Ainur - Lay of Leithian

At present, Ainur rank among the most important authors of Tolkien-inspired musical productions, as their CDs are aimed at transposing J.R.R. Tolkien's work, the Silmarillion, into music. After their first two works, from Ancient Times (2006) and Children of Húrin (2007), both produced by Beppe Crovella and Electromantic Music for their Italian prog catalogue, Lay of Leithian is scheduled to come out in 2009. The CD will be wholly devoted to one of the greatest epics by J. R. R Tolkien, written entirely in verse form and, unfortunately, never completed: The tale of Beren and Lúthien. The composers, Luca and Marco Catalano, Gianluca Castelli, Alessandro Armuschio, Simone Del Savio, Wilma Collo and Elena Richetta, always adopt an orchestra-like approach, with the juxtaposition of classical instruments and modern electrical instruments, touching on various genres and different musical sonorities in order to re-create the whole mythology and cosmogony of J.R.R. Tolkien. Over time, in addition to the permanent line-up of 19 members, Ainur's CDs have featured several guest performers like the orchestra I Musici di San Grato conducted by Edoardo Narbona; Alessandro Cammilli from the Teatro Regio of Turin, Alan Brunetta, Ferdinando Catalano and many others. Ainur like to describe their work as a concept work, a series of concept albums forming one great project devoted to the Silmarillion.