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Scene:
The Dead Marshes
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CR-TTT Track: The Dead
Marshes; 1-11
Source Text:
The Dead
Marshes
The
AS-TTT says this about
the vocals in this track:
Apparitional
portamentos, guide the composition down a more
ghoulish road. Lyric soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian,
coupled with violins, slowly bends pitches upward as
the bodies of dead Men, Elves and Orcs that litter
the swamp water peer back at the living with blank
faces.
The veil of aleatoric
strings and timpani again lowers and Frodo is
bewitched. He falls into the murky waters where he’s
wrapped in a smear of
Schönbergesque
Sprechstimme voices, half singing, half speaking
the text “The Dead Marshes.”
(Doug Adams)
There are some differences
between this music as heard in the movie, the
OST and the CR.
To make it easier to discuss, I've broken it into three
sections.
The Portamentos:
The CR and the movie have three
portamentos (1:55-2:45), the
OST only one (0:36-45)
which corresponds with the last portamento on the
CR. The first is heard as Sam glimpses a dead thing
in the water. The second comes after he brings this to
the others' attention and Frodo sees more dead things
for himself. The third comes after Gollum gives warning
about following the lights and we see even more dead
things. This last portamento on the CR is a little
longer than on the OST.
The three syllables being
sung on the CR-TTT by the sopranos (choir and solo):
[1:55] n-
[2:07] gryth
[2:37] si
Frantic strings:
A frantic run of high
strings starts as Frodo walks toward the water and
becomes mesmerized by a dead Elf laying there. The notes
of the choir and strings increase in pitch that is
longer in the movie and on the CR (2:49-3:11) than on
the
OST
(0:48-1:04). This section ends as the dead Elf opens his
eyes and Frodo falls into the water.
The sopranos (and possibly
the soloist) are singing, "ngyrth sí ú-los(tar)".
Each vocalist is singing the same ascending notes in each bar but at their
own speed so as to create a aleatoric and slightly
dissonant sound.
[2:49] n
[2:52] gyrth
[2:55] sí
[3:01] ú-
[3:04] los (till 3:11)
Bombastic brass:
Some of this music is not
used in this movie but it is the same on the CR
(3:11-3:43) as on the
OST (1:04-1:35). Starting at 3:11 on the CR
(The Dead Marshes) and 1:05 on the
OST (The Passage of
the Marshes) the sound in the movie becomes muted, as if
under water, even before Frodo falls into the water. The
muttered voices on the soundtrack would correspond with
the bodies under the water that are swimming toward
Frodo. The final burst of noise (CR: 3:43 -- OST: 1:35)
when the voices stop kind of correspond with Gollum
pulling Frodo out of the water.
The
Sprechstimme
voices start at 3:14 (CR) / 1:07 (OST)
and last until 3:43 (CR) / 1:35 (OST)
and perhaps into that final burst of noise just after
that. The choir is directed to either murmur or whisper
randomly the following words:
ngyrth sí ú-lostar
Ú-chiriar îdh
Hiriar harch ring a nîd
Tano i óner
Io na ndagor veleg
Na dûr ben-galu, na naeth
arvethed
Mín galad a chuil ban.
Mín sarch a ngurth ban.
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