With a pitch of the melded Isengard theme, Five Beat Pattern
and Mordor's Skip Beat, a Warg-riding Orc pounces upon Háma,
the Rohirrim's scout. Aragorn rushes back to the caravan to warn
them of an impending attack while infuriated French horns
wrench forth, spinning the Rohan Fanfare's opening pitches into
a panicked klaxon. Théoden orders the women and children to
depart immediately, though the Hardanger sings out Éowyn's protests.
With a roar of the Isengard theme and the Five Beat, a full
company of Wargs charges the Horselords. Above, mixed chorus
sings "The Call," in Old English, building to the troops' first clash.
With the wicked twist of the curdling Cruelty of the Orcs, the
battle rages. Though the Rohirrim are winning, this motive, the
sharpest and vilest of the Orcs' collection, illustrates that the
creatures are taking their toll. A riderless Warg positions his open
maw over Gimli's head, but with a brassy stab of the Fellowship
theme, Aragorn is able to dispatch it at the last moment.
Abruptly, an inverted variant of the Cruelty of the Orcs knocks
Aragorn from his horse's back. The music spins, wrapped in a
churning 3/4 meter as Sharku, the Warg riders' captain, ensnares
Aragorn and drags him to the edge of a precipice. Trumpet figures
cycle restlessly, rising in pitch as Aragorn nears the cliff. With
a dissonant sustain of blistering brass and strings, Aragorn spills
over the edge.
IN THE MAKING :
Several changes affect this composition in the
film. When Legolas watches the full compliment
of Warg riders coming over the crest of a hill, a
few measures are edited in from Fellowship's Moria
sequence, extending the build a bit further than
Shore's original "Wolves" composition.
Originally, after the Eorlingas ride up to where Legolas
launches arrows at the Wargs, "The Wolves of
Isengard" returned to the panicked klaxon French
horn variation on the Rohan Fanfare, before presenting
a deep setting of the Isengard theme over
the Five Beat Pattern. In the film a thinner Isengard
theme begins earlier, right after Éowyn departs with
the women and children, expanding the score by a
few seconds.
Finally, the charge of the Riders towards the Wargs
was tightened in the final film, so Shore's setting
of "The Call" was shortened and a brass chord was
edited in to bring the warring forces together earlier.
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