An Evening in Rivendell is the first album by the Danish group The Tolkien Ensemble. It features songs composed to the lyrics found in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings and forms the first part of what was to become a complete musical interpretation of all lyrics in the book.

An Evening in Rivendell
Studio album by The Tolkien Ensemble
Released	30 September 1997
Recorded	1997
Studio	Focus Recording, Copenhagen, Denmark
Genre	Classical
Length	67:49
Label	Classico
Producer	Morten Ryelund Sørensen
The Tolkien Ensemble chronology
An Evening in Rivendell (1997) A Night in Rivendell (1999)

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 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.[1] 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."[2]

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".[3]

Credits

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
• Cover Design: Dan Eggers and Connie B. Berentzen

References