Morten Ernst Lassen Peter Composer Hall Caspar Reiff - At Dawn in Rivendell Selected Songs and Poems from The Lord of the Rings (20 tracks) +Album Reviews

Brings a facet of the saga to life in an exciting new way!

Tom Knapp | Lancaster, PA USA | 07/09/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Christopher Lee can send chills up and down your spine with his reading of the familiar "Verse of the Rings," a much-quoted piece of J.R.R. Tolkien lore lifted from the endlessly popular Lord of the Rings. His involvement with the recording of "At Dawn in Rivendell: Selected Songs & Poems from The Lord of the Rings" is a coup indeed! The majority of the credit, however, goes to the Tolkien Ensemble, a group of musicians formed in 1995 to create "a faithful musical interpretation" of the poems in Tolkien's hallowed text. With the current Tolkien-mania surrounding the trilogy of "LotR" movies, this is a perfect time for the ensemble to share its music with the world. (There were two earlier recordings, "An Evening in Rivendell" and "A Night in Rivendell," released respectively in 1997 and 2000. A fourth CD is planned.)The ensemble is made up of Danish musicians, obviously with a classical background rather than folk. That is, perhaps, the only failing here -- the courtly air works on some tunes, particularly the elvish ones, but I would imagine a more relaxed, less operatic feel for songs sung by hobbits and the merry Tom Bombadil. But no one could gainsay the excellent musicianship here; the ensemble clearly knows its music, and the stately arrangements have a distinctly period air."

Outstanding on so many levels!

Deborah MacGillivray | US & UK | 11/09/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Caspar Reiff and Peter Hall and their Tolkien Ensemble are back conjuring magick! And this time with a white wizard aiding them. It was a stroke of genius to capitalise on the multi-talents (often ignored) of the wonderful Chris Lee. The attempt to put Tolkien's poetic works to music is an inspired undertaking, but to bring in Lee (the films' Saruman) was brilliant choice all around. He has a a beautiful voice (and if you think he cannot sing, you certainly missed The Wickerman!), that lends itself well to poetry and song. His readings are breathtaking, chilling and work so well with the moody, atmospheric scores. It beautiful, provocative and a must for the lovers of the films, books, the Tolkien Ensemble and a gem for lover of Christopher Lee."

Near magnificence, but not quite

Bram Janssen | The Netherlands | 09/15/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

""At Dawn In Rivendell" is the third album for Peter Hall, Caspar Reiff and the Tolkien Ensemble - and behold! They are joined by intelligent, deep-voiced British actor Christopher Lee. Being a collector of Tolkien-related matters, I had already learned that Lee would rather have become a singer than an actor. This album must have been a little like a dear wish come true for him. (He also sings on the soundtrack for The Wicker Man - however, hardly more than three lines.)The Tolkien Ensemble's first album "An Evening In Rivendell" counts as the pivotal body of music in my - none too exhaustive - Tolkien-music collection. I rank it higher than any Howard Shore film-soundtrack, "which is sayin' a lot." I hold this album in very high regard as well, yet on slightly different grounds.
The first album reached its height by force of composition: the music and songs alone sufficed. By now... they have resorted to trickeries. If this sounds demeaning, it isn't meant as such: the compositions are still top-notch. But bringing in Lee is - besides wonderful and splendid - a miracle of a publicity stunt. Lee sings well, and "Treebeard's Song" is my favourite song of the album. There are also reprises of earlier records, which isn't entirely creative, but presenting "The Old Walking Song" from the first album as a hidden bonus track humours me deeply.As said, overall, the album simply doesn't jump as high and far as the earlier albums. Perhaps they have already spent their most inspiring poems, or they are running low on them. Look at it from that angle, and Lee serves to mask these shortcomings. "There's an eye-opener and no mistake!" Surely not! Not the Tolkien Ensemble!Nevertheless, this album gets four stars. Why? Well, despite my somewhat negative tone, these people are still making the absolute essential Tolkien-music in the field. Just make sure you buy the former two albums for comparison. I eagerly await a fourth. Bram Janssen
The Netherlands"

Some really great songs (and a few to skip)

Bram Janssen | 07/16/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"On each of The Tolkien Ensemble's discs, there has been one song that is worth the price of the disk, and this time it's The Lay of Nimrodel--an exquisite lute-song, sounding like an Elizabethan composer wrote it. Aragorn's Song of Gondor would be as good, but for an unfortunate choice by the composer to start the repeat in the middle of a phrase (it doesn't need a repeat at all, and without it would be about as good the Lament of the Rohirrim, the excellent song on the Night in Rivendell disc).
But why have the same singer (baritone Morten Ernst Lassen, who does wonderfully with Aragorn's songs on all 3 discs, just the occasional slip with pronunciation let you know he's not a native speaker of English) sing Eomer's song? This song is the biggest disapointment on the disc-- a slow contemplative dirge in the middle of a battlefield?
The hobbit songs are fun, although the voices chosen just don't sound (to me anyway) as if they were Little Folk, and Pippin should be younger-sounding, too. The Farewell Song of Merry and Pippin is wonderful, however--vigorous and enthusiastic.
Christopher Lee's recitations, when they are portentious, doom-laden exerpts like the Verse of the Rings and Malbeth the Seer's Words are perfect. But Bilbo's warning of winter and Gandalf's Riddle of the Ents need a lighter touch. The Long List of the Ents is a lot of fun.
In short, a lot of variety, some really good tracks and some to just skip over and try to forget. The good ones outnumber the bad by a wide margin, so --4 stars."

The most atmospheric Tolkien settings on disc

David Bratman | San Jose, CA United States | 12/21/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The Tolkien Ensemble has been creating the most atmospheric Tolkien settings on disc - and some of the best and most exquisite - using an approach formed from an effective combination of folk and classical music.At Dawn in Rivendell strikes me as superior to its predecessor, A Night in Rivendell, and in some ways even better than the first album of the three, An Evening in Rivendell. Mostly somber in air, despite some lively hobbit songs, it offers fine music well sung. A few tunes aren't going to evict from one's mind settings of the same poems by the Hobbitons or Broceliande, but they're still fine and keenly done. I liked little touches like the unexpected rhythms in "The Bath Song" and the setting of "Song of Nimrodel" with lute. (The tune is quite unlike genuine Renaissance lute songs, but the lute accompaniment is very much in period.)Christopher Lee's recitation of several poems not set to music fits in well. Usually accompanied by a choir holding low notes as a somber background, Lee makes a vivid addition. His deep voice is perfectly suited to the Ring-verse and Boromir's riddle, though his acting is perhaps a bit hammy. As a special treat, Lee performs Treebeard's two songs, rhythmically talking his way through most of them, a la Rex Harrison, with the instruments holding the tune. But in parts of "In the willow-meads" he actually sings. Perhaps not too well, but perfectly in character for Treebeard.Of the half-dozen excellent musical albums of Tolkien settings created to date, the Tolkien Ensemble has made half of them. They have particularly captured the smell of Elves, so absent from a certain series of films."

Search - Morten Ernst Lassen, Peter [Composer] Hall, Caspar Reiff :: At Dawn in Rivendell: Selected Songs and Poems from The Lord of the Rings

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