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Email from 'David':
you may want to mention on the moviemusic.com blog for ROTK soundtrack that

Track 15: The Black Gate Opens
1:01 - 1:40 Beautiful flute piece starts, as Sam tries to raise Frodo's spirits by speaking of the Shire. I think this flute piece is a stroke of genius from Shore, because when you hear it on screen, you immediately realise that it signifies how small, hopeless and lonely the two hobbits are, faced with this huge, daunting task.

is (i think) the close up with the hand held camera as Frodo is crawling up the mountain by himself after he and Sam collapse, not the discussion of the shire (the use of the handheld camera, one of the few in the entire trilogy, and the flute solo, also one of the few in the trilogy, work together to show the hopelessness of the hobbits).

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Obviously Into the west is more flushed out but you’ll see certain similarities between the two.

This is Sung by Legolas, "The Field of Cormallen."

To the sea to the sea the white gulls are crying..

The wind is blowing.. And the white foam is flying.

West, west away, the round sun is falling.

Grey ship Grey ship do you hear them calling..

The voices of my people that have gone before me.

I will leave, I will leave the woods that bore me;

For our days are ending and our years are failing.

Long are the waves on the Last Shore falling.

Sweet are the voices of the Lost isle calling,

In Ellressea, in Elvenhome that no man can discover,

Where the leaves fall not: land of my people forever.

And of course the closing title song Into the West.

Lay down
your sweet and weary head
Night is falling,
you have come to journey's end.
Sleep now,
and dream of the ones who came before.
They are calling
from across the distant shore.

Why do weep? What are these tears upon your face?
Soon you will see
all of your fears will pass away,
safe in my arms
you're only sleeping.

What can you see
on the horizon?
Why do the white gulls call?
Across the sea
a pale moon rises --
The ships have come to carry you home.

Dawn will turn
to silver glass
A light on the water
All souls pass.

Hope fades
into the world of night
through shadows falling
out of memory and time.
Don't say,
"We have come now to the end."
White shores are calling
you and I will meet again.

And you'll be here in my arms
Just sleeping.

What can can you see
on the horizon?
Why do the white gulls call?
Across the sea
a pale moon rises --
The ships have come to carry you home.

And all will turn
to silver glass
A light on the water
Grey ships pass
Into the west.

I'm amazed at how much detail you all have compiled already. To get this much information from theatre viewings is very impressive.

After reading this, I've seen the film again, and looked for particular things mentioned.

In Track 14 at 0:41 - Faramir's theme. The movie intercuts between the scene with Aragorn talking with the army of the dead and a scene with Faramir, although I can't remember which one. Either where he reenters Minas Tirith, or where Denethor is preparing to burn them both.

At some point before 1:43, I think the music turns back to the Aragorn scene because it seems to be a subtle version of his theme.

Track 15, 0:51 The first quiet recorder music is where Frodo is crawling and then collapses.
2:03 is where Sam goes to Frodo and gathers him in his arms and looks around at the desolate landscape.
2:28 I think this is where Sam tries to lift Frodo's spirits by talking of the Shire. The part where Frodo replies is not on the CD. The music turns much darker there.

Track 16, 2:13 I believe this is where the tower of Sauron begins to topple.

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Originally posted by Lady of Lorien:
Track 18, 2:19 Interesting - the theory is that it's the same music as when Gandalf the Grey fell. Could be... I was thinking that it was a much more subdued version of the music that always signaled the end of each film (FOTR - starts as Frodo hears Gandalf's voice by the riverbank. TTT - during Sam's monologue at Osgiliath), but it's a bit different here. The chord progressions are very similar, so either theory could be correct. Guess we'll have to ask Howard Shore.

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Originally posted by redtwo:
I mentioned this on the scorereviews.com forum before I realized this was the original forum to post on. When Eowyn is with her dying uncle on the Fields of the Pellenor there is hint of a fiddle (hardinger? violin?) playing something akin to the Rohan theme. Just lovely.

H

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Originally posted by franz_conrad:
See this list of the missing music from the film. The music that plays during Theoden's death scene is very similar to what plays at their parting at Dunharrow earlier in the film. While I've only heard it twice, I seem to recall this was not a version of either the Rohan or Eowyn themes.
http://www.moviemusic.com/mb/Forum1/HTML/012226.html

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Yeah, I read this and saw that it was mentioned about not on the soundtrack and while I hear the strings, there is something else there. A small hint of the Rohan fiddle/hardinger. Of course, I have only heard it twice also.

Here's one: http://www.geocities.com/a_magpies_nest/id23.htm

Awesome music to a fantastically epic and brilliant film.

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Originally posted by franz_conrad:
'Hope Fails' could equally be called 'Gandalf's staff disappears'. (Which first goes missing in the Pyre of Denathor scene.)

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At least, this way he can't magically flip it within milliseconds as he does when entering Meduseld.

It took me a while to realise it, but this is actually an upside-down performance of the 'Circling Melody', a motif often associated with the Black Riders in the first film. If you want to hear this motif in its right-way-up version, listen to the FOTR album track 'The Black Rider', 2:30-end.

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Originally posted by Jeron:
"The Black Gate Opens" should be re-titled "The Horses Disappear." Just my two cents.

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Track 13: The Fields of the Pelennor
1:20-1:47 The pounding music is used when
the Gondor soldiers and the orcs throwing stones to each other. It sounds like a part in "The Bridge of Khazad Dum"(2:08-2:55), but I don't understand why. Then the scene and music continued as the Nazgul desend to Minas Tirith.
The powerful choir (1:47-2:32)is a variation of "The Prophecy", which is in the FoTR soundtrack but not used in the film.
The choir may be a part which was originally planned to be used in the opening of FoTR,
but the "powerful" choir appear in the opening of the film was the choir for Nazgul,
as we heard in track.3-8 in FoTR soundtrack.
However, it seems the choir of "The Prophecy"
(1:28-2:11) is related to the same scene where choir for Nazgul is used in the opening of FoTR. So I think Shore made this choir have a chance to appear again when Nazgul show their horrifying power. And the choir in 2:33-2:52 I think it's like a variation of which is in 2:53-3:00 of "Flight to the Ford"(FoTR Track.8)

The Nature theme appears when the Rohirrim
arrives the fields of Pelennor, and it becomes a very strong string(?) version.
I think Shore use this theme in two different
motif, one is for the nature, the other is for the courage of Rohirrim. It first gives us such a hint in TTT, when Theoden decided to face the enemy outside the Hornburg.
When I first saw there, I thought it was just a coincidence. But after seeing RoTK, I
believe this theme is also used to express
"courage and decision".

Track 15: The Black Gate Opens
3:31-4:01 I remembered there's a obvious choir in the version used in the film, and that made this part sounds more astounding in the film.

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Track 17: The Return of the King
8:12 - 8:23 Not in the film.

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Knight wrote: The Nature theme appears when the Rohirrim
arrives the fields of Pelennor, and it becomes a very strong string(?) version.
I think Shore use this theme in two different
motif, one is for the nature, the other is for the courage of Rohirrim. It first gives us such a hint in TTT, when Theoden decided to face the enemy outside the Hornburg.
When I first saw there, I thought it was just a coincidence. But after seeing RoTK, I
believe this theme is also used to express
"courage and decision".

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