This piece gallops along as it should, conveying to me the image of a small group of swift riders moving across a large landscape. The music is more upbeat than I would make it -- but I am biased always towards a more somber or ponderous sound which in this instance is probably not appropriate. About 2/3 of the way in there begins a melodic sound, like a xylophone, which I like -- it rises and falls like the hills I imagine in this grassy landscape. Also, there appear the sounds of what I think is a bell, this reminds me of the metal fittings on saddles, and spurs and swords, clinking as the riders gallop along. I don't know if these were the intentions, but they sound like that to me!
I can't say enough about this one, but I'll try. This is my favorite piece and one of my favorite scenes in the trilogy. The music begins with a tone suggesting that something quite inevitable is about to happen, which is of course the fall of Isengard. Then, in come the bringers of that doom, marching along, and at half way through the music the chaos really begins, with the drums signifying to me the relentless and crushing power of the scene. The last 20 seconds or so are brilliant, a crescendo of sounds assembled to convey the scene, but without going over the top. I wish it were longer!
This one to me nicely conveys the image of the nine walkers, though I am here thinking particularly of Frodo and Sam; on the one hand there is the repetitive, eternal melody in the background, the voyage on which their fate has set them...on the other hand, music in the forefront which seems to rise and fall, at once jolly, then wondering, or even sad, all reflecting to me the thoughts of the Hobbits; bewildered, at first, at their fate, and wondering just what is going to happen. It is to me the sound of a journey on which you have begun, but you can't really believe you are doing it, and you are unsure how it will turn out. As usual, I wish it were longer!
When I was 12 and reading the trilogy for the first time, the scene of Frodo and Sam atop Mt. Doom, as the world seemed to be coming to an end, riveted me to the spot and electrified my imagination. That scene has stayed with me since. In this piece of music I hear the prelude to that scene, with Frodo and Sam huddled beneath a wind-swept boulder in the quaking, black and grey moonscape of Mordor, 'Facing Mt. Doom'. The long journey has come to this; the ultimate sacrifice has been accepted, and as far as Frodo and Sam are concerned, they will just finish the voyage, and then be destroyed -- so be it. In the music I hear all of this.
I have always loved the sound of the oboe, and with this piece beginning with that sound (if that is what it is!) I am immediately hooked. Here the sound is spooky and reminds me of the stagnant water of the Marshes, while the cascade of high bells in the background bring to mind the faint, blinking lights at an indeterminate depth below the surface...As in many of your works, Patrice, here I detect an interesting sound beginning about 1/4 way through (at roughly 24 seconds), a melody somewhat Arabic sounding to me, somewhat loney, eternal, and very beautiful. I don't know how to convey it -- am I making this up or is this an influence to you? Well, anyway...The prominent crash cymbal or gong which begins around half way is really interesting, I'm not sure what to make of it (and perhaps I am reading too much into these works, but what the hell, I like doing it!) but I love it. The melody as it appears around 1:25 and continues from there begins to recvall to me not so much the marshes, but the battle which took place there so long ago, and all the souls trapped in the marsh....