Soundtrack.net previews Howard Shore's soundtrack for Return of the King. More importantly, they have snippets of each track for preview as well. Shore's score for the first two entries of Peter Jackson's LOTR trilogy were magnificent, and before we all get to see ROTK, we'll be able to listen to the soundtrack which comes in three editions. Howard Shore, once again, bring in the heavyweights. This time it's Renee Fleming and famed flutist James Galway. And singing the now customary vocal concluding track is Annie Lennox. The preview snippet doesn't leave me wild about the Lennox track, but I'll reserve judgment until I hear it in full.
I particularly enjoy the way Jackson ended each of the first two movies. The moments are both emotional sighs and open-ended looks to the future, and they have shared visual and musical DNA: Frodo and Sam together, walking off towards more danger. The camera depicts Mordor's flaming mouth off in the distance and the music hints at the mystery and danger awaiting. In the Two Towers, that final shot is one where the camera rises up from the ground where Frodo and Sam are following Gollum to show Mordor looming in the distance, a camera move that signifies both the heightened danger they will encounter in ROTK and the higher stakes to which Jackson will elevate the movie.
The brief snippet of track 3 from the ROTK soundtrack includes the theme heard in the latter half of the ROTK trailer, heard during my favorite moment of the trailer in which Gandalf rides Shadowfax out to meet the enemy's army on the battlefield, his staff held high, glowing white hot. Dec. 17 couldn't come fast enough.