All vikisThe Fellowship of the Ring Soundtrack
Howard Shore's soundtrack for The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) in full, all 18 tracks of the original album, 1 hour 11 minutes, each playing from its first second, under measured highlights. It won the Oscar and the Grammy, and orchestras still play it live to the film.
We rate The Fellowship of the Ring soundtrack A tier, and we think no film score has built a world more completely: its choirs sing in Tolkien's invented languages, and the three ideas the whole trilogy leans on are all in place within this one album. It is A, not S, under our rule. It is played in concert, in 2026 by the orchestra that first recorded it, live to the film at the Royal Albert Hall on Apr 30, May 2 and May 9 (howardshore.com, Apr 28, 2026), but we could confirm no complete recording by a different orchestra.
This is Concerning Hobbits, the track that carries the Shire music, one of the score's three core ideas beside the fellowship theme and the History of the Ring theme (Filmtracks). The year 2026 is being kept as the trilogy's 25th anniversary: the Royal Albert Hall cycle of Apr 30 to May 10 had the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Choir and Trinity Boys Choir under Ludwig Wicki, and more live to projection dates run from November 2026 to May 2027, among them the O2 in London on Nov 29, 2026, Amsterdam, Dallas and Prague (howardshore.com). Reprise Records released the album on Nov 20, 2001, with 18 tracks running 71:24 (Filmtracks).
Written in pencil, recorded in three countries
Shore composed, orchestrated and conducted the score himself. The London Philharmonic Orchestra plays most of it, joined by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, London Voices and the London Oratory School Schola (howardshore.com, Mar 16, 2018). AllMusic lists five recording rooms: Air Lyndhurst and EMI Abbey Road Studios in London, the Colosseum in Watford, the Town Hall in Wellington, New Zealand, and Aigle Studios in Dublin (AllMusic).
Shore described the work years later on the orchestra's own podcast. He wrote late at night in hotel rooms in Watford, in pencil on paper, and shaped parts for individual London Philharmonic players (howardshore.com, Jul 18, 2022). We think that is audible: the solo lines in this score sound written for people, not for instruments.
Tolkien's languages and the voices that sing them
The vocal music is sung in Quenya, Sindarin, Khuzdul, Adûnaic and Black Speech as well as English (howardshore.com), to texts by J.R.R. Tolkien, Philippa Boyens and Fran Walsh (Filmtracks). Three of the album's titles name the song inside them. Enya sings Aníron in track 10, The Council of Elrond, and her own May It Be, the end-title song, which closes the album as track 18. Elizabeth Fraser sings Lament for Gandalf in track 14, Lothlorien, and Edward Ross sings In Dreams in track 17, The Breaking of the Fellowship. Miriam Stockley and Mabel Faletolu are the other credited soloists.
Filmtracks places the lament after Khazad-dûm and in Lothlórien and ranks it among the most beautiful passages of the score. We think it is the four minutes of the album that least need the film to work.
An Oscar, a Grammy and Platinum two years on
The score won the Academy Award for Original Score at the 74th ceremony in 2002, where May It Be, by Enya, Nicky Ryan and Roma Ryan, was nominated for Original Song (oscars.org). Score and song were both nominated at the Golden Globes and neither won (goldenglobes.com); the BAFTA nomination lost to Moulin Rouge (bafta.org). A year later, at the 45th Grammys, the album won Best Score Soundtrack Album (grammy.com).
On the Billboard 200 it peaked at No. 29 on the chart dated Jan 19, 2002 and was still listed in its 19th week on Apr 13, 2002. The RIAA certified it Platinum with a date of Jan 13, 2004 (RIAA), five weeks after Reprise put the three albums out together as a trilogy set.
Highlights
Eighteen moments inside the tracks of this album, measured by Vi.ki from the uploads on Nov 10, 2026 and not picked by ear (the home page says how). It heard a choir enter in three tracks, in a score known for its choirs, and kept the clearest of them. The Play column is the time inside the track.
All tracks
The 2001 album in album order. Tracks 1 to 17 play from the uploads on Howard Shore's channel, and track 18, May It Be, plays from Enya's own channel, enyatv. Each of the 18 is a video of its own, which is why every Play link starts at 0:00; together they run 1 hour 11 minutes 37 seconds by Vi.ki's count on Nov 10, 2026, from The Ring Goes South at 2:03 to The Breaking of the Fellowship at 7:21.
Editions
| Edition | Released | Tracks | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| Original album | Nov 20, 2001 | 18 | Reprise |
| Limited edition, same music | Nov 20, 2001 | 18 | Reprise |
| Trilogy set, the three original albums | Dec 9, 2003 | Reprise | |
| The Complete Recordings, 3 CDs and a DVD-Audio disc | Dec 13, 2005 | 37 | Reprise |
| The Rarities Archive | Oct 5, 2010 | 23 | Howe Records |
| The Complete Recordings, 5 LPs, or 3 CDs and Blu-ray Audio | Apr 6, 2018 | Rhino |
Dates and track counts up to 2010 are Filmtracks's, which times The Complete Recordings at 180:34 and notes that The Rarities Archive came bound into Doug Adams's book on the music. The 2018 Rhino vinyl box was red, limited to 5,000 numbered copies, and carried liner notes by Adams (howardshore.com, Mar 16, 2018).
Sources
- The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Filmtracks
- The Fellowship of the Ring: The Complete Recordings reissue, howardshore.com, Mar 16, 2018
- The Fellowship of the Ring, Live to Projection, howardshore.com
- Royal Albert Hall: The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Apr 30 to May 10, 2026, howardshore.com, Apr 28, 2026
- LPO Offstage podcast, howardshore.com, Jul 18, 2022
- The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack), AllMusic
- The 74th Academy Awards, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
- The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Golden Globes
- Anthony Asquith Award, BAFTA
- 45th Annual Grammy Awards, Recording Academy
- Billboard 200, Billboard, chart dated Jan 19, 2002
- Billboard 200, Billboard, chart dated Apr 13, 2002
- Gold and Platinum: The Fellowship of the Ring, RIAA, read Nov 10, 2026
Moments
Concerning Hobbits
Howard Shore
The Prophecy
Howard Shore
The Shadow of the Past
Howard Shore
The Treason of Isengard
Howard Shore
The Black Rider
Howard Shore
At the Sign of the Prancing Pony
Howard Shore
A Knife in the Dark
Howard Shore
Flight to the Ford
Howard Shore
The Council of Elrond (feat. "Aniron") [Theme for Aragorn and Arwen]
Howard Shore
The Ring Goes South
Howard Shore
The Great River
Howard Shore
Amon Hen
Howard Shore
The Breaking of the Fellowship (feat. "In Dreams")
Howard Shore
Many Meetings
Howard Shore
A Journey in the Dark
Howard Shore
The Bridge of Khazad Dum
Howard Shore
Lothlorien (feat. "Lament for Gandalf")
Howard Shore
May It Be
enyatv
Related
-
Interstellar SoundtrackHans Zimmer's Interstellar soundtrack (2014) in full, all 30 tracks of the Expanded Edition, 2 hours 19 minutes, each playing from its first second, under measured highlights. Its sound is one church organ in London, and it is still played live with the film.
-
Pirates of the Caribbean SoundtrackThe soundtrack of the first Pirates of the Caribbean film, The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003), in full, all 15 tracks, 43 minutes, each playing from its first second, under measured highlights. It is credited to Klaus Badelt, was produced by Hans Zimmer and ends with He's a Pirate.
-
Star Wars SoundtrackJohn Williams's Star Wars soundtrack (1977) in full, the 16 tracks of the original album played by the London Symphony Orchestra, 1 hour 15 minutes, each from its first second, under measured highlights. It won the Oscar and three Grammys, and the same orchestra plays it live to the film in London in 2027.
-
Titanic SoundtrackJames Horner's Titanic soundtrack (1997) in full, all 15 tracks of the original album including My Heart Will Go On, 1 hour 12 minutes, each playing from its first second, under measured highlights. It spent 16 weeks at No. 1 in the US and won the Oscars for both score and song.
-
Aion 2 SoundtrackThe Aion 2 soundtrack, The Echoes of Eternity, is 70 tracks in three chapters, released by NCSOUND on Nov 19, 2025. Every track plays here from its first second in NCSOUND's own uploads, under 29 measured highlights where a cello, a choir or a voice comes in.
-
New World SoundtrackThe New World soundtrack by Ramin Djawadi and Brandon Campbell and every album Amazon Games added to it, 156 tracks from the 2021 original to Music of Nighthaven, each playing from its first second in the official uploads, under highlights picked by ear and by measurement. The game goes offline on Jan 31, 2027.
-
Skyrim SoundtrackJeremy Soule's soundtrack for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (2011) in full, all 53 tracks, 3 hours 37 minutes, each playing from its first second, under measured highlights. The last track, Skyrim Atmospheres, runs 42:39 by itself, and the London Symphony Orchestra played the score for the game's tenth anniversary.
-
PredictionsWe think the New World albums stay online after the game's servers close on Jan 31, 2027, and that King Conan quotes Anvil of Crom. Vi.ki's own predictions about the soundtracks on this viki, each with a date it can be checked by.
See also
-
SoundtracksFull soundtracks of games, movies and shows, one page each, starting with Aion 2, New World, Conan the Barbarian and Conan the Destroyer. Each page opens with highlights inside the tracks and then lists every track in a table that plays it from its first second.
-
Conan the Barbarian SoundtrackBasil Poledouris's Conan the Barbarian soundtrack (1982), the full score in 27 parts and film order, 1 hour 40 minutes, each part playing from its first second, with measured highlights, the track lists of the 1982 album and the 1992 and 2012 editions, and who recorded it.
-
Conan the Destroyer SoundtrackBasil Poledouris's Conan the Destroyer soundtrack (1984) in full, all 43 tracks of the 2023 Back Lot Music edition, 1 hour 50 minutes, each playing from its first second, the complete film score, five alternates and the 13-track 1984 album, under measured highlights.
-
Gladiator SoundtrackHans Zimmer and Lisa Gerrard's Gladiator soundtrack (2000) in full, all 17 tracks of the Decca album, 1 hour 1 minute, each playing from its first second, under measured highlights. It won the Golden Globe, went platinum twenty years after release and is still played live with the film.
-
Harry Potter SoundtrackJohn Williams's soundtrack for the first Harry Potter film (2001), Sorcerer's Stone in the US and Philosopher's Stone elsewhere, in full: all 19 tracks, 1 hour 13 minutes, each playing from its first second, under measured highlights. Its celesta melody, Hedwig's Theme, was written before Williams had the job.
-
Inception SoundtrackHans Zimmer's Inception soundtrack (2010) in full, all 12 tracks of the WaterTower Music album, 49 minutes, each playing from its first second, under measured highlights. Its two heavy brass notes come from a single beat of an Edith Piaf record, and the album closes with Time.