"Two Towers" has all the drama and testosterone of Rohan

Given the intimate and often inextricable relationship between a film and its score, you might think that listening to "The Two Towers: The Complete Recordings" (three CDs and one DVD-Audio, Reprise Records, $75.98) would seem like ... well, an incomplete experience. In fact, just the opposite is true. The words of Tolkien and the images of Peter Jackson are not necessary to appreciate the way in which Howard Shore tells the same story through music. The more familiar you are with the books and films, the more your mind's eye will interpret what you're hearing.

Comprising 45 tracks on three CDs, Howard Shore's massive score is more than three hours long and performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the London Oratory School Schola, The London Voices, and featured vocalists Isabel Bayrakdarian, Sheila Chandra, Ben Del Maestro, Elizabeth Fraser and Miranda Otto (the only "Two Towers" cast member featured in the score, singing "The Funeral of Théodred" on the track "Théoden King"). The entire, uninterrupted score is also included on a separate DVD-Audio disc, with attractively illustrated menus that show all track listings on screen as they're played.

The lighter, more peaceful themes of "The Fellowship of the Ring" give way to weightier, more ominous variations, and the entire score is permeated by the dominant "Rohan Theme" related to the Middle-earth realm of men, where much of the film's action is set. Throughout the score, themes introduced in "Fellowship" are adapted, refined and expanded, or merely hinted at as story and character elements recede.

Of particular interest to film-music completists are the many cues included here which were shortened or excluded from the film soundtrack, including all cues that Shore recorded for the extended cut of "The Two Towers," released on DVD in 2002. Tracks that were excerpted on the shorter soundtrack CD are included here in their entirety, lending full breadth and scope to the score's narrative progression.

Extensive liner notes and annotations by Doug Adams prove absolutely essential to the fullest appreciation of Shore's ambitious music, as the film-music expert reveals Shore's intricate weaving of themes and motifs.

The complete "Two Towers" score is truly operatic in both scale and narrative evocation, leaving the listener eager for next year's release of the complete "Return of the King" recordings, which will encompass the culmination of Shore's impressive achievement and a graceful return to the comforts of the Shire.

Jeff Shannon, Special to The Seattle Times