This song is number 11 in a set entitled Fourteen Tolkien Songs for Childrens Voices. A bound and illustrated vocal score (voice parts with piano accompaniment) of the complete set is available from the online music retailers, tutti, at: http://www.tutti.co.uk/search?type=free&search_category=&search=mccreery or from Amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/Fourteen-Tolkien-Songs-Childrens-Voices/dp/1492187534

‘For those who only know Tolkien via the recent blood-and-thunder films, this song-cycle by Charles McCreery will give a very different angle on the classic saga. Here we find a gentle and ethereal world, where rhythms lilt and words echo. The twelve songs, suitable for choir, evoke a dreamy, water-colour landscape with no harsh sounds, the tunes are singable and in a traditional style that Tolkien would surely have approved. The opening song, The Fall of Gil-Galad, is calm, unruffled and dreamy; the Riddle Song has an Elizabethan lilt to it, while the following Bilbo’s Song has bold modulations and is just right for the words. Elven Hymn has a solid, rich quality - it is perhaps the best in the cycle. Number Ten, Ent’s Marching Song, is written in 6/8. This would have pleased Schumann who once wrote a march in 3/4! It is a catchy and enjoyable tune.

’Galadriel’s Song of Eldamar brings back some of the motifs from earlier songs and rounds off the cycle.’ Dr Julia Gasper, LGSM

Re ’Bregalad’s Lament for the Rowans’ for voices and orchestra: ‘I was very impressed by the music!’ Raymond Helble, composer and conductor

Music: Copyright � Charles McCreery 2003. Words: Copyright � George Allen and Unwin Ltd. 1954, 1966. From ’The Two Towers’,Vol.2 of ’The Lord of the Rings’ by J.R.R. Tolkien, pp. 88-89. Reproduced by permission. Application for permission to record this work or perform it in public should be made to Harper Collins, 77-85 Fulham Palace Road, London W6 8JB, and to St. Maur Music at stmaurmusic@yahoo.co.uk