  13. "Ho! Tom Bombadil (II)" (Peter Hall)
  14. "Tom Bombadil's Song (IV)" (Caspar Reiff)
  15. "Théoden's Battle Cry" (Caspar Reiff)
  16. "At Théoden's Death" (Caspar Reiff)
  17. "Snowmane's Epitaph" (Caspar Reiff)
  18. "Burial Song of Théoden" (Caspar Reiff)
  19. "Long List of the Ents, No. 2" (Peter Hall)
  20. "Sam's Invocation of Elven Hymn to Elbereth Gilthoniel" (Peter Hall)
  21. "Call to Arms of the Rohirrim" (Caspar Reiff)
  22. "Eagle's Song" (Caspar Reiff)

Credits

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rivendell</span> Fictional valley of Elves in J. R. R. Tolkiens Middle-earth

Rivendell is a valley in J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional world of Middle-earth, representing both a homely place of sanctuary and a magical Elvish otherworld. It is an important location in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, being the place where the quest to destroy the One Ring began.

Treebeard, or Fangorn in Sindarin, is a tree-giant character in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. He is an Ent and is said by Gandalf to be "the oldest living thing that still walks beneath the Sun upon this Middle-earth." He lives in the ancient Forest of Fangorn, to which he has given his name. It lies at the southern end of the Misty Mountains. He is described as being about 14 feet in height, and in appearance similar to a beech or an oak.

Eärendil the Mariner and his wife Elwing are characters in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium. They are depicted in The Silmarillion as Half-elven, the children of Men and Elves. He is a great seafarer who, on his brow, carried the morning star, a jewel called a Silmaril, across the sky. The jewel had been saved by Elwing from the destruction of the Havens of Sirion. The morning star and the Silmarils are elements of the symbolism of light, for divine creativity, continually splintered as history progresses. Tolkien took Eärendil's name from the Old English name Earendel, found in the poem Crist A, which hailed him as "brightest of angels"; this was the beginning of Tolkien's Middle-earth mythology. Elwing is the granddaughter of Lúthien and Beren, and is descended from Melian the Maia. Through their progeny, Eärendil and Elwing became the ancestors of the Númenorean, and later Dúnedain, royal bloodline.

<i>The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers</i> 2002 film by Peter Jackson

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers is a 2002 epic fantasy adventure film directed by Peter Jackson from a screenplay by Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Stephen Sinclair, and Jackson, based on 1954's The Two Towers, the second volume of the novel The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien. The sequel to 2001's The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, the film is the second instalment in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. It features an ensemble cast including Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Liv Tyler, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin, Cate Blanchett, John Rhys-Davies, Bernard Hill, Christopher Lee, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, Orlando Bloom, Hugo Weaving, Miranda Otto, David Wenham, Brad Dourif, Karl Urban, and Andy Serkis.

<i>The Lord of the Rings</i> (1981 radio series) Radio dramatisation of book

In 1981, BBC Radio 4 produced a dramatisation of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings in 26 half-hour stereo instalments. The novel had previously been adapted as a 12-part BBC Radio adaptation in 1955 and 1956, and a 1979 production by The Mind's Eye for National Public Radio in the USA.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Man in the Moon Stayed Up Too Late</span> Poem in The Lord of the Rings

"The Man in the Moon Stayed Up Too Late" is J. R. R. Tolkien's imagined original song behind the nursery rhyme "Hey Diddle Diddle ", invented by back formation. It was first published in Yorkshire Poetry magazine in 1923, and was reused in extended form in the 1954–55 The Lord of the Rings as a song sung by Frodo Baggins in the Prancing Pony inn. The extended version was republished in the 1962 collection The Adventures of Tom Bombadil.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the real-world history and notable fictional elements of J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy universe. It covers materials created by Tolkien; the works on his unpublished manuscripts, by his son Christopher Tolkien; and films, games and other media created by other people.

"Errantry" is a three-page poem by J.R.R. Tolkien, first published in The Oxford Magazine in 1933. It was included in revised and extended form in Tolkien's 1962 collection of short poems, The Adventures of Tom Bombadil. Donald Swann set the poem to music in his 1967 song cycle, The Road Goes Ever On.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Namárië</span> Elvish poem by J. R. R. Tolkien

"Namárië" is a poem by J. R. R. Tolkien written in Quenya, a constructed language, and published in The Lord of the Rings. It is subtitled "Galadriel's Lament in Lórien", which in Quenya is Altariello nainië Lóriendessë. The poem appears in one other book by Tolkien, The Road Goes Ever On.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Tolkien Ensemble</span> Danish musical group

The Tolkien Ensemble is a Danish ensemble which created "the world's first complete musical interpretation of the poems and songs from The Lord of the Rings". They published four CDs from 1997 to 2005, in which all the poems and songs of The Lord of the Rings are set to music. The project was approved by the Tolkien Estate. Queen Margrethe II of Denmark gave permission to use her illustrations on the CD covers.

<i>An Evening in Rivendell</i> 1997 studio album by The Tolkien Ensemble

An Evening in Rivendell is the first album by the Danish group The Tolkien Ensemble. It features songs composed to the lyrics found in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings and forms the first part of what was to become a complete musical interpretation of all lyrics in the book.

<i>A Night in Rivendell</i> 2000 studio album by The Tolkien Ensemble

A Night In Rivendell is the second album by the Danish group the Tolkien Ensemble. It features songs composed to the lyrics found in J. R. R. Tolkien's the Lord of the Rings and forms the second part of what was to become a complete musical interpretation of all lyrics in the book.

<i>At Dawn in Rivendell</i> 2003 studio album by The Tolkien Ensemble

At Dawn in Rivendell is the third album by the Danish group the Tolkien Ensemble. It featured a guest appearance by the actor and singer Christopher Lee, who voiced the spoken word tracks and sang the part of the Ent Treebeard.

<i>Stronghold</i> (Summoning album) 1999 studio album by Summoning

Stronghold is the fourth full-length album by the Austrian black metal band Summoning. This album marked a change in the sound of Summoning as it was much more "guitar orientated with more compact keyboard-melodies". "Where Hope and Daylight Die" features Tania Borsky, Protector's ex-girlfriend and a former member of Die Verbannten Kinder Evas, on lead vocals. The album's cover was adapted from 'The Bard', an 1817 painting by John Martin.

Elrond Half-elven is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium. Both of his parents, Eärendil and Elwing, were half-elven, having both Men and Elves as ancestors. He is the bearer of the elven-ring Vilya, the Ring of Air, and master of Rivendell, where he has lived for thousands of years through the Second and Third Ages of Middle-earth. He was the Elf-king Gil-galad's herald at the end of the Second Age, saw Gil-galad and king Elendil fight the dark lord Sauron for the One Ring, and Elendil's son Isildur take it rather than destroy it.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Galadriel</span> Character in J. R. R. Tolkiens Middle-earth

Galadriel is a character created by J. R. R. Tolkien in his Middle-earth writings. She appears in The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion, and Unfinished Tales.

The poetry in The Lord of the Rings consists of the poems and songs written by J. R. R. Tolkien, interspersed with the prose of his high fantasy novel of Middle-earth, The Lord of the Rings. The book contains over 60 pieces of verse of many kinds; some poems related to the book were published separately. Seven of Tolkien's songs, all but one from The Lord of the Rings, were made into a song-cycle, The Road Goes Ever On, set to music by Donald Swann. All the poems in The Lord of the Rings were set to music and published on CDs by The Tolkien Ensemble.

The Song of Eärendil is the longest poem in The Lord of the Rings. In the fiction, it is sung and composed by the Hobbit Bilbo Baggins in the Elvish sanctuary of Rivendell. It tells how the mariner Eärendil tries to sail to a place of paradise, and acquires a Silmaril, a prized sun-jewel. Eventually he and his ship are set in the heavens to sail forever as the light of the Morning Star.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Music of Middle-earth</span> Music in J. R. R. Tolkiens Middle-earth fiction

The music of Middle-earth consists of the music mentioned by J. R. R. Tolkien in his Middle-earth books, the music written by other artists to accompany performances of his work, whether individual songs or adaptations of his books for theatre, film, radio, and games, and music more generally inspired by his books.

References

  1. Pohle, Robert W. Jr.; Hart, Douglas C.; Baldwin, Rita Pohle (2017). The Christopher Lee Film Encyclopedia. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 327. ISBN   978-0-8108-9270-5.
  2. "Discography". The Tolkien Ensemble. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
  3. 1 2 3 Eddins, Stephen. "Leaving Rivendell". AllMusic. Retrieved 7 September 2020.