Leaving Rivendell


Leaving Rivendell is the fourth album by the Danish group The Tolkien Ensemble, with Christopher Lee as additional vocalist. 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.
The composer Stephen Eddins describes the music as "largely modal and melancholy". 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, 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". 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.

Track listing

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

Credits