With the appearance of Eomer and the men of the Riddermark, Shore introduces a new theme, a theme for the hardened people of Rohan. It begins quite subtly, with noble, medieval-sounding strings. It then moves on to a stirring brass fanfare, triumphant yet with an underlying melancholy. In the hands of a lesser composer, the Rohan motif might have become a rather vacant, faux-mythic affair. But Maestro Shore leads his second reading of the theme with a Norwegian fiddle called a hardanger, reminding us that these are not empty heroes but a struggling people of the earth. The impact is palpable. The theme is amazing. And we're only on track three, folks.
So you were right on the hardanger - good ear!
Not my ear... one of the soundtrack reviewers clued me in to that.
IMO, the score for the Two Towers feels much more epic. The one for FotR is good -- excepting tracks 3-8 with that awful Ringwraith theme.