The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

1	Foundations of Stone / Howard Shore 3:52
2	The Taming of Sméagol / Howard Shore 2:49
3	The Riders of Rohan / Howard Shore 4:06
4	The Passage of the Marshes / Howard Shore 2:46
5	The Uruk-Hai / Howard Shore 2:58
6	The King of the Golden Hall / Howard Shore 3:50
7	The Black Gate Is Closed / Howard Shore 3:17
8	Evenstar / Isabel Bayakdarian 3:16
9	The White Rider / Howard Shore 2:28
10	Treebeard / Howard Shore 2:44
11	The Leave Taking / Howard Shore 3:42
12	Helm's Deep / Howard Shore 3:53
13	The Forbidden Pool / Howard Shore 5:27
14	Breath of Life / Shelia Chandra 5:08
15	The Hornburg / Howard Shore 4:36
16	Forth Eorlingas / Ben Del Maestro 3:16
17	Isengard Unleashed / Elizabeth Fraser 5:01
18	Samwise the Brave / Howard Shore 3:46
19	Gollum's Song / Emiliana Torrini 5:53

Barnes & Noble

Drawing from J.R.R. Tolkien's own texts as well as other pre-medieval sources, Academy Award–winning composer Howard Shore presents a masterful evocation of the magical, mythical world of elves, hobbits, and other mystical creatures -- a work of art as sweeping and impressive as The Lord of the Rings itself. Shore, who has created the musical backdrops for some 50 films over the past 20 years, including his noted collaborations with director David Cronenberg (Scanners, The Fly, M. Butterfly) as well as for other classics such as Philadelphia, The Silence of the Lambs, and Seven, faces perhaps the biggest challenge of his career with his scores for Peter Jackson's multipart film series. The second installment keeps up the high standard set by the Grammy-winning The Fellowship of the Ring. His darkly seductive score for The Two Towers features the London Philharmonic plus a host of arcane instruments including the cimbalon and dulruba, as well as guest vocals by the otherworldly Elizabeth Fraser, famous for her work with '80s dream-pop band Cocteau Twins, and "Gollum's Song," sung by Icelandic ingénue Emiliana Torrini. As a bonus, this enhanced disc includes the theatrical trailer, a link to two exclusive digital online trading cards, music video for the score, behind-the-scenes footage of the score's creation, multimedia, and more. L.D. Beghtol

All Music Guide

Like the second installment of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy, Howard Shore's score is big, bold, dark, and majestic. This is fitting as the movie is more action-oriented than the first, The Fellowship of the Rings, which -- necessarily -- spent more time on exposition and character development. It's also a good value for the money, as it features over 70 minutes of music, both instrumentals and vocal tracks (concentrated on the second half of the disc). These include "Evenstar" with the Canadian Opera Company's Isabel Bayrakdarian (who also contributed to Mychael Danna's Ararat soundtrack), "Breath of Life" with Sheila Chandra (formerly of Monsoon), "Forth Eorlingas" with Ben Del Maestro, "Isengard Unleashed" with Del Maestro and Elizabeth Fraser (the Cocteau Twins), and "Gollum's Song" with Emiliana Torrini. The latter is a British vocalist of Icelandic and Italian extraction, who has worked with Tears for Fears' Roland Orzabal and Iceland's Gus Gus. "Gollum's Song" is a tribute, of sorts, to the half-CGI, half-actor-created character (Andy Serkis provided his distinctive voice and physical movements) who handily walks away with the film. The affecting song ("We are lost/We can never go home"), which plays during the end credits, was written by Jackson's wife, Fran Walsh, and sets things up nicely for The Return of the King, the final book in J.R.R. Tolkien's trilogy. Despite the critical and commercial success of The Two Towers, the strong orchestral work, and the more inspired selection of vocalists, the soundtrack was not nominated for an Oscar, whereas Shore took home the gold statuette (his first) for his work on The Fellowship of the Rings. ~ Kathleen C. Fennessy, All Music Guide