Leonard Rosenman has tackled a very odd assortment of films from East of Eden to Star Trek and even Robocop, but The Lord of the Rings presents his broadest palette. Anything as epic as The Lord of the Rings is bound to inspire a composer and Rosenman fashioned what is probably his most memorable work. The main theme will be somewhat familiar to those who've heard his Star Trek music as is in a very similar idiom, but predates that score by almost a decade. For a story with such gravitas, it may seem a somewhat overtly cheerful march, but only in the Riders of Rohan does it play unadulterated by darkness. Otherwise, it is invariably subverted, either being undercut with more sinister harmonies or simply being cut off before it has a chance to hit its stride.
While the opening cues lead us in gently enough, it is during Encounter with the Ringwraiths that Rosenman unleashes the full darkness with a chorus chanting "Mordor," which he uses to great effect in several of the later battles. The orchestral writing is often very dense, Rosenman's favourite pyramid musical structures are evidence quite often where open intervals are built on top of one another. In my estimation, it's one of the most simple, but inspired orchestral devices for building tension in cinema and while Rosenman has probably overused it, but here it is fresh and incredibly dramatic.
Whereas Howard Shore worked with Enya for his more mystical parts, Rosenman creates his own for Mithrandir - a song about Gandalf which uses an angelic chorus intoning an ethereal hymn. It does perhaps err a little on the side of kitsch and certainly doesn't quite fit with the rest of the score. The fact that the melodic material is pretty well stand alone for that one cue doesn't help either. However, when it comes to dramatic potency, the final sequences of Helm's Deep and The Dawn Battle is a dark mixture of huge orchestral and choral gestures that are as thrilling as any committed to celluloid. When the main theme triumphantly appears for Theoden's Victory the relief is palpable.
In amongst the post Star Wars rush of epic scores, Rosenman's effort was possibly unfairly bypassed in favour of the showier efforts for more well known films. It isn't always easy listening, but Rosenman always resolves the dissonence with a broad variety of melodic material and when the main theme appears at the end after the darkness of the final battle, the resolution is complete. The film may not have been finished, but Rosenman's score takes us from darkness to light in truly inspiring fashion. The release from Intrada expands on earlier versions, with a crisp detailed mix and with excellent liner notes by the composer which only add to the appeal of an essential Rosenman score.
Rating ~ 
Total Time ~ 76:58