You are about to hear a fantasy music paradox. Leonard Rosenman, an avant garde film composer, used 100+ elite musicians and vocalists for the The Lord of the Rings 1978 soundtrack (Ralph Bakshi version), to sound completely hollow, haunting, and sparse.
He didn't design the sound to be comforting, grand, sweeping symphonies (like Howard Shore's soundtrack), abandoning traditional heroic themes. He made it a modernist, avant-garde, atonal 12-tone structures sound. (Had to look all this up! And I still don't understand it fully.)
History Of The Ring will make you feel the cold emptiness, evoking ancient dread, isolation, and corrupting of the One Ring.
An interesting (and bold) decision to make an album which makes you feel the discomfort and danger of the narrative (not focused on getting more sales)!
Leonard Rosenman had a talent for making music sound alien, futuristic, or unsettling, making him a go-to composer for major science fiction and fantasy works.
For people who venture into experimental, avant-garde music.
Album Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKkwg0_3fi4&list=OLAK5uy_k1tAMnp94XKJxLdpY_c6-LIhlptPn6HZg&index=1
Once you are done, listen to Mirthandir (song #9 in the album). There is a choir singing the song.
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BONUS: Here are some amazing inserts form the Liner Notes of the album.
