Music that reminds you of LotR

[bmilder]

What music reminds you of LotR? This topic also doubles as help for my website :P I hope to include music for each section of the site. Help me decide what to use :D I've found that game music seems to suit my needs so far :). Please note that GeoCities may be tempermental about letting you hear these... you may need to cut and paste the url and enter it in or reload or something to get it to work. Here's some thoughts I had, tell me what you think: <a href=http://www.geocities.com/bmilder.geo/Kuntamon.mid>Kuntamon.mid</a> from Jill of the Jungle 2 for Isengard. It sounds mysterious, and I just love the part that starts at 1:12 :) <a href=http://www.geocities.com/bmilder.geo/ff3over3.mid>ff3over3.mid</a> from Final Fantasy 3 (I think) for Lothlorien... it sounds ancient, and also sad. <a href=http://www.geocities.com/bmilder.geo/Hocus007.mid>Hocus007.mid</a> from Hocus Pocus for the Shire. It sounds busy like the bustling Shire, and is kind of Hobbitish :) <a href=http://www.geocities.com/bmilder.geo/7elitefour2.mid>7elitefour2.mid</a> from Pokemon (don't sneer until you hear it ;)) for Rivendell. I'm not entirely sure about this one, but it does sound kind of like Rivendell. And finally, <a href=http://www.geocities.com/bmilder.geo/Hocus006.mid>Hocus006.mid</a>. I'm not sure how to use this one... maybe I'll have two for Isengard, since this sounds like magic :) Comments on my selections? Have any of your own? :)

[Hernalt]

This is brilliant, bmilder. I can only opine that the only music from my gaming years that I'd favor is the entire soundtrack to Final Fantasy II. That's what I grew up on and it will always haunt me. From the dynamic trumpet marches to the slow sad lays to the suspenceful strings, it had it all imo. If SuperNES Zelda weren't so recognizable, I'd cite that also, as it surely has an industrial-size medeival adventure feel. Were I to have the resources to do a Tolkien site, I might include music from artists (Celtic/Medeival/Alternative/Classical) who had that unique feel.

[bmilder]

Cool :D Hey, do you have ICQ, Hernalt? I looked for your account but couldn't find it...

[Hernalt]

Bmilder, For the moment, no. I post in from work and don't want to load anything up on these pcs. But I'll get my own pc soon.. ish.. I hope..

[Gollum]

actually the LOTR music on the still pic trailer sounds kinda like the ten commandments...

[Darth Tater]

The links don't work for me for some reason, I get an unavailable message from Yahoo! Anyways, anything from the Chieftains would probably be good. There music always reminds me of Middle Earth.

[bmilder]

Yeah, at the "Not found" page you need to go to the url box and hit enter. It should work from there. Not sure why it doesn't just work automatically...

[Elanor]

I like "The Hall of the Mountain King"--very dwarvish-sounding. Am I the only one who makes up their own melodies to the songs, though? I'm always fiddling around with various melodies, writing them out, and singing them. They're not very good, but I can't just read a poem that's supposed to be a song without making up something, or at least imagining how it might sound.

[Darth Tater]

Well, I had to download them, but it was worth it! Great selections Ben!

[anduin]

How exactly did you do it Tater? I am having problems too....

[Guardian 452]

I agree, Hall of the Mountain King sounds Dwarvish... and now it's stuck in my head...

For some reason Sauron reminds me of Darth Vader so whenever I hear the Imperial March I think "That's Sauron!" John Williams ought to do the LOTR soundtrack...

That would be cool! The greatest composer of all time meets the greatest story of all time... After Star Wars AND LOTR he'll be more famous than Mozart!

[The One Ring]

One composer who has always reminded of the Lord of the Rings, not surprisingly, is Richard Wagner. After all, LoTR takes a lot of ideas from his Ring Cycle. The plots are very similar indeed. Anyway, several selections of his are particularly appropriate. One is the prelude to Die Valkyrie, which I'm sure you've heard. Another is the Magic Fire Music, from the same opera. They're both great for the Black Riders, and evil stuff in general. Use the orchestral versions, as opposed to the version with the vocals.

Another great composer that fits well is Richard Strauss. In particular, some bits of Ein Heldenleben (especially the battle scene) and Also Sprach Zarathustra(there's a lot more to it than the famous 2001 opening) are very dramatic. There's some other good stuff too, by him.

Ummm..... Rachmaninoff (the piano concertos), Tchaikovsky (1812 overture), and Mussourgsky (Night on Bald Mountain always sounds very Sauron-ish to me) are good on the Romantic Russian side, and Stravinsky, Shostakovich, and Prokofiev are just as good, though slightly more modern. Stravinsky's Firebird Dance and Shostakovich's Symphony #5 in particular. From Holst's Planets, Mars, Jupiter, and Uranus are all very dramatic. Khachaturian's Saber Dance from Gayne is also well-suited to LOTR. Oh, and how could I forget Rimsky-Korsakov and his amazing Scheherazade. Truly an excellent piece. Hmmm.... I'm sure there's tons more but that's all I can think of for now.

[IronParrot]

I'd say that I could certainly read LOTR and augment my experience by playing Wagner's Ring in the background... even though this is a different type of ring we're dealing with :p

[Darth Tater]

Nice iedeas everybody! I think Pakobel's (sp) Canon would be great for any area having to do with elves.

[bmilder]

Nice time to bring up the topic :)

For The Tolkien Trail, I'm trying to stick to unusual and lesser-known songs, especially video game music, and some original compositions.

[anduin]

The only thing that Pachbel's (sp?) Canon reminds anyone of today is weddings......trust me. :p


Ben, are you going to use MIDI's? I have never been able to hear them for some reason (and no Tater, it's not because I am deaf :P). Anytime a site has MIDI's I get two windows that pop up everytime a page loads....quite annoying. I know that you are very fond of them, but is there not another way?

[RKittle]

Because Zeppelin used Tolkien in some of their songs, I always think of the Middle-Earth when I listen to them.

For some reason, the 'Immigrant Song' always makes me imagine the ships of the Numenoreans landing on the coasts of Middle-Earth or Aman.

[bmilder]

Ahh, stupid Mac compability issues ;)

Don't worry, I won't have them load automatically, but rather have the songs be a link or something similar. The advantage of MIDI's is that they are tiny files, so even for people still with slow modems, it doesn't take forever. MP3's are generally better quality; however, video games don't really have fully orchestrated songs and most aren't in MP3 format in any event. Plus, as the owner of a 56k modem up until last month, I know it can take forever for even the smallest MP3 to load.

Try installing a MIDI plugin for your browser, like Crescendo (that's what I have.)

[Lillian C]

Pachelbel's (Correct spelling. I promise. I work in a music box store and play piano.) Canon is one of my favorite pieces of music, but I've never thought of it as Tolkien-ish. Now that I think of it, though, I kind of like the idea...

I agree with the choice for John Williams, though. That would be cool for the movies.

[anduin]

Back in September, a thread (http://pub2.ezboard.com/fbenjaminstolkienboardlordoftheringsmovies.showMes sage?topicID=5.topic) was started to discuss Williams doing the music for LOTR......thought you might find it interesting. :)

[Darth Tater]

anduin, you neglected to tell them that I fixed your computer ;)

[anduin]

How did you fix it again? ;)

Well actually Ben gave me the idea to look for a plug-in, and I finally found one......but you were very helpful, yes indeedy!

[arynetrek]

i agree with The One Ring, who suggested night on bald mountain & firebird symphony for the evil/dramatic stuff. actually almost any russian-written classical music i've heard would work, but i'm not even going to attempt the spellings of the composers' names. i also think zeppelin (but only certain zeppelin - battle of evermore & kashmir more tham anything else), styx 'come sail away' & most of smashing pumpkins' Mellon Collie CD, but those are very recognizable. if you're lookign for i was at this site awhile ago, called "tolkien downloads" that had a great MIDI, called lothlorien - very good. the vision of escaflowne soundtrack would work too - if you've never heard of it, escaflowne is this beautiful anime, & even though the story has nothing to do with LotR (wow! fantasy that doesn't rip off Tolkien) the music reminds me of it. also lorena mckennet (sp?), have you heard of her?

[dunedain lady]

Yeah, all these ideas sound great. Night on Bald Mountain is definitely Mordor music! Pachebel's Canon does sound elvish, now that I think about it. We play that all the time in orchestra, but I never connected it with Tolkien before. Aaaargh! You had to mention Hall of the Mountain King, didn't you?! Now it's stuck in my head! But it IS perfect dwarf music:) I heard a performance of it once played by a group of xylophones that sounded really perfect for Tolkein.

[noldo]

Does rock-music count? There is this one song called "Join Me In Death" that reflects the relationship between Arwen and Aragorn (as well as Lúthien & Beren too ;) ) perfectly.

[Shanamir Duntak]

If metal counts "Call of Ktulu" from Metallica is really Middle-earth sounding

[arynetrek]

Shan - i think we're the only people here who agree on this Metallica thing...

Noldo - who does "join me in death"? what decade? and yes, rock music does count - as of this afternoon (aka the last time i listened to them) Zeppelin was a rock band (mostly).

and the more i listen to teh lyrics, the more pantera's "cemetary gates" reminds me of post-aragorn Arwen

aryne *

[noldo]

Rock-band called HIM, very this decade. They aren't very known all over the world but have gained some popularity in Europe. Their songs talk on subjects like love, destructive love, and also very often death.

You could check out Roland Emmerich's "13th Floor" (not the old one) for it has it on it's soundtrack.

[Wizard of the Secret Fire]

Do anybody know where you can find wav's that reminds you of Middle-earth (to use for flash animations)??

[dogtrot]

Seeing the Wizard of the Secret Fire above reminded me of the Black Sabbath song "the wizard". It always reminded me of Gandalf. " without warning a wizard walks by"

[Sharku]

Norwegian project BURZUM have quite a lot songs which remind me of Middle-Earth, some intentionally (with titles like "The Crying Orc" or "One Ring to Rule"), because they really sound like Mordor. They´re misanthropic black metal, though, so I guess there are only few here who like them, too. But the last two Burzum-albums entirely were ambient/folk music which still had a good ME-appeal. Midieval music in general often sounds like fantasy, and of course especially like ME, to me.
Oh, and let´s not forget MANOWAR.

[horce]

An old Jethro Tull album (yes album...thats how old)called "Songs From the Wood". Also "Heavy Horses". Lots of rustic medieval influence.

[Sharku]

If you wanted medieval-style music, there are some German bands like In Extremo or Tanzwut. Folkloristic bands which have a ME feeling could be Hagalaz Runedance, Garmarna or Dargaard.

[Gilthalion]

bmilder,

I can't listen to the midi's till I get home! Many classical pieces are available as midis.

Beethoven's PASTORAL SYMPHONY is perfect for The Shire.

Though overused, Bach's TOCATTA AND FUGUE IN D MINOR is most sinister sounding. Perfect for entering Orthanc!

Wagner's FLYING DUTCHMAN is just incredible!

Come to think of it, I may need to covet these ideas in my hoard for my own use!



Among soundtracks I like:

The FLYING THEME from ET by John Williams is good Elvish music. (And anything else by John Williams!)

The theme to THE ROCKETEER.


Though some may call it heresy, I actually liked much of the music from THE LORD OF THE RINGS by Ralph Bakshi. Some of the Rankin Bass melodies were nice, but perhaps a little too cute for most.

[Elbreth of Carhouth]

Gil, you're very right about "The Rocketeer" and the "Flying Theme". Love them both, "Flying Dutchmen" too.

Loreena McKennitt does some really awesome celtic-sounding music. The CD I'm thinking of is called "The Book of Secrets". One of my favorites by her. I think something with that sort of sound to it would be great.

Other than that Ben, I think the midi's you've found for Lothlorien and Isengaard are nigh on perfect.

[Gothmoga]

Ohhh good grief,the fat guy???????

[Miralys]

Hey, I know this may be a little late but how about Blind Guardian? Their music has a lot of direct references to LOTR.

[Gilthalion]

Yesterday, I heard Pavonne For A Dead Princess by Maurice Ravel.

It instantly reminded me of the Bitter Passing of Arwen Undomiel. I haven't searched to see if it is available on the net, but this is a sad, yet light, piece for flute and harp.

[Shanamir Duntak]

Yeah, you're right Miralys, I once listen to them, and I must say they're good... I think I'll try to buy their album sooner or later.

[Pippin Skywalker]

I think James Horner would have been MAGNIFICENT for LOTR....let me hear a YEAH BABY!;)
Celtic music ALWAYS reminds me of fantasy/lotr/myth/fairytales.Has anybody here heard the cd Celtic Spirit?UH! number 1 and 6.....unspeakbly beautiful!(Those two in particular would be good for the Silmarillion.)

[Gilthalion]

Yeah baby! I like James Horner's work. Didn't he do some StarTrek movies?

I think I just remembered something...

Way back in the deeps of Time, before many of you walked this earth, indeed, before your parents looked on each other with gleaming eyes, back, back, back, I have cast my mind through the mists of memory...

What about the Canadian trio, Rush? Seems to me they did a Tolkien inspired song or two!

[bmilder]

Anyway, the music I mentioned is finally up at the site, in Rivendell, as you all probably know :) .

[Gilthalion]

I especially liked the original midi for Bree!

[Smeagul]

i reckon 'the rights of spring' is the best for that particular part of the book because it was written when Stalingrad was under siege and 500,000 people died: very immotive like the book.......


any comments?

[Diamond Head 1]

:evil: BLIND GUARDIAN :evil:

An awesome power metal band. Their last album was titled 'Nightfall in Middle-Earth'.
The albums has 22 tracks (11 songs and 11 short spoken tracks). The album tells the tale of the noldor and the battle aganst Morgoth.

[dunedain lady]

The Dance of the Tumblers from Snow Maiden is a piece that always reminds me of maybe hobbits or something. Or the elves, the way the act in Rivendell when Bilbo first encounters them. Playing it in orchestra always puts me in a really good mood!

[The One Ring]

I especially liked the original midi for Bree!
Why thank you, Gil. I'm working on some more LOTR midi's.... don't know when I'll get around to finishing them, though.

[Gilthalion]

And I even said that BEFORE there was an election!


(It's still too bad you can't vote!)

[Finduilas]

I've become very fond of Enya and also of instrumental celtic music for reading fantasy.

[Rána Eressëa]

Sheryl Crow's "Safe & Sound" always gets me thinking of LotR, and so does Enya's music as well.

[The Lady of Ithilien]

What music reminds you of LotR?
BMilder asked many moons agoSmetana's "The Moldau." That wonderful, sad but beautiful main theme reminds me of Aragorn's nobility and sadness, and towards the end when the theme is played with joy, of him entering Minas Tirith as king. Also, there's a waterfall in it that reminds me of Rauros, and towards the end a battle, and at one point towards the end of that the horns are blowing notes so clear and triumphant, the first time I heard them, I thought: that's how the Horns of Rohan sounded in the morning during the Battle of the Pelennor Fields.

[Lollypopgurl]

cool!

[Ms. Undomial]

um.... proboly "Mars laser escape" I forget who the artist is but it is really good music and sound alot like rivendell, and lothlorien.

[Coney]

Peer Gynt's Morning will always remind me of Lothlorien and The Halls of the Goblin King will always bring forth memorys of Bilbo when he became seperated from Gandalf and the Dwarfs:)

[The Lady of Ithilien]

Actually, I just learned that "The Moldau" has its own built-in story (http://www.mssr.com/info/Moldau.htm”). Sigh. If passionate love of country were the deciding factor, Czechs, bless them, would rule the world.

It's online via ChoiceDM's classical channel; they have a preprogrammed selection. I forget which number it is, perhaps the eighth or ninth selection, by the Vienna Symphony Orchestra. Perhaps some of the other classics mentioned here are there, too, further down -- I've never listened to it for more than an hour or two at a time. Would like to hear "Pavan for a Dead Princess" again, especially -- loved it many years ago. Then, it reminded me of mountains, but yes, I can see it for Arwen, too.

Where might I find "Mars Laser Escape"? Sounds interesting.

[Entlover]

Help! I typed in Choice DM and got some kind of health food links.
What should I look for it under?

[Miranda]

All the celtic songs of my homeland (Ireland) just remind me of everything elven. I can see them sitting around and singing the really beautiful gaelic songs that I love. They also remind me a bit of Aragorn jsut in the way they seem so free but with a hidden burden. "she moved through the fair" reminds me so much of his relationship with Arwen. But anything celtic and I love it. Mx

[Celebrian]

There is a song that I play in band, it is called Jupiter. It is really pretty and remindes me a lot of LotR. Mostly the end, when Frodo sails away. It is actually quite similar to a song that is in the movie, the theme when the company is paddling down the great river.

[BeardofPants]

James Horner? Geez, that guy lost any respect he had after the Titanic soundtrack. :rolleyes: I can't decide who is worse: Howards Shore, or Horner....

[Khamûl]

Celebrian, are you talking about Jupiter from The Planets by Holst? I love the middle section of that song.

[The Lady of Ithilien]

Help! I typed in Choice DM and got some kind of health food links. What should I look for it under?:o I'm SO sorry, Entlover--my fault: as a medical transcriptionist, I've typed ChoiceDM before (it's a supplement as you, unfortunately, found out). Again SORRY!!!! Would you believe ChoiceRadio (http://www.choiceradio.com)?

"The Moldau" is in the classical channel, though not among the new additions or top ten (at least this week), but I never have much luck playing things from Web sites -- I locate it via Windows Media Player (there's a free download at the above site): just enter "classical" in the search bar, scroll down to ChoiceRadio.com in the selections that come up, and click "play."

[Nurvingiel]

I see the Moldau in a whole new light now... if you were suggesting it for LOTR music...

There's some really LOTR-esque music in the Babylon 5 movie "Thirdspace."

[The Lady of Ithilien]

Yes, I was indeed suggesting it for the LoTR.

Sigh...so many soundtracks, so little time.

I wonder if bmilder still has the music up -- I tried to go to the Geocities site mentioned in the first post here, but got the "this page doesn't exist" message. Of course, that was back in 1999. Clicking on the web site button in the Members listing just brought me to the Tolkien Trail page, and I wasn't sure how to proceed from there. Sure would like to hear them, if still available.

ADDENDUM, 12/15/2002: I originally came to Entmoot directly (from a Google search for Tollkien sites) rather than through the Tolkien Trail, which I just explored yesterday. Silly me! What a wonderful site this all has developed into in three years. Congratulations, Ben and all others involved.

Now, I'll just hie me over to Rivendell to listen to the music.

[Andrew Baggins]

Well this may sound weird but Alien Ant Farms last song on their album Anthology reminds me of LotR 'cause I was reading the books and browsing LotR sites while listening to the song and everytime I hear the song it reminds me of LotR. Weird but true... :eek:

[Nurvingiel]

Welcome Andrew Baggins! and nice avatar. :) Looking at your signature, you might enjoy another thread called "LOTR rip-off" in the movie forum.

Anyway, there's a lot of groups out there that not only remind you of LOTR, but they actually write music about it! I suppose Blind Guardian has been mentioned already, and the Brobdingnagian Bards have a very Hobbitty LOTR theme.

The Bards at MP3.com.
http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/113/brobdingnagian_bards.html

There's also Lothlorien dreamscape, who I don't like, but someone else might...

http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/210/lothlorien_dreamscape.html

[The Telcontarion]

Princess mononuke theme song by joe hisashi but especially The Legend of Ashitaka Theme by joe hisashi. The latter always reminded me of the first meeting of beren and luthien specifically and the lay of luthein on a whole. With it's floots and dramatic climax, reading that whole chapter in the sil it actually mentioned that Luthien was dancing to hidden floots. Very, very beautiful.

Actually, the whole princess mononuke soundtrack sounded like it should be the soundtrack of a silmarillion film.

[Anglorfin]

Wow this thread is old. I remember a similar thread in the Entertainment Forum about Blind Guardian. Another old thread from the days when I first joined. I doubt this band has escaped many people on this forum at this point but Blind Guardian is a power metal band that sings a a lot about Middle Earth. There are songs scattered across many of their CDs such as . . .

"The Bard's Song 1 - Into the Forest"
"The Bard's Song 2 - The Hobbit"
"Lord of the Rings"
"Gandalf the Magician"
"By the Gates of Moria"

They also have a concept album about the Silmarillion called "Nightfall in Middle Earth". This is the tracklist . .
War of Wrath
Into the Storm
Lammoth
Nightfall
The Minstrel
The Curse of Feanor
Captured
Blood Tears
Mirror Mirror
Face the Truth
Noldor (Dead Winter Reigns)
Battle of Sudden Flame
Time Stands Still (at the Iron Hill)
The Dark Elf
Thorn
The Eldar
Nom the Wise
When Sorrow Sang
Out on the Water
The Steadfast
A Dark Passage
The Final Chapter (thus ends...)

There's another power metal band I like called Elvenking. While they don't usually make such direct references to Middle Earth like Blind Guardian does, they have an even folkier feel that usually reminds me of wood Elves. They use a lot of pipes and one singer's voice is kind of high piched (not girly high piched but just wierd enough).

[Curubethion]

Sweet!

For some inexplicable reason, Howard Shore's music reminds me of LOTR. I can't figure out why, though... :confused:
;)

[NelyafinweMaitimo]

Led Zeppelin and Blind Guardian, of course, but has anyone ever heard of Ladies Godiva? Beautiful Irish and Scandanavian music. It simply captures the spirit of the regions, where so much of Tokien's work has it's beginnings.

[elven dragonrider]

Music that reminds me of LOTR...hmmm... There is a band that plays at the Rennfare in Texas (the big one) that is exellent. Trying to remember its name...Mukenizi? no. umm.. still thinking...... One minute. I'll go look. Anyway, they are really good. Their name is E Muzeki and I have all three of their cd's. One of their CD's is called Sindh. They remind me of Tolkein because of their celtic but mostly Gypsy style. They are really good though.

[hectorberlioz]

I suggest reading LotR while listening to Carl Nielsen's Third Symphony.:)

[ringbearer]

Sorry to bump an old post but! As I said in another post...

One of my favorite descriptive parts of LOTR is the Withywindle valley. There is a Pink Floyd song called "Grantchester Meadows" that I always think of while reading this part. Here are some lyrics...

"In the lazy water meadow...I lay me down.
All around me, golden sunflakes...settle on the ground.

and later...

See the splashing of the kingfisher flashing through the water.
And a river of green, is sliding, unseen, beneath the trees.
Laughing, as it passes, through the endless summer
Making for the sea."

[Rían]

I enjoy Celtic harp music, and a lot of it reminds me of LOTR. Some of us here were in a great joint-writing/RPG thing, and I got a new album from one of my favorite Celtic harpists, and four of the pieces just hit me as "theme songs" for four of the characters. I still think of those characters when I hear those pieces.

[Alcuin]

Shostakovich, Symphony No. 5, 4th Movement = Ride of the Rohirrim.

This rendition by Leonard Bernstein is available on Youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogJFXqYEYd8). You can imagine the initial cavalry assault, the attack by the Witch-king, the death of the Witch-king and the fall of Eowyn, the death of Theoden and the bewilderment of Merry, the renewed assault of Eomer, the hopeless situation of the Riders and the arrival of the Black Ships with Aragorn at their head.

Shostakovich wrote Symphony No. 5 in 1945 in abject terror that Stalin would hate it and have him executed. It is almost as if the same Spirit that moved Tolkien moved Shostakovich as well: they could almost be telling the same tale.

[Coffeehouse]

'Karelia Suite', performed by The Nice & the London Philharmonic Orchestra fits perfectly with the Ride of the Rohirrim.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AiJsatHFzo

[Zilbanne]

How about something that sounds elvish?

The Play Of Daniel, written in France in the 13th century I think, is a favorite of mine. Particularly this recording and interpretation of such an old manuscript

Ludus Danielis (The Play of Daniel)

The Harp Consort (Performer)

Andrew King (conductor)

Here is a link to it at amazon



http://www.amazon.com/Ludus-Danielis-Play-Daniel/dp/B00000DHJ6/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1222636446&sr=1-4

I put this music on and pretend I'm at Rivendell.
To me the singing sounds very elvish.
My nephew says that is because there are lots of tenors in the chorus and that tenors sound elvish. :)

Unfortunately amazon removed the sound samples that used to be with the above link. I sorry to recommend something you cannot actually hear.

Okay great! This link below has an article about the music and a least a short sample of the singing with ancient violins so you can get the idea of its elvish sound.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cambridgeshire/content/articles/2007/01/03/ludus_danielis_feature.shtml

[Zilbanne]

Sorry to bump an old post but! As I said in another post...

One of my favorite descriptive parts of LOTR is the Withywindle valley. There is a Pink Floyd song called "Grantchester Meadows" that I always think of while reading this part. Here are some lyrics...

"In the lazy water meadow...I lay me down.
All around me, golden sunflakes...settle on the ground.

and later...

See the splashing of the kingfisher flashing through the water.
And a river of green, is sliding, unseen, beneath the trees.
Laughing, as it passes, through the endless summer
Making for the sea."

Yes I think this song captures the withywindle valley exactly! It has such a sunlight yet slow moving water feel to it.

[Scrooge]

If you wanted medieval-style music, there are some German bands like In Extremo or Tanzwut. Folkloristic bands which have a ME feeling could be Hagalaz Runedance, Garmarna or Dargaard.

I so rarely find someone else who likes Tanzwut and In Extremo! :)

The release of the movies must have caused some inspiration, as following them, Tanzwut released an album titled "Schattenreiter" ("Shadowrider"), E Nomine made a song "Die Schwarzen Reiter" ("The Black Riders"), and Oomph! made "Mein Schatz" ("My Precious"). The lyrics of thse last two, especially, make it quite clear what the inspiration was.