''An Evening in Rivendell'' is the first album by the Danish group

The Tolkien Ensemble The Tolkien Ensemble (founded in 1995) is a Danish ensemble which created "the world's first complete musical interpretation of the poems and songs from ''The Lord of the Rings''". They published four CDs from 1997 to 2005, in which all the Poet ...

. It features songs composed to the lyrics found in

J. R. R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlinson ...

's ''

The Lord of the Rings ''The Lord of the Rings'' is an Epic (genre), epic high fantasy novel written by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's book ''The Hobbit'' but eventually d ...

'' and forms the first part of what was to become a complete musical interpretation of all lyrics in the book.

Track listing

Reception

Af Søren Aabyen, reviewing the album for the Danish Tolkien Association, found that rarely had any music appealed to him as much. He was delighted by the

mezzo-soprano A mezzo-soprano (, ), or mezzo ( ), is a type of classical music, classical female singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the soprano and the contralto voice types. The mezzo-soprano's vocal range usually extends from the A bel ...

Signe Asmussen's mellow rendering of " Galadriel's Song of Eldamar". He enjoyed the playful hobbit-song " There is an Inn, a merry old Inn", and Caspar Reiff's suitably melancholy guitar for " The Old Walking Song" alongside the rich baritone voice of Mads Thiemann and the lyrical violin of Mette Tjærby. Aabyen noted also the pleasure of finding Queen Margaret of Denmark's illustrations in the accompanying booklet. Anthony Burdge and Jessica Burke, in '' The J. R. R. Tolkien Encyclopedia'', note that the album was the first of four by the ensemble, complete with the queen's illustrations "greatly admired by Tolkien." The Tolkien Ensemble called their Danish reviews "outstanding", noting that in other countries ''Tolkien Online'' had described it as "the most beautiful presentation of the poems of ''The Lord of the Rings''", while ''Classic CD'' named it "Highly persuasive and splendidly performed".

Credits

* Peter Hall – vocal, guitar, harmonica, penny-whistle,

Frodo Frodo Baggins (Westron: ''Maura Labingi'') is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's writings and one of the protagonists in ''The Lord of the Rings''. Frodo is a hobbit of Shire (Middle-earth), the Shire who inherits the One Ring from hi ...

, Sam and

Tom Bombadil Tom Bombadil is a character in J. R. R. Tolkien's Tolkien's legendarium, legendarium. He first appeared in print in a 1934 poem called "The Adventures of Tom Bombadil", which included ''The Lord of the Rings'' characters Goldberry (his wife), Ol ...

* – guitar * Morten Ryelund Sørensen – violin * – Accordion * Morten Ernst Lassen –

Aragorn Aragorn () is a fictional character and a protagonist in J. R. R. Tolkien's ''The Lord of the Rings''. Aragorn is a Ranger of the North, first introduced with the name Strider and later revealed to be the heir of Isildur, an ancient King of ...

* Signe Asmussen –

Galadriel Galadriel () is a character created by J. R. R. Tolkien in his Middle-earth writings. She appears in ''The Lord of the Rings'', ''The Silmarillion'', and ''Unfinished Tales''. She was a royal Elf (Middle-earth), Elf of both the N ...

and Ent-wife * Mads Thiemann – Bilbo and Ent * Ole Jegindø Norup – Gildor * Melene Nordtorp –

Goldberry Goldberry is a character from the works of the author J. R. R. Tolkien. She first appeared in print in a 1934 poem, ''The Adventures of Tom Bombadil'', where she appears as the wife of Tom Bombadil. Also known as the "River-woman's daughter", s ...

* Torben H. S. Svendsen – double-bass * Peter Halaburt – oboe * Jesper Korneliussen – Vibraphone, Marimba, bells and chimes * Mette Tjærby – violin * Anne Eltard – folk-violin * Tom McEwan – percussion, spoons and dishes * Maria Boelskov – harp * Michael Friis – bass * Berit Johanson – piano * Nina Reintoft – cello * The Commotio quartet: Morten Ryelund Sørensen, Mette Tjærby, Jørgen Eyvind Hansen and Nina Reintoft * Male choir: Steffen Bruun, Johnny Johansen, Anders Holte, Björn Tengstrand, Frank Sylvan, Morten Clausen, Jacob Ægidius, Morten Ryelund Sørensen, Torben Eskildsen and Caspar Reiff

Production

* Musical Direction: Morten Ryelund Sørensen * Production: Caspar Reiff, Peter Hall and Morten Ryelund Sørensen * Engineering: Hans Nielsen and Saqib * Cover Illustration:

Queen Margrethe II of Denmark Margrethe II (; Margrethe Alexandrine Þórhildur Ingrid, born 16 April 1940) is a member of the Danish royal family who reigned as Queen of Denmark from 14 January 1972 until her abdication on 14 January 2024. Having reigned for exactly 52 ...

* Cover Design: Dan Eggers and Connie B. Berentzen

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Evening in Rivendell, An The Tolkien Ensemble albums 1997 debut albums 1990s concept albums