Ladies and gentlemen, please take your seats.

Our show is about to begin.

The Lord of the Rings, the Two Towers, has two separate narratives, a fractured fellowship,

multiple new characters and creatures, and even introduces a whole new kingdom of men.

But there is one film score to rule them all.

This is the soundtrack show.

Music The Welcome back to the soundtrack show.

I'm your host, David W. Collins, and this episode is our first in a series on The Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers.

A movie from 2002 directed by Peter Jackson, based on a book of the same name by J.R.R. Tolkien,

with a film score that was composed,

orchestrated, and conducted by Howard Shore.

The Two Towers, of course, is the second film in the Lord of the Rings film trilogy by Jackson,

each movie coinciding with published Tolkien novels of the same name.

The first movie, Fellowship of the Ring, kicked off the Jackson trilogy in December of 2001.

And just as The Two Towers was a direct continuation of that first movie,

this series of episodes on The Two Towers is also a direct continuation of my four-part soundtrack show series on The Fellowship of the Rings film score.

If you haven't heard them yet, I highly recommend you take a listen, as the historical background of both the film and the novels, as well as the musical and thematic analyses found therein will greatly enhance the listening of this series on the Two Towers. And just like that series, I will continue to highlight and discuss the wonderful work of Doug Adams and his book, The Music of the Lord of the Rings, which provides a wealth of insight into all three film soundtracks.

But before we begin discussing the music of the Two Towers, it's important that we have a general discussion about the Lord of the Rings books,

the Two Towers book specifically, and the movie adaptation of that book, because doing so will give

us tremendous insight into Howard Shores' approach to its film score. Well, why is that? Well, simply put, the material in the two towers

is very difficult to bring to the screen in a cohesive way. Why? Okay, well, let me explain.

The Lord of the Rings was originally written by Tolkien as one giant story, one giant novel that sprawls multiple lands, cultures,

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